Atlantic Station’s hit-and-miss with Georgia Tech, Midtown

You may also like...

6 Responses

  1. Kevin says:

    Great post.

    Atlantic Station is so far from the feel of what Atlanta really is. It’s a package brought over from Hollywood. There’s no character, no connection to the city. It’s completely separated and it’s developed as if it wants nothing to do with Atlanta. Locals know that. I much rather head over to TopFlr for dinner and a drink.

    The businesses who are doing great right now are the ones who are able to establish a connection with the city.

    East Atlanta understands that better than anyone else right now. West Midtown is picking up on it too. The Star Provisions area proves that you don’t have to be someone you’re not to own expensive shops/restaurants and maintain a high level of business.

  2. gojackets says:

    Great post! You really have captured the essence of how GT students feel about Atlantic Station. One thing though..

    “Georgia Tech’s brand management policies have probably had an effect on some of it, particularly the business names, but targeted advertising and co-branding are still very viable options for Midtown businesses looking to better capture the Georgia Tech market.”

    GT is extremely protective over its brand. When I say protective, I mean really really over protective. You can’t even have the GT logo/Buzz put on a cake at Publix for someone’s graduation/celebration/whatever. It is just absolutely ridiculous (it may be a reason why you don’t see many supermarkets duplicating what the TCU shops do). Unless management changes their policies, there is no way that “targeted advertising” and “co-branding” can exist in the manner for which you stated. For this point, GT is to blame.

  3. Livvy says:

    I’ll say that the number 1 reason I don’t bother with Atlantic Station is the parking. It’s such a hassle and I honestly don’t want to pay to park and spend money when I can go to other shopping centers and park for free. Even with the 2 hour free it’s a hassle dealing with those stupid tickets. I just stopped randomly going and I enjoy myself elsewhere.

  4. Hillary says:

    @gojackets: Admittedly, Georgia Tech does have some very strict brand management, but the licensing department does provide ways for businesses to provide support with minimal hassle. (The 8-10 week period is a real overestimate in a lot of cases.) However, most people don’t know where to look for all of these policies. (You can get a cake made for graduation! You just need a specific form.) http://licensing.gatech.edu/index.html

    Advertising is a bit trickier, but it is possible to signal to students that you’re their kind of business without stepping on anyone’s intellectual property toes.

  5. Greg says:

    I really enjoyed reading this post, and I think it touched on a lot of the points that always come up when trying to market to a specific population segment or demographic. But was one thing that I don’t agree with.

    -Doesn’t a community of college students (especially smart ones) realize and possibly resent when they’re being \pandered to\? As a young professional not-too-far-removed from college life, I remember laughing at many local business’ ill-advised attempts to capture the market. Gimmicks and uninspired ploys won’t attract students’ attention. As I understand it, they want a few simple things: unique experiences they can’t find on every corner, a cool and welcoming atmosphere, and other interesting people like themselves. The places that successfully do this (local coffee shops, restaurants with interesting concepts) are rewarded with their business, regardless of how far out of their way they go to include the school colors.

    I do completely agree that the Atlantic Station businesses need to be more actively marketing to the GA Tech population via the newspaper, weekly specials, etc. That goes in line with the \welcoming atmosphere\ mentioned before.

    No need to pander, just offer up a good experience!

  6. Bill says:

    If you are black Atlantic station may be the place to be. We live here and experience reverse discrimination on a daily basis. Today we went to Cafe 19 for a nice Sunday lunch. As usual we were the only white couple in the restaurant. The black waitress left us waiting for 20 minutes then she came over to see if we would like to order. While we waited she took care of 4 groups of black customers the Mgr came out on the patio where we were sitting and checked with the black customers and ignored my wife and I. When we finally got our food the order was wrong and the hot sandwiches were cold on the inside.
    We will not be back. If Atlantic Station wants to make a come back the Freek Nic attitude needs to change.