Melissa Ross
A certain city in Texas is known by three simple words: “Keep Austin Weird.”
Chicago is the Second City.
New Orleans, post-Katrina, is still music and fun and good times.
Even little ol’ Chattanooga, Tennessee is making strides in creating a definable brand.
In other words, cities across the country know the value of branding (just as politicians do). A strong brand means tourism, dollars, (both public and private) — in short, success.
For years, though, Jacksonville — the largest city by land mass in the country and a major Florida metropolis — has suffered from a distinct lack of branding, languishing in the shadows of the glamor of Miami’s South Beach, Orlando’s Disney magic, and Tampa’s Gulf Coast flair.
If anything, Jacksonville’s brand was not Florida — so much as an extra slice of South Georgia. Sleepy, Southern, and critics charge — backward.
But now, the money and muscle in North Florida is betting on One Spark to perhaps, finally change that dynamic.
Says developer Peter Rummell, a primary festival backer, “If you say Orlando, Miami, or Austin to somebody, then you get sort of a spark of some kind.”
“One Spark has been extremely beneficial as a way to brand the city,” he told the festival’s #IgniteMedia News Bureau.
Rummell been in Jacksonville since the 1970s and formerly ran the St. Joe Co. A Republican, he famously backed Alvin Brown for mayor in 2011, and just as dramatically switched his support to Lenny Curry in 2015.
Just as Rummell bets on political horses, he’s staked a lot of cash on One Spark winning the branding race. Local observers think the event can go a long way toward achieving that goal.
“It’s as much a party as it is a business and innovation fest. There are good reasons for people to come,” said John Burr, former editor of the Jacksonville Business Journal.
One Spark, known as the “World’s First Crowdfunding Festival,” should attract about 250,000 people to Jacksonville’s downtown during the next five days. The event’s third year will feature big speakers such as Jack Welch, a massive party atmosphere, and plenty of venture capital attracted to the ideas and energy at this affair. Of the 550 “creators” registered, 150 come from out of state. Think tech-savvy millennials — the polar opposite of Jacksonville’s traditional image.
“A lot of people were surprised by the atmosphere and the fun last year,” Burr said. “I think the organizers now are really trying to up the innovation part of it and make that a signature, especially for drawing people in from other states. They’ve got to shoot to be Florida’s innovation festival — then the Southeast’s innovation festival. Those are the marks they’ve got to hit. That takes topping yourself each year, and also creating a buzz outside of the region, that gets people to say, ‘I’ve got to go to Jacksonville because that’s where the real innovation people are.'”
One Spark did hold a satellite event in Berlin, which technically takes Jacksonville’s brand to the global stage. But in the future, it’s the homegrown feel of the event that is attracting buy-in from creators, vendors, volunteers and the money men behind the scenes, Burr said.
“I really believe the best is yet to come for this festival,” he said. “And the way you’ll see that is, other entities are going to start to attach themselves. There will be different activities piggybacking off One Spark happening at the same time in Jacksonville. That will create even more attraction.”
