Marketing Civic Duty and Helping Your Community

This weekend, at 9 AM the Church of Scientology sponsored a "clean up the city" event where dozens of volunteers from the community, including the Vice-Mayor of the City of Clearwater and his election opponent this autumn, Jay Polglaze.  It was a nice brisk morning making the walking around the city that we did very relaxing, while others were businesses and election candidates did their own personal marketing for promotion.

We started across the street from Coachman Park in Downtown Clearwater, and divided into three groups of volunteers, each with a different zone around the city.  Groups of us went up North Ft. Harrison and down South Ft. Harrison, while the third group went down the business district in Downtown Clearwater. 

This was the group my family was with and starting at the corner of Ft. Harrison and Cleveland Street by the old, historic bank building, we headed east down Cleveland street picking up trash and cleaning windows as we went.  Sadly, you notice how many vacant buildings and offices there actually are, but the positive side is that there is a much cleaner feel to the sidewalks and streets of Clearwater this quiet Monday morning.  

                                                                                                 

As you can see, it wasn't just City officials and business men who participated in the event, but also local children and adolescents who have parents instilling in them a sense of civic duty and who found it fun, like my two year old who  loved running around picking up garbage and throwing it away.  The amount of hand sanitizer we used.... 

These are just some of the things that you can do to get involved in your community, promote your own businesses and make the areas we live in nicer.

Thanks to everyone who came out and helped keep Clearwater clean!

This may be news to some of you who are not gamers, or not big YouTube users, or born before 1990. But on the internet, there is a massively popular type of video called a “Let’s Play.”

The name, as far as I know, comes from the phrase “Let’s Play (INSERT GAME NAME HERE)” because that’s exactly what they are. It’s a video of someone else playing a game. The whole game sometimes, from start to finish, with commentary put over it.

And I know that seems, confusing...baffling. I think there was even a South Park episode making fun of it at one point. But, it is a thing, and it is popular, and I am a fan. Which is why I thought I’d discuss this a bit.

Because, if you look around Clearwater, you will see a few GameStop locations, and in Countryside Mall there’s also - in addition to GameStop - another store called GameXChange. And I wonder, how do Let’s Play videos affect those stores and their sales?

Because there are two sides to this. The first is that these videos sometimes get upwards of a couple million views. And you would assume that’s gold, publicity-wise. It’s essentially a celebrity endorsement. It’s serious marketing potential.

But the second, the flip-side, is that though more people know about the game, they might also feel no need to play it once they’ve seen it all. Like, when it comes to me, I’ve used Let’s Plays as a substitute for purchasing a game. And I imagine I’m not the only one.

So, as you can see, it’s up in the air. But, there is one thing that leans me towards it being a beneficial marketing scenario.

And that, is a digital download horror game called Five Nights at Freddy’s, which made its creator a stupid amount of money, and became one of the most popular choices for Let’s Plays. The game was so successful, it spawned three sequels.

So, it’s yet to be seen how this will all play out. Perhaps, Five Nights at Freddy’s was an exception. Right time, right place. Or maybe this doesn't translate to physical sales. Or maybe...it’s part of the opening act of something a little different. A form of art that is itself a marketing method.

But, really, only time will tell.

---

If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com.  

Being gluten intolerant it isn't always the easiest thing to find a place to eat where you aren't limited to salads, which I personally get more than a little sick of. Variety definitely is the spice of life, especially when it comes to food. We were at a gig at the nearby Fubar, and we had a limited amount of time to find and choose and eat our food before the band we had come to see started playing.

The bar looked pretty trendy from the outside, and when we went inside the staff were really friendly. We sat down, they brought the menus, and we asked them what was good and gluten free. When you are told that everything in the place is gluten free apart from the beer at the bar, it is an unusual experience; raw, vegan, and gluten free - not something you are going to find in too many places. It's great because it means that instead of having to dig and cherry pick different parts of the menu to construct a custom menu that won't have you feeling bad for days after, you instead can choose anything you like.

Well, within reason. We were there late, and they had had a bit of a rush on, so our first choices weren't available. The barman was helpful, and he told us what they had and what was going to be easy and quick for him to prepare, and he made some recommendations based on his own favorites on the menu. When you genuinely see that the staff like eating their own food it is a definite good indicator. The Pad Thai was great, as was the soup - Gazpacho; and the kombucha, which they had on tap, really hit the spot.

I definitely want to go back there at some point - it was a relaxed atmosphere, the seating was comfortable, and the staff and the food make it a definite instant favorite.

Lions After Dark played their last gig this Saturday - it was a very celebratory gig, and I think most of the crowd were friends or family of the band, who have been an integral part of the St Pete music scene for a while now.

Maddie Pfeiffer opened with an acoustic set, which really showcased some of the aspects of her music which draw people in - powerful delivery coupled with great lyrics and a diamond cut melodicism. She was joined on stage by Scott Perez, Andrew Roden, and Kurt throughout this set. Maddie wasn't feeling particularly well, but you wouldn't have known from the performance.

The first support act was WD Han, and Spencer, Lea, and Cal brought some great punchy energy to the stage. WD Han are an exciting band to watch. You have Spencer's powerful vocals, coupled with some nice virtuoso turns on the guitar from Cal, and Lea's never less than impressive drumming. You get swept along watching and listening to them - Cal even gave us a little bit of a Hendrix thing (playing the guitar with his teeth).

I'm going to detour for a second to give some of my own personal history with the bands here - I used to work with Spencer and Maddie, and they were given to impromptu performances sometimes ... Spencer pulling out his guitar, and Maddie with a tiny wooden piano, and sometimes we would get previews of their latest tunes. I got hooked to the sound of both bands from that point, but scheduling issues meant I never got to see them live ... I just had the digital recordings for the longest time ... so, this was a real treat (and I got to pick up CDs as well).

So, the next act up was Kerry Courtney, who by his own account was in a transitional state with his band. They were the only band on the roster that I wasn't familiar with, but I really enjoyed their sound - which kind of reminded me of Jeff Buckley, but with a sensibility reminiscent of some melodic seventies rock band like The Byrds, or maybe The Band. I believe they played the longest set outside of Lions, and it was compelling throughout. I now have some of their music to listen to at home as well.

Lions After Darks last album Loud was a heavier effort than their previous outing - a new direction that translates really well to a live setting. It was interesting to see the band and understand what a captivating front-person Maddie is; I mean, if you speak to her you know she's whip-smart and funny, but she really commands the audience when she is up on that stage.

As a live band Lions After Dark really amp up the emotional rawness present in their music, and Kurt's pounding rhythms really drive that home. You watch the band up there on stage and you see how cohesive they are, and you can see the chemistry that always made their music so interesting. It's interesting when your first experience of a band playing live is their last gig, and I know I wasn't the only one experiencing this - you get pretty excited and then the bittersweet nature of the affair hits you.

The cool thing though? The thing that is patently obvious if you have been watching the band for any length of time at all - whatever anyone in this band does next, it is going to be something worth listening to. You can't cage that much energy - so maybe not so much a last roar, as just the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next.

DO YOU THINK CLEARWATER BEACH IS THE BEST IN THE US? WE DO!