CASE STUDY
Colony Square
The Wilbert Group generated major national, local and trade media coverage when North American Properties announced plans to buy and transform Colony Square. Wilbert kept the momentum going throughout redevelopment, securing more than 1,000 media stories about the reimagined Colony Square.
When North American Properties (NAP) decided in 2015 to buy Colony Square in Midtown Atlanta, it had already earned a solid-gold reputation for placemaking, first by turning around struggling mixed-use property Atlantic Station in Midtown Atlanta and then developing Avalon, a nationally known $1 billion mixed-use destination in Alpharetta, Ga. NAP wanted to make a splash with the Colony Square announcement, highlighting the acquisition as well as its bold plan to transform the iconic destination.
The Wilbert Group scripted messaging to drive communications across traditional and digital channels, reaching national, regional and local audiences. As soon as our exclusive story was published in The Wall Street Journal, we unleashed a multifaceted campaign that resulted in articles in more than 30 publications and 700,000 social media impressions.
An immediate and long-term impact
We made an impact. Project investors received dozens of calls from California to New York. They told NAP: “With all of this buzz, you’d think you just purchased Rockefeller Center!” After the announcement, NAP was able to successfully raise office rents by 26 percent. And Colony Square was soon on the tour list for tenants that had previously not considered the location.
In the years following that initial announcement, Wilbert played a key role in each phase of Colony Square’s redevelopment, securing over 1,000 articles about the reimagined Colony Square. We also submitted and won more than 10 awards for the project from organizations such as the Atlanta Business Chronicle and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC MAXIs)
