| Name | Sybil |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Topel |
| Home Address | 811 Broad Street Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402 United States |
| Organization Name | Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | As Vice President of Marketing and Communications, I lead a team that promotes Chattanooga as a destination for capital investment and talent, with a specific focus on economic inclusion. |
| Organization Address | 811 Broad Street Unit 9-H Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402 United States |
| Website | https://chattanoogachamber.com |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 423-994-4956 |
| Alternate Phone Number | 423-710-6662 |
| Email Address | chachamber.smtopel@gmail.com |
| Alternate Email Address | mclaintopel@gmail.com |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | Chattanooga Story Studio Creative Concept Opportunities Equitable access to audio and video storytelling will strengthen our entire community. The Chattanooga Story Studio will provide a unique place to champion the stories of those who stand to benefit the most from new visibility: small businesses, businesses owned by People of Color, Women, Veterans, those with disabilities. As their businesses grow and expand, our entire community prospers. When business owners have access to telling their stories, they reach more customers – local, national, global. To increase access and equity, the Chattanooga Story Studio will work to ensure at least 40% of the businesses highlighted in Chattanooga Chamber programming are small or diverse businesses. Economic inclusion and access are core goals for the team and many community partners who will advance the Studio’s work. Storytelling experts and content creators will work closely with businesses to create content that’s interesting, interactive and developed with the precise goal of driving memory and action. Additionally, the Story Studio will offer small-scale, affordable services to small and diverse businesses, something most if not all local production companies are not able to do at an affordable cost. This serves the dual purpose of increasing access and skill-building skills so businesses can more effectively engage with local media and production companies in the future. Thus creating a more equitable media environment and ensuring that more diverse stories are told. In the public relations landscape of business, this new opportunity will help business people tell their stories more effectively – and that offers a potentially double payday. First: expanding their marketing reach to new and potential customers while at the same time improving their own marketing skills. Second: this work will broadcast a more accurate picture of our entire community by embracing and lifting up a wide diversity of businesses and the families and employees they support. As the pandemic proved well, early access to accurate information helped save many small businesses. For example, understanding how and when to apply for loans, something the Chamber offered through free, interactive online video. The Studio will expand equitable access to accurate information by offering interviews with elected officials and others who can connect businesses with resources as we work our way to recovery and rebuild momentum. By featuring and working with more businesses run by People of Color, Women, Veterans and those with disabilities, the Studio process and outreach will directly connect more people with the resources that can help them most. Engaging an audience, and keeping them engaged, is achieved through the delivery of original, high-quality, diverse, community-nuanced content. The larger community, in addition to the business community, must share and participate in storytelling in order to drive memory and sharing – basically word-of-mouth as a best practice to increasing visibility. Visuals are crucial to help make the content skimmable and easy to remember – and research shows that compelling images work as a powerful memory driver. While the Chamber Foundation and staff have made concerted efforts in the past 10 years to feature minority-owned businesses in stories and publications, these new tools will expand their ability. Our commitment to economic inclusion and equity goals appears throughout Velocity 2040 and Chattanooga Climbs talent and economic development planning documents. The Studio provides a broader platform from which to operate to reach key economic inclusion and equity goals outlined in these plans. Engaging content has the power to influence decision-making more than any other technique. Today’s media landscape resembles a diffuse information network that consumers engage with at different entry points throughout the day. Investing the time to create and curate content is essential to Chattanooga’s ability to activate and engage influencers within that network. Background and Challenges Mainstream media channels keep shrinking, making it ever-more challenging to tell Chattanooga’s story beyond our region – to regional, national and international audiences. Thus making it tougher to reach site selectors, investors, job-seekers, and potential new clients for our area businesses. This will only increase generation after generation unless we work together to change the outcome. In addition, media coverage skews toward larger companies and small businesses often lack the resources and know-how to effectively reach potential customers, funders, and business influencers. In terms of local reach, small and diverse businesses do not have equitable access to media channels. The diversity gap isn’t just a problem of opportunity, it’s also a problem of connection and inclusivity. We believe mainstream media, and some social media channels, are contributing to the diversity divide. Diverse and inclusive communities are building private communities on social media to more casually share content and engage their followers. Chattanooga and Hamilton County compete with other mid-sized cities and larger cities, which routinely deploy and enjoy public relations advantages while also paying influencers to promote their stories on social media channels around the world. Whereas Chattanooga lost its Associated Press bureau decades ago and also