Are You Experienced? Marketing Parks And Recreation In The New Millennium - an increasing interest in, and availability of, recreation facilities

Parks & Recreation, Sept, 1999 by Ellen O'Sullivan

When you create a balance between the up- and downsides of this new economy, you could conclude that if the parks and recreation profession decides to make a concerted effort, we could leverage our ability to create experiences for all kinds of people. This could be the opportunity we've been waiting for. Some suggestions for getting departments started cashing in on years of delivering experiences include:

* Explore alternatives with corporations and nonprofits to sponsor events as a means of connecting them with valuable but hard-to-reach target markets.

* Outreach through information resources.

* Examine ways to more effectively meet the needs of people who have experienced life changes such as empty-nest syndrome or the death of a spouse.

* Consider ways in which the activities, programs, facilities, and services of parks and recreation are different and, therefore, desirable for the public.

* Identify the market position that your agency or public parks and recreation department holds in the eyes of various consumer groups that speak to those inner needs.

* Refocus your efforts and experiences toward meeting the critical and important needs of individuals and communities.

If you think that parks and recreation doesn't have what it takes to become a frontrunner in experience marketing, think again. Experiences can be simple. Experiences don't necessarily have to be lavish productions or dependent upon advances in technology. If experiences meet the inner or psychic needs of people, they become effective tools of experience marketing. Consider the ways in which some departments have already incorporated experiences into their marketing mix:

* The Tampa (Fla.) Recreation Departments turns summer Fridays into Big Truck and Equipment Play Day for city playground participants.

* Nickelodeon teamed up with departments from across the country, including Tucson, Ariz., and East Hartford, Conn., to film youth involved with park improvement projects.

* The Long Beach (Calif.) Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine's series of well-attended summer concerts encourages people to relax in the outdoors and meet their neighbors.

* The Sarasota County (Fla.) Department of Parks and Recreation received rave reviews when it "when to the dogs" with its canine parks.

* The Morale, Welfare and Recreation Department at the Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine, designed a "recreation mall" that converts to accommodate both the weekday needs of single sailors and weekend use by families.

* Santa Barbara (Calif.) Parks and Recreation's Sensory Garden is a one-of-a-kind experience.

* The Phoenix Department of Parks, Recreation and Library's teen centers are one-stop facilities with accessible social services, as well as safe alternatives for recreation and socialization.

* The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute partnered with the National Recreation and Park Association, North Carolina Recreation Resources Center, and 12 communities in North Carolina to implement Hearts N' Parks, a recreation program that infuses heart-healthy behaviors into ongoing activities.