Ad students' advice: park it downtown
A year ago, a group of advertising students developed a promotional campaign called "Do It Downtown." Now a group of advertising students is developing a campaign to encourage people to "park it downtown."
The Downtown Lincoln Association was so pleased with the results of the "Do It Downtown" promotion, that they returned to the college for help when they needed to promote parking in downtown garages and lots.
"The whole thing came about because of 'Do It Downtown,'" said Polly McMullen, director of the Downtown Lincoln Association. The City of Lincoln has contracted with the DLA and the college to market and promote the availability of parking in downtown Lincoln.
By the time the contract was ready to go, the spring semester had begun, and it was too late to assign the project to one of the advertising campaigns classes as the "Do It Downtown" campaign had been. So advertising faculty members Nancy Mitchell, Stacy James and Phyllis Larsen organized a group of graduate students to take on the project.
Work began in late January, and the campaign is expected to be ready to go in September, McMullen said. DLA has hired Heather Rempe, one of the graduate students, to implement the plan.
The campaign has three goals, McMullen said: to increase the use of parking garages and lots downtown; to increase parking revenues; and to support downtown revitalization by increasing people's positive perspectives about parking.
"Parking is a huge negative in downtown," she said. Lincoln residents are so convinced they'll have a hard time parking in the downtown area that they aren't even aware of the increased number of public garages the city has built in recent years.
It's not enough just to build the garages, McMullen said. "We have to tell people where they are make them affordable and usable."
Gary Lorenzen of Wiese Research, Lincoln, has been advising the graduate students on some parts of the project. For instance, McMullen said, he planned back-to-back focus groups during May; Lorenzen facilitated the first focus group while the students watched. Then the students took over and facilitated the next round.
Mitchell and McMullen agreed that the project will benefit both the students and the city. And both were enthusiastic about the collaboration among the city, the DLA, the college and the garage management firm.
