King Street Corridor Initiative

Waterfront Commission Update

March 19, 2019

Challenge • The Wharf, Capitol Riverfront, Georgetown, National Harbor and

other highly funded waterfront destinations are competing with us aggressively for visitors and residents

• Alexandria is vulnerable to market share erosion • While a BID for Old Town did not advance, a consensus emerged

around needs and an urgency to act

Solution • A coordinated effort across City departments and the

private sector • Leverage opportunity of the new Waterfront Park

opening and arrival of Tall Ship Providence • Curate an extraordinary resident and visitor experience • Promote the “new” experience, and reintroduce regional

visitors to Old Town

King Street Corridor Initiative Drive Vibrancy / Maintain Old Town’s Competitiveness

1. Beautification 2. Programming 3. Regional Marketing

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Accomplishments Beautification July 2018 to February 2019

• 110 hanging baskets • 2 FTEs added to provide 7

day/week service for street cleaning and maintenance

• 124 press hits about King Street Corridor Initiative programs, events and the new park

• Launch of the Portside in Old Town brand: 37,000 pageviews on Portside content

• 44% increase in paid search traffic from DC region • New seasonal street lamp banners

Accomplishments Marketing July 2018 to February 2019

Free-to-the public waterfront programming series Portside in Old Town kicked off in October

• Three-day Portside in Old Town Festival which attracted 9,000+ people

o Free tours of the visiting tall ship Godspeed o Waterfront beer garden from Port City Brewing Company o Portside History activities presented by the Office of Historic Alexandria, o Pop-up Pizzeria Paradiso o Live music, fitness, and art activities by AR Workshop and the City’s Mobile Art Lab

Accomplishments Programming July 2018 to February 2019

Accomplishments Programming July 2018 to February 2019

• Production of the Alexandria Holiday Boat Parade of Lights

o Pop-up beer garden from Port City Brewing Company o Pop-up Vola’s Dockside Grill o Letters to Santa postcard pop-up from Penny Post boutique o Holiday wood ornament craft activity from AR Workshop Alexandria o Hot chocolate bar from Dolci Gelati

Accomplishments Programming July 2018 to February 2019

• More holiday events and experiences including:

o New holiday tree at Market Square with 38,000 lights o Storytime with Santa at the waterfront o Pacers holiday “Run then Brunch” meetup in partnership with

Chadwicks o Production support for Waterskiing Santa Show on Christmas Eve

Accomplishments Programming July 2018 to February 2019

Holiday Retail: • Holiday window display grant program for boutiques • Photos with Santa offered on four Saturdays • Street activation during Small Business Saturday

including the Elf Prize Patrol in Old Town and Del Ray with Alexandria Chamber

• Weekly Saturday activation on upper King Street featuring activities like gift wrap stations, cookie making, toy making and more

Partnerships

Forged strong programming partnerships:

• Dept of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities:

Jack Browand and Diane Ruggiero

• Office of the Arts: Anne O’Dell, Regional Director of Events and Public

Space Activations

• Office of Historic Alexandria: Gretchen Bulova, Director

• Private Sector Partners: Founding Funders who contributed $175,000 in

matching dollars

Refining the Scope

• Quality over quantity o Focus on higher impact events and activations that

will draw a regional audience, generate media coverage and build image

o What we are not doing: Small events and activations

• Bring events expertise in-house to increase capacity and marketing coordination: hired Elissa Staley, in-house King St. Corridor Events Manager

• Retail groups identify and execute in-store activations;

Visit Alexandria will serve as marketing partner

Defining Support from KSCI

Events and activation support includes one or more of the following:

1. Marketing support

2. Convening stakeholders

3. Event planning support

4. Production support

5. Event producer

Plans for Next Six Months

New Waterfront Park Opening Celebration • Saturday, March 30, 2019

Mirror Mirror Public Art Installation

• March to November

• Portside in Old Town Festivals – Summer & Fall • Pop-up beer gardens • Tall Ship Providence – coming in July

Plans for Next Six Months

Plans for Next Six Months • Events with history experiences

o D-Day Festival o Arrival of the Tall Ship Providence o Seaport Day o Portside in Old Town festivals (summer and fall)

• King Street retail activations o OTBD Cherry Blossom Boutiques Crawl o Old Town [in-store] Carnival o Old Town Cocktail Week o Makers Mile “mini” o Alexandria Sidewalk Sale o OTBD Shop and Stroll o Uptown Block Party

Plans for Next Six Months

• Culinary activations o Carpe DC Old Town Food Tour o Carpe DC Tastes of Spring

Cherry Blossom Food Crawl o Waterfront Beer Gardens o Old Town Cocktail Week o Port City Pub Crawl o Virginia Craft Beer Event at

the Waterfront

Plans for Next Six Months

Marketing Two aspects made possible by the Initiative:

o Promotion of new/improved events o Expanded regional promotion of Old

Town

Promotion of events (varies by event, support includes one or more of the following)

o PR, social media, website event listings o Seasonal event marketing o Paid search and/or paid social o Digital banners, dedicated landing

page, print support

Marketing Promotion of Old Town

• Reintroducing Old Town to the region • Highlighting what’s new and why to

return • Retail component: What’s distinctive

about shopping in Old Town • New creative being developed for

campaign launching in spring 2019 • Channels:

o Expanded paid search and paid social o Digital banners o Print o Street banners

Public Relations & Content Creation

Initiative programs are featured in press releases, media pitches, and digital content for Visit Alexandria’s website, blog, social media, and advertising placements. • Approach: Curate and amplify • Individual focus on major stories

o Hosting media, social media influencers, etc.

• Broader trends and themes • Seasonal content • Cool factor: Why Alexandria and why now?

Metro Improvement Project Response

• Hotel impact forecast: 13.5% RevPAR $8.6 million in hotel revenue $576 thousand in hotel tax

receipts

• Mitigation Plans: o Travel options flyer o “Love Your Summer” Hotel

Package o Free unlimited ride water

taxi pass o Free Key to the City

museum pass o Free hotel parking

Thank You

VisitAlexandriaVA.com