Twitter impressions for #RVA exceed 100 million each year
– Social Media Analytics
RVA
Although “RVA” existed well before we put the first sticker on a bumper, its full potential to bring the community together had never been explored. That all changed when a work group of six creative organizations – The Martin Agency, VCU Brandcenter, West Cary Group, JHI, Elevation and The Hodges Partnership – collaborated with us to develop the creative, community engagement experiment that is RVA Creates.
What was a simple idea: create an open source city identity; has grown into something bigger and better than we could have ever done on our own. That’s the power of RVA and the RVA community.
In the seven years since the first RVA sticker printing, the impact of our venture is clear:
· #RVA has over 100 million Twitter impressions each year
· #RVA has over 3 million Instagram posts
· A Google search for “RVA” results in over 74 million search results
· 1,428 business entities with “RVA” in the name registered to the SCC
Our work goes to show that our community wanted, and now celebrates, a sense of ownership over their city and associates part of their identity with the identity of our city.
RVA Creates A to Z Banners
Banners may not seem like a big deal, but they are huge part of our job at Venture Richmond and our own creative way to add color and excitement to downtown. We are responsible for managing the banner program, and close to 200 banner poles, on behalf of the city. Our job is to create and maintain different campaigns over the years. One of our most memorable campaigns was to honor RVA hosting the 2015 UCI Race, a monumental moment for our city.
Since then, we have started our newest campaign – RVA Creates A to Z – a celebration of our vibrant community that was inspired by the incredible range of creativity that exists downtown. Working with Keith Fabry and Scout Design, we produced over 30 banners, each pairing a single letter with a correlating illustration. Pedestrians navigating through downtown can play along by guessing what each illustration represents and are encouraged to think about what their own alphabet for downtown looks like for them.
Outside of our special campaigns, our seasonal installation of banners includes Folk Festival, 2nd Street Festival and holiday banners.
1,428 business entities with “RVA” in the name
– SCC
Image Credit: "Twitter Impressions..." - Dave Parrish Photography
Image Credit: "1,428 business entities with “RVA” in the name" - Dave Parrish Photography