Our objective in our public relations was to take people’s attention from the new Target retail development and redirect it to focus on the development of the retention pond area, the extension of the nature trails, the historical references to the city of Boonville, and the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History. Therefore, we decided to try and locate the best area on the Target site to station ourselves, approach the customers, and make our position known.
However, since the Target site is not completed, we chose an alternate site to test out our theories. We decided to survey at the Post Oak Mall so that we could later apply our findings to our site. During the survey we discovered that one backbone reality to the whole process was that people do not want to be approached in any way that makes them feel uneasy or threatened. So we also had to locate ourselves in such a way to still make contact with the public but not make them feel cornered. Taking this back to the Target site, we decided upon two locations as well as two different ways to relay our information. The first trend we noticed was that the density of parking was heavily concentrated along the aisle that directly attached to access roads and faded off to the sides forming a semi-circle around the entrance. Because of this, we decided that the best place to position ourselves was along one of the central aisles allowing the natural flow of traffic to pass right by us. At this location we propose to hand out free drinks with a label containing basic information about our project attached to them. The drinks are an “ice-breaker” that allow us to make contact with the customers and still give them insight into our research without putting them on guard.
Our second point of contact is the convergence of the two main roads that cross the site. We are proposing that the traffic circle about would be an excellent point to station a person with a sign that simply says, “Nature Park” (or something to that effect) with an arrow, much like people do with car wash signs on the sides of the roads. This person’s effect would be to offer direction for people to go back towards the retention pond development and the nature trail extensions. Once again, this is an nonthreatening approach, allowing cars to accept or decline the offer. But on the other hand, such an approach is bound to make a viewer wonder about what might be back there.
The second half of our research involved conducting a survey to gain an idea of the general public’s views towards the new Target development, parks and recreation in general, and finally the new development that we as a group are proposing. We entered Post Oak Mall and started questioning those we passed four simple yes or no questions as follows:
1)Have you heard of the new Target development in Bryan, at the intersection of Briarcrest Dr and Highway 6?
2)Do you like shopping at Target stores in general?
3)Do you visit parks and other recreational areas in your spare time with family and friends?
4)Since we are proposing development of a park and nature area behind the new Target, would you consider going to that park?
From these questions we obtained these physical results:
1) 50%-yes; 50%-no 2) 93%-yes; 7%-no 3) 63%-yes; 37%-no 4) 73%-yes; 27%-no
We were excited to see the outcome of question 3 that showed that most people did enjoy spending their free time at parks or other recreational space. And we were even more excited that the statistics grew when we mentioned that we were planning on developing the area behind. Even some people who opted not to go to parks regularly said that they would enjoy visiting our new development sometime. While many people obviously have a love for shopping at Target, it is interesting to see a closely related interest of the general public to protect and enhance a nature or park area. Finally, it was also an interesting discovery to find that the people who knew the development was taking place was equal to those who didn’t. That statistic gives hope that our public relations can really raise awareness and our work will not be in vain.
There were some people’s comments that surfaced during the survey that we would like to elaborate on due to their specific importance to our project. The first man who caught my attention with his comment was an elderly man. At the mention that we were proposing development of the back area of Target as a Nature Park, he replied that he already visits the park that is already there. I found this amusingly tragic with my current knowledge that some of the park that he has visited could have been affected by the Target development. If it did escape the boundaries of the park, then our proposed development would surely be a positive impact on many people who frequent the current park and who would come back to find their park extended and more open than before.
Our second distinct conclusion did not come from a specific comment from one specific person but rather from the reactions of almost all the people we surveyed. When we attempted to make our inquiries, the first reaction that people naturally had was, “No thank you…”,”I’m not interested…”, or simply to lower their eyes and walk away from us as fast as possible before we had even said one word to them! However, we learned very quickly how to absolve their initial concerns and how to get them to participate in our survey. First of all, we made sure to tell them up front that we were taking a survey for school. This link to general education made most people who weren’t “late for work” stop and at least consider us. Our next move was to say that the survey was simple and consisted of nothing more than four ”yes” or “no” questions. When people realized we weren’t selling something and were not going to waste too much of their time, they stopped to talk to us. Alleviating their fear of wasting time and money was the key to capturing their attention.
Going back to the Target site, this unique discovery is exactly why we chose the two points of contact that we did for when the construction is finished. Again at the circle, a sign pointing to the nature park held by a person who is not asking for money gives them the idea that if they have the time they can spend it in a leisurely place that we provided for them. In the parking lot, handing out anything free breaks down the tendencies of people to protect their money, and the information printed in the labels provides the options first to read it and second to look up more information if they have the time and interest.
If people make it back to the retention pond, Karen and Nicole have proposed to build a pavilion that would have information about the site, the history of the area, what the city is doing for the area, and other such topics. This way people could learn about the project at their own leisure without feeling like they were sitting through a lecture about things they may not care about. We decided this would be one of the most objective, nonthreatening ways to present all of our research.
This Target development is not going anywhere, so our primary objective was to work with what is going to be there in order to create the best possible solution for the situation. Given Target’s popularity, we decided that instead of trying to push the negative aspects we would rather educate the public about the positive aspects of the development and what could still be done to better the site. We would also like to use the retention pond to point out in an objectionable way the importance of having green spaces in our communities and making responsible design decisions in regard to the environment.
Thanks and Gig ‘Em!
-Chris and Kara