does not have weekly or daily Business Journal coverage – outlets that could export business news to reach key audiences. Relying on mainstream media also limits the Chattanooga Chamber’s ability to tell a comprehensive, positive story. Reaching target audiences as part of our economic and talent development work has become ever more important. Cutting through clutter is critical and requires new thinking and innovative approaches. Partnerships Once funded, we will work closely with key partners whose missions also include advancing the positive stories, research and development taking place in Chattanooga and Hamilton County. Ensuring wider content lanes and diversity in stories enables us to reach the widest audience. We envision our video and audio studios as central, community-serving places to rehearse storytelling, practice and refine those skills and talents. Thus championing start-ups, business owners and entrepreneurs. As our storytelling skills as a community thrive and grow, people will ‘graduate’ from the Studio and advance to the next level of commercial success. At this point in the eco-system, graduates would engage with one or more of our local content creation companies. Strategic partnerships will certainly include those interested in producing their own podcasts and video series. Making the studio space available to them is step one of this approach. Step two is featuring the content they produce on the far-reaching networks of the Chattanooga Chamber. This will serve as a force multiplier and establish message authenticity. Essentially, this becomes a podcast network, publishing more stories than we could ever produce on our own and creating greater brand awareness for Chattanooga. Timing The time is now. Many studies show communities that prospered after a recession or other similar crisis spent that time focused on research, development and innovative ideas. They invested when times were tough. We are that community and now is the time to help our small businesses shine. Talent The Chattanooga Chamber works with a network of best-in-class, subject-matter experts and excels at convening collaborators to get things done. This includes: • communications volunteers with niche and broad expertise, including start-up and smart- tech support organizations such as The Enterprise Center, Co.Lab and the INCubator; • marketing/communications agencies committed to our community, including Izell Marketing, the Sasha Group, and The Johnson Group • talent development centers including UTC and Chattanooga State • place-making and attraction experts including River City Co. and Chattanooga Tourism Co. • key employers including EPB, TVA, BlueCross BlueShield of TN, and • Velocity2040 community vision planning partners such as the Urban League, La Paz, and United Way, and • key organizations who continue to this day their commitment to expanding our economic and talent development goals as established in the Chattanooga Climbs 5-year plan, a plan that included the work of more than 800 people through more than 900 hours of community meetings • Chattanooga Chamber staff, including Sybil Topel, MFA, IOM, Vice President, Marketing and Communications; Jeremy Henderson, Senior Director, Creative Services; Eric Lisica, Internet Content Manager; and Abdiel Vallejo, Marketing Communications Manager. Outcomes By reaching more job seekers, investors, decision-makers, employers, and site selectors, we will help people thrive and businesses grow, expanding our ability to serve all of our community – especially small and medium-sized businesses and their employees. Through continued work with our colleagues at Development Counsellors International, these stories will spread to wider, national and international audiences. Driving outcomes like the 1.3 billion media impressions that we achieved, last year. Studio Goals The Chattanooga Story Studio will tell Chattanooga’s story and expand the Chattanooga brand as a forward-thinking community always seeking to innovate, connect, and create; and to attract and retain top talent and investment. Goals include: 1. Tell the stories of our businesses and the people behind them, Chattanooga residents and their impact on our economy 2. Increase access and equity by ensuring that at least 40% of businesses highlighted in our own programming are small or diverse businesses 3. Garner more reach to position our region as the best place for talent, jobs and entrepreneurship and an economically inclusive, welcoming business eco-system 4. Deliver information that helps businesses grow and people thrive 5. Relay relevant information to area stakeholders 6. Create a revenue-generating opportunity (advertising sponsorship opportunities/studio rental/etc.) Strategy Economic inclusion and leadership advancement are core components of the Velocity2040 community-wide visioning survey where nearly 5,000 residents expressed dreams and hopes for our future, as well as the Chattanooga Climbs plan. Chattanooga Story Studio content will advance these strategies through effective storytelling. Storytelling experts and content creators are prepared to take a strategic lead to develop content that is interesting, interactive and developed with the essential goal of driving memory and action. The Chattanooga Story Studio will be a resource for both the Chattanooga Chamber, and the community as a whole. A tool that will help tell Chattanooga’s story, both locally and around the globe. The content we produce will educate, inform, and entertain. While also establishing the Chattanooga brand as a forward-thinking community with an eye toward what’s next. Tactics • Create memory-driving, easy-to-share stories of how our businesses and smart technologies work and the people who make them work – those who through their success are supporting families and promoting prosperity • Share stories broadly to position our region as the best for talent, jobs and entrepreneurship • Relay relevant information through stories to business influencers and stakeholders Content Types Legislative Updates – Regular update featuring Public Policy VP work and what legislation to watch, especially legislation that impacts businesses. Council Check-in – By their nature the Chamber Councils include and cover the entire geography of Hamilton County. Once-per-month