Lowe's Says 'No'
Last year, the Concord, NC street that takes hundreds of thousands of racing fans to Lowe's Motor speedway was re-named Bruton C. Smith Boulevard in honor of the Speedway Motorsports Inc. owner. Next year, the track itself will undergo a name change as well. On Thursday, Lowe's announced that it will not renew its naming rights for the Concord speedway.
Lowe's brokered exclusive naming rights with SMI in 1999, making Lowe's Motor speedway the first major naming-rights deal of a NASCAR track. The partnership has been viewed by many as a success, as the fairly young Lowe's brand has enjoyed exposure to millions of NASCAR fans for nearly a decade. But, but as priorities and budgets shift to survive in the recession, so too will the marketing resources of the company.
According to a NASCAR press release, SMI owner Bruton Smith expects the track to work to find a new title sponsor. If a new sponsor can't be found, the track's name will revert to Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Of course, this is not the only corporate sponsorship to dissolve within the past year. Professional sports across the board are having more trouble holding on to their lucrative deals with companies, specifically those in the financial and automobile industry. With this decline, yet another reflection of a downturned economy, might we see the pendulum swing back to a world of stadiums and fields without corporate monikers?
If so, which sports venues would you like to see returned to their original names?
Contributed by: Maghan Cook
Ballantyne Turnaround
Remember the phrase, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it?”
Not anymore. Just yards away from our Charlotte location you can find yet another example of business responding to Americans' new appreciation of frugality.
The Ballantyne Resort (owned by Bissell Family of Companies, which developed our Charlotte home, the Ballantyne Corporate Park) has changed its name to The Ballantyne Hotel and Lodge. The transition has been taking place over the past two months.
For those not familiar with the area, the Ballantyne neighborhood has become a who's who of Charlotte's corporate and social elite, and the Resort is one of the best places to meet, golf, and stay in the area.
According to an article in the Charlotte Observer, “The luxury meeting place and golf course has officially changed its name to The Ballantyne Hotel and Lodge after hearing from corporate customers who said the term “resort” carried too much of a high-dollar stigma in today's economic and political climate.”
And who can blame them? After public and congressional backlash from recent corporate retreat /Read more
Quack for a Cause
If you’re looking for something fun to do this weekend check out Kindermourn’s Duck Race at the U.S. National Whitewater Center. A local non-profit agency that assists parents who have lost children, Kindermourn established the duck race five years ago to raise awareness and funds for their organization. The race enlists adopted rubber duckies in a healthy watersport competition, each competing for the grand prize: A Smart Fortwo car generously donated by Felix Sabates’ Smart Center in Charlotte.
The Fifth Annual Hope Floats Duck Race
Sunday, April 19, 2009
U.S. National Whitewater Center
2:00 to 5:00 PM
AW Helping Hands Spring 2009 Event
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On Saturday, March 7th, AW Helping Hands participated in the 1st Annual Extreme Mission Makeover at the Charlotte Rescue Mission. The Charlotte Rescue Mission helps individuals caught in the cycle of poverty, homelessness, and chemical addictions. Click here to learn more about this organization.
The goals for the Extreme Mission Makeover were to repurpose a basement into 6 dorm rooms and a bathroom, re-carpet a classroom, paint multiple rooms, repurpose the gym, and landscape the grounds. Volunteers from Addison Whitney, Bella Tunno, and Ashland Custom Homes were split upRead more
Queen’s Feast – Charlotte Restaurant Week
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It’s that delicious time of year, when you can sample some of Charlotte’s best restaurants without spending all your Christmas cash. For one, scrumptious week you can indulge with a 3-course, prix fixe dinner menu for only $30 per person (not including tax and gratuity).
Check here for a list of participating restaurants. Reservations, which are highly recommended, can be gobbled up at OpenTable.com.
Campus Equity
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As a North Carolina native, I’ve always considered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to be synonymous with “UNC.” It was the first public university in the United States, and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century. The institution itself owns the trademark for UNC, as well as the domain name.
