Don Quixote Rides Again - Chapter One: Hyper Creative Class

(This post begins the last installment of my four part post addressing the issue of building a casino/hotel complex in Fort Smith, Arkansas.)

When I concluded my previous post on this topic (part 3 of 4), I promised to suggest several possibilities that might give Fort Smith a bigger rudder – one powerful enough to steer our ship clear of the Tipping Point report’s icebergs.

I’ll start off thinking pretty far outside the box and work my way back in later on. But first, let me lay some ground work for an idea on loan from Richard Florida who wrote a series of books describing the coming rise of the Creative Class and the Hyper Creative Class. And just to make sure I give credit where it is due, Mark also developed the key points of the related business development plan I'm about to describe in this post. Having said that, let me summarize Richard Florida's concepts. In short, the Creative Class includes those who utilize brain power as a primary tool to accomplish their job. The prime examples of this class include engineers, architects, accountants, attorneys, and others who combine advanced professional knowledge with skill and experience to create business solutions. The Hyper Creative Class takes the brain power of the Creative Class and compounds it by adding elements of traditionally creative processes. Hyper Creatives include software developers, video game developers, interactive designers, interactive developers, advertising planners, graphic designers, interior designers, and many others.

The Hyper Creative Class is people who have the right-brain ability of the Creative Class, but must add a left-brain component. These people have jobs seek them out rather than seek out jobs. These type people find cultural amenities a priority for themselves. The Hyper Creative Class finds what they want and then relocate to the place that provides it - knowing their work will follow them.

And at this point I want to make an absolutely critical point. The Tip Strategies report created for Fort Smith strongly urged our region to commit itself to creating a “quality of place” that would attract new residents. That “quality of place” concept was the brain child of Richard Florida and he specifically states that quality of place is something that motivates only the Creative Class to relocate or homestead. The rest of us may enjoy it, but only the Creative Class chooses where they will live based on quality of place. Remember, everyone else follows a job. The Creative Class moves to the place they want to live based on the quality of experience they find there knowing that jobs will find them. In the past a community attracted businesses in order to grow. Today, we need to attract people and, specifically, creative people who bring great jobs and disposable income with them.

Fort Smith can attract a small but growing segment of the Hyper Creative Class. The TIP Strategies report outlined that the sales and marketing services segment of the population was largely missing from our region. With modest effort but maximum focus, the Greater Fort Smith Region can attract Hyper Creatives who focus on interactive marketing components such as web site development, email marketing, on-line community creation, and video game development. I am not talking about people and companies who simply do business on-line, but rather those who create the brands and technical components used by companies who do e-commerce. UAFS has already added a greater focus to components of their curriculum related to this idea. Next year the university will graduate their first crop of students with B.S. degrees in Graphic Design. And I'd love to see the administration seriously consider developing a specialized school of video game design - linking highly technical and highly creative processes in precisely the kind of right-brain-left-brain cross-talk that characterizes the Hyper Creative Class.

Through focused individual recruitment, tradeshow marketing and trade magazine marketing, a thoughtful and well developed campaign can slowly move independent Hyper Creatives and related small companies (those with less than 100 employees) to Fort Smith. 75 to 100 target companies can be identified immediately. By working with one of the trade publications which target members of this industry, Fort Smith could create, promote and host a conference built around the interactive industry, particularly the small shop business with less than 25 employees. The trade publication would brand the conference with their name in order to provide legitimacy and encourage attendance. A conservative first year goal would be 50 attendees at the conference. A working title for the conference would be "The Interactive Agency Workshop." UAFS's related programs could be featured and promoted.

Additionally, the Greater Fort Smith Region would conduct trade show marketing at two or three other conferences a year. This can be pricey - conferences can cost up to $10,000 each just to exhibit and that does not include any of the collateral materials, promotional items, or travel expenses associated with truly effective trade show marketing. The upside of the tradeshow experience is that the exhibitor can meet one-on-one with potential recruits simply by pre-scheduling meetings during non-conference time. And that increases the success rate dramatically.

The “Find Yourself In Fort Smith” (FYIFS) brand would be a perfect fit for this campaign and could easily be expanded to highlight the many genuine amenities we have that, when properly marketed, represent a strong attraction to Hyper Creative Class members looking for quality of place. The expansion of the FYIFS would need to be specifically targeted to the Hyper Creative Class. Cameron Clement at Rockfish Interactive is already working closely with the Greater Fort Smith Regional Chamber marketing effort and he knows what the Hyper Creative Class wants. We need to listen closely and utilize his wisdom, knowledge and passion to see Fort Smith move toward a brighter future.

The Central Business Improvement District should consider developing a loft or condo style building that would be a turnkey solution for related businesses. Obviously, this requires private development dollars working in tandem public money to create this specific building opportunity. And the CBID needs to see this project as a very long-term investment in the infrastructure of the city they love. They need to make a commitment to enhance the results of this specific campaign by creating a unique, authentic and remarkable space - while resisting the understandable urge to extract direct profit today at the expense of greater but indirect profit in the decades to come.

And here’s something I bet you didn’t know. We are very fortunate that we have five interlocking pieces of the internet backbone running through Fort Smith. Those who create within and for the internet need not be in close physical proximity to such a monstrous bandwidth pipeline. But the companies who employ large numbers of those people and employ the tools they create would definitely benefit from it. To put this in perspective, the internet pipeline running through Fort Smith is one of the ten largest in the United States. Dallas does not currently have access to as much internet bandwidth as does Fort Smith. This fact has to become one of the highlights of the campaign.

So here’s what we need to make this happen. The City of Fort Smith, The Greater Fort Smith Region Chamber of Commerce, the City of Van Buren, surrounding communities, and the State of Arkansas Department of Economic Development must all get on the same page - now. We need to fund and implement this campaign within the next six months. To my knowledge, no other community is specifically targeting this segment of the Hyper Creative Class – but that won’t last long. And, as I've said in previous posts, there must be a champion with the pedigree and capability of a Bennie Westphal to lead the way.

The author of “Rise of the Creative Class,” Richard Florida notes, "the creative class, 38 million strong in the U.S., produces a disproportionate share of wealth, accounting for nearly half of all wages and salaries earned - as much as the manufacturing and service sectors combined." Targeting this growing segment of the economy would move the Fort Smith region to the front of the pack in the country. Unfortunately, we are currently ranked near the bottom of the pack in Arkansas when it comes to current jobs in the Hyper Creative Class. It won't be cheap or easy to recruit and retain those who work within this segment of our economy. Creative types are appreciate but demanding. But the effort to incorporate this group of people into our community will pay future dividends we can only begin to imagine today.