update with a given Council on what they’ve been doing in their communities. Could also highlight members who fall within said Council’s footprint. Chattanooga Works Podcast – Interviews with local officials and subject-matter experts on topics of interest to businesses. Weekly Round-up – A weekly, short, video round-up of articles, podcasts, videos and events. Member Highlights (WTCI) – A regular audio program (produced in partnership with WTCI) featuring member businesses and how they give back to the community. Scenic City Study Guide – A complete library of training and best-practice videos, featuring Chamber members and experts in a wide variety of fields. This library could be kept behind a pay-wall, accessible only by Chamber members. Makers – A video series featuring INCubator clients, or other start-ups who “make” things doing short tutorials. For instance, Cocoa Asante, a woman-owned start-up, would talk about building a family legacy business. (Owner Ella Livingston sources her cocoa from family-owned farms in Ghana and can talk passionately about what motivates her to grow the business – her young daughter.) She is truly growing generational change right here in Hamilton County. New Contract Participating businesses will commit to helping promote pieces that feature them – and this in turn enhances their marketing practices. This includes: • share on all social media platforms within 7 days of release • share internally with your employees • share in relevant external newsletter Budget The Chamber seeks $300,000 to support the purchase and installation of necessary equipment for the Chattanooga Story Studio. These funds will be used exclusively for the purchase and installation of equipment. The Chamber will self-fund or look to other sources for construction and soundproofing costs. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | Households, workers, impacted industries and especially the small businesses that provide jobs are trying to recover and this work will help the businesses by reaching more customers and help fill jobs by reaching new target audiences. By reaching more job seekers and investors we will help people thrive. As well, we seek to increase access and equity by ensuring that at least 40% of businesses highlighted are small or diverse businesses. |
| Where would your project take place? | 811 Broad Street for production and recording. Target audiences will be external to the region and also local to our market. |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 600000 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | Yes |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | We will be asking private investors with a track record for investing in our community to help fund the construction. |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | We are asking the City to provide funding for equipment. We will find matching dollars for construction. The Chamber seeks $300,000 to support the purchase and installation of necessary equipment for the Chattanooga Story Studio. These funds will be used exclusively for the purchase and installation of equipment. The Chamber will self-fund or look to other sources for construction and soundproofing costs. |
| If funded, when would your project start? | May 2, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | 10/31/2022 |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | Meeting construction timeline for buildout, developing public relations plan for story concepts and interview subjects, measuring impact through impressions on various social media platforms. All work relates to standards set for economic inclusion. As well, we have set ambitious, intentional goals for focusing our efforts on helping businesses and employees of businesses owned by people of color, women, veterans and those with disabilities. |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | Because the stories produced as part of the Story Studio will all be shared with the general public, there is inherent transparency and accountability. All work will be available to the public. In addition, we can provide reports showing the number of businesses and people interviewed and stories shared. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | Many businesses suffered loss of revenue and employee loss throughout the pandemic phases. Our goals are clearly focused on stemming those losses and helping businesses recover and regain momentum. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | Our organization has a 135-year track record of trust and accountability. Throughout the pandemic we offered free video seminars where business owners could ask local and national experts questions about the best way to keep employees safe and healthy during the pandemic and we helped them as they sought information on federal loans and programs. We know people tuned in and came to rely on these sessions as we measured the increase in participation. In recent years, through the research the Chamber lead with both Velocity 2040 community-wide planning and Chattanooga Climbs, nearly 5000 people - in every single zip code of Hamilton County - shared their dreams for our future. Chattanooga Climbs involved more than 800 people and 900 hours of meetings. Through those two processes we gained substantial community buy-in. And we will continue to build good will through economic inclusion and outreach. When the Story Studio is complete, we will tell the story of the Story Studio and how people can work with it through the people and trusted businesses who are hiring and training workers. |
| Name | Christy Gillenwater |
| Contact Information | chachamber.cgillenwater@gmail.com |
| Name | Jeremy Henderson |
| Contact Information | chachamber.jhenderson@gmail.com |
| Name | Lorne Steedley |
| Contact Information | chachamber.lsteedley@gmail.com |
| Name | Cheryl Millsaps |
| Contact Information | chachamber.cmillsaps@gmail.com |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? | We have completed a full budget estimate on equipment, which was created in a spreadsheet. We would be delighted to share this via e-mail. Here is a DropBox link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0ay2bhchy3o2cw7k6mwdd/Equipment-Budget.docx?dl=0&rlkey=23f8it6hb20tn7a84j9riremo |