The University of North Carolina family of schools actually has 16 different university campuses, most with disparate brands. Some institutions utilize a brand extension approach to identify themselves as part of the University of North Carolina family, including Asheville (UNCA), Charlotte (UNCC), Greensboro (UNCG), Pembroke (UNCP), and Wilmington (UNCW). But with other constituents of the University of North Carolina family adopting a different style of naming (Appalachian State, NC State, East Carolina, etc), it looks like the system needs some consistent brand standards. Does the brand extension approach for some universities imply that they are simply an additional campus of the main school and not their own entity? And do those universities that distance themselves in naming structure from the UNC family heritage do a disservice to their students and alumni?
Read more
AW Lends a Helping Hand
Each year, thousands of volunteers join forces at “Hands On Charlotte Day” to make a huge impact on the local community. On October 18, volunteers participated in dozens of projects, from beautifying area schools and parks to sorting clothing and food donations and much more.
Addison Whitney employees and their families joined in on the fun as part of a new corporate initiative called “AW Helping Hands.” We started our day with a kick-off celebration at the EpiCentre (Charlotte's newest Uptown hot spot). Starbuck’s coffee helped take off the chill at the open air pavilion, so we could listen to words of inspiration and get revved up for our day of hard work. Speakers included County Commissioner Jennifer Roberts and US Olympic Women's Basketball coach Anne Donovan. From there, we all dispersed to our individual project sites.
Our team’s project was at Irwin Avenue Elementary. We were asked to help beautify the school grounds by re-mulching playgrounds, pulling weeds, planting flowers and shrubs, and building planter benches. Our team did a fantastic job and had a lot of fun! We worked hard to see that everything was done well and looked great. Click here to see photos!
About Hands On Charlotte:
Founded in 1991, Hands On Charlotte, a nonprofit volunteer service organization, provides individuals, families, businesses and community groups with volunteering opportunities that are flexible, rewarding and fun. Over the years, they have become Charlotte's number one source for volunteering, engaging thousands of volunteers annually. Hands On Charlotte is an affiliate of HandsOn Network.
Spooktastic Events
Branders and marketers take full advantage of creating names for holiday events, as evidenced by the plethora of Halloween-inspired names this year. Take a peek at some examples in the Queen City:
Scarowinds
Adding one letter to the original brand offers instant brand recognition
Boo at the Zoo
Rhyming adds memorability
The Amazing Maize Maze
Not necessarily Halloween-related, but homonyms are always fun
In other areas, you can find:
Halloween Spooktacular (SeaWorld)
MetroBoo (Miami Metro Zoo)
Monster Splash (Miami Seaquarium)
Howl-o-Ween (various canine-inspired Halloween parties)
What are some other Halloween-inspired brands or event names you’ve seen this year?
Addison Whitney creates Welvista name for CommuniCare
CommuniCare, a non-profit healthcare network based in Columbia, South Carolina, recently engaged Addison Whitney to develop a new corporate identity after announcing plans to expand the organization nationally. Addison Whitney created the name Welvista for CommuniCare. The name change was announced on October 1st 2008. For more information please www.welvista.com.
Contributed by Laine Beyerl
Oktoberfest Fakts
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So we’ve all heard of this wild sixteen day festival, but do we really know the history behind it? What once began as a royal wedding celebration has overtime transformed into millions of beer-drinking, pretzel-eating friends pouring into Munich and places all around the world for the time of their lives.
Below are some fun fakts that the average joe doesn’t know:
• The original purpose was to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810.
• It began as an organized horserace in Munich, Bavaria (Germany), which included about 40,000 guests (seems minute compared to the roughly 6 million that now attend the event).
• It may be called Oktoberfest, but the event actually starts in September and ends on the first weekend of October. (this year starts September 20th)
• Theresienwiese is the name of the field on which the festival is held in Germany.
• It has been canceled 24 times due to war, disease, and other emergencies.
• Cincinnati, Ohio, which claims to host the "largest authentic Oktoberfest" in the U.S. attracts nearly 500,000 people each year.
Get more fakts here!
Don’t worry if you can’t manage to make it to Germany this year to join the festivities because there are plenty of opportunities to celebrate on a more local level. Visit here for more info, and have fun!
Contributed by: Ashley Hollingsworth