The Ybor City Community Redevelopment Area (CRA), a division of the City of Tampa’s Development and Economic Opportunity Department, facilitates the development, redevelopment, economic revitalization, and general improvement of Ybor City’s Historic District.
In April 2016, the City of Tampa named HCP Associates the marketing firm of record for the Ybor City CRA. In May 2016, HCP took overall marketing for the district and simultaneously launched an assessment to understand development priorities from resident and worker perspectives. Learning from visitors, residents, workers, business owners, and community leaders helped shape the strategy and call attention to the district’s broader offerings to help grow its diverse community through additional economic development efforts. In addition, this process shaped the communication tools HCP used to communicate the assets of Ybor City. Once the strategy was defined and our foundational marketing plan was agreed to, the creative team refreshed the brand message and launched the website, fueled by the messages that rose to the top during the assessment. In addition to the marketing plan, our public relations professionals worked with CRA and city officials to devise a Crisis Management Plan. HCP made recommendations regarding the structure of the CRA committees, again ensuring that their focus matched the demands of the district’s stakeholders. During our first eight months of involvement with the Ybor City CRA, social media engagement increased by 121 percent, positive comments on stories increased by 300 percent, relevant post shares increased by 23 percent, and our summer campaign tripled the number of people reached the previous year on a 50 percent smaller budget.
HCP Associates won numerous awards for both the “More in Ybor” and The Heart of Tampa” campaigns. HCP received multiple Radiance Awards from the Public Relations Society of America, the Roy F. Kenzie Award for Promotion Excellence by the Florida Redevelopment Association, and The Planning & Design Award of Excellence from the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission
To date, HCP Associates has served 8 years as the strategic communications firm of record for the Ybor City CRA and the City of Tampa. Some noted accomplishments include but are not limited to:
Previous work
- Conducted the CRA’s biannual resident and workers studies since 2016 (2016, 2018, 2021, and 2023)
- Created and implemented the CRA’s crisis communications plan
- Created three website designs from start to finish to highlight the resources available to businesses and residents in Ybor City through the CRA
- Created two short-form video series, Faces of Ybor and Voices of Ybor, to highlight community leaders, programs, and redevelopment efforts in the district
- Created, launched, and maintained the award-winning “More in Ybor” and “The Heart of Tampa” campaigns
- Hosted the “HeART of Ybor Community Arts Contest” and the Ybor City Summer Photo Contest for 4 years
- Launched the COVID-19 Small Business and Workers Survey to capture data and sentiments during an economically challenging time
- Created national stories for publications that feature urban and historic revitalization
- HCP developed all branding, positioning, and creative content for all mediums
Ongoing work
- Serve as Strategic Communications Provider via RFP Process
- Maintain all media relations with the City of Tampa Communications team
- Monitors all media content 24/7/365 to ensure reporting is accurate and follows CRA boundaries and official city departments like TPD, TFD, Emergency Services, etc.
- HCP monitors all social media trends to forecast citizen sentiment
- Create and maintain the CRA’s quarterly newsletter “The Ybor Legend”
- Create short-form video content distributed on social media to highlight new developments, businesses, and programs available to Ybor City residents and business and property owners
- Create and maintain Ybor FLASH emails, short-form communications to quickly inform residents, businesses and property owners, and others about important community information
- Develop community partners and engage in community town halls and CAC meetings.
