Parkway: 2222 Market
Challenge
As a Philadelphia-based, family-owned and operated company, Parkway Corporation has been embracing the American Dream for over 90 years. Their team has acquired, developed, managed, sold and leased real estate and parking facilities across the United States and Canada for generations. Their most recent development of 2222 Market Street has proven to be an exceptional project, as it is the first non-Comcast-related commercial office building in Philadelphia Central Business District in more than 20 years. It will also be the new local headquarters of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.
Given the current challenges related to COVID, a typical groundbreaking event wouldn’t do. So Parkway turned to Slice to help reinvent the launch and messaging of this important announcement so it could be shared with the community.
Insight
Of course, the most important task was determining the necessary safety precautions and event limitations required by state and city health officials. Once it was clear that we could safely gather a group of pre-registered guests, we started working social distancing, mask mandates, and proper sanitization into our plan. We began by creating a strategic roadmap that outlined the roles, processes and timelines needed to get a launch event of this scale, knowing that the ongoing pandemic meant that protocols and social concerns were changing constantly and we would have to adapt accordingly.
Slice created a process for strictly managing the guest list, making sure to include city officials, key stakeholders, and media. By following this process, all guests were reminded of the strict COVID guidelines to attend, while also being afforded the opportunity to provide information for custom swag.
The thank-you gift, a Slice-designed custom bike jersey, was included in pre-packaged bags that were carefully distributed to attendees. Guests also enjoyed individually wrapped breakfast that Slice coordinated, which included a plan for safe donation of excess meals to a local charity. Meanwhile, a photography/videography team that Slice managed captured the excitement of the day.
After safety concerns, event logistics, vendor management and guest list accommodations were all met, Slice was able to break down the program and draft the talking points to really communicate the significance of this groundbreaking: this collaboration of many prominent firms and organizations truly demonstrates the business community’s commitment to an extensive, long-term investment in the city of Philadelphia.
Success
On September 21, Parkway’s 2222 Market Street Groundbreaking went off without a hitch: over 50 guests safely gathered outside, socially distant, all in masks, to hear from a lineup of amazing speakers – including Philly’s Director of Planning and Development Anne Fadullon, Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson, and representatives from Morgan Lewis, IMC Construction, Parkway and their partners. The event itself also served as a launch point for two planned years of ongoing marketing and media coverage for this project.
There were also several members of the media in attendance, including CBS3, Fox 29 and 6ABC, which resulted in several pieces of media coverage. All in attendance agreed that 2222 Market Street is further positioning the city as a hub for innovative, world-class companies – which is more important now than ever before.
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