Centro Flash Patch 2015
Background After inclement weather forced the cancellation of our annual fall festival, the Centro San Antonio team needed an innovative solution to distribute 1,000 spare pumpkins, unused festival decorations and fulfill our commitment to the community.
Our Idea Inspired by the popularity of pop up shops and events in urban areas, we saw an opportunity to combine our resources from the fall festival with the popular concept of structured spontaneity. We decided to create flash patches, or pop up pumpkin patches, throughout downtown San Antonio and surrounding neighborhoods to celebrate the fall season and vibrantly engage with our downtown public. With our flash patches, we aimed to bring an iconic fall tradition that is uncommon to urban areas to downtown San Antonio. We sought to improve the vibrancy of celebrating the fall season in downtown San Antonio by place making in focus areas of our downtown district.
Audience We directed our Centro Flash Patch events to enhance the brand personality of Downtown San Antonio to the general public and promote the liveliness of downtown and surrounding neighborhoods during the fall season. Specifically, the campaign was targeted to all those downtown including residents, employees, business owners, and visitors, to strengthen interest in our downtown district by incorporating fall elements like pumpkins and hay bales into the urban experience.
Marketing To leverage the cancelled fall festival marketing efforts and build a new audience for our flash patches, we targeted social media ads, downtown employment centers and community partners to generate buzz about our new events. We amplified earned media attention from local news outlets by interacting with the online community on our social media platforms using the hash tag #centroflashpatch. Media Coverage - http://bit.ly/25cngxi
Innovation Realizing that pumpkin patches are not a part of the typical urban experience, we were able to incorporate rural elements of the fall season into a vibrant and unexpected downtown event. The mobility of our flash patches granted place-making capabilities so that we could turn various areas of downtown San Antonio into living spaces that people would seek out to enjoy.
Replication The concept of structured spontaneity is cost effective, flexible and capable of being reimagined for other themes, events and solutions that other downtown organizations may have need for. The growing popularity and mobility of pop up events allows for a broader reach to a greater audience. Within the scope of pop-up events, place-making capabilities allow downtown organizations to efficiently turn various buildings, landmarks, garages, etc. into dynamic living spaces.
Representation We reached out to our community partners to aid the Centro San Antonio team in the execution of our flash patches. Our community partners assisted in providing spaces, staff, décor and event marketing. With their help, we were able to execute spontaneous, community-wide pumpkin patch events benefitted individuals and families within our downtown community and surrounding neighborhoods.
Sustainability The success of our flash patches initiated additional program ideas that implemented the concept of structured spontaneity. Centro Flash Patches have been installed as a permanent fixture on our fall programming calendar. Pop-up events are scalable, and with more time and planning, we forecast soliciting additional sponsors and an extended reach to families within our downtown community and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Execution Soliciting the help from our community partners provided our Centro San Antonio team with needed spaces, props, and overall assistance to make the flash patches possible. We identified key areas throughout downtown San Antonio and surrounding neighborhoods based on district focus areas and sites that have held pre-existing events.
Outcome The concept of our flash patches was developed initially as a recovery plan for a cancelled event. Our pop up pumpkin patches far exceeded our expectations in terms of traditional and social media interaction, attendance, community partnerships, and in enhancing the downtown experience in San Antonio.