The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission hired Axia to provide message development, marketing communications strategies, and services to support the first national campaigns introducing the over 17,000-acre Megasite-scale commercial and industrial site.
Initially hired to gather stakeholder input and propose concepts for the center's name, street names, branding, signage, wayfinding systems, websites, brochures, and more, Axia primarily wrote strategic plans detailing targeted audiences, campaign goals, objectives, and tactics for winning national and international interest for the property and its significant logistics and greenfield attributes. Today, 4,500 jobs at Amazon, Boeing, Flightstar, FedEx, Saft, Wayfair, and Bridgestone have resulted from the interest and partnerships the work sparked.
The Business Challenge
A 1993 Congressional Base Realignment effort closed Naval Air Station Cecil Field by 1999, conveying the master jet base to the City of Jacksonville and JAXPORT. Converting the base from a government/military standard to a commercially viable property required years of infrastructure upgrades, revision work, surveys, and assessments to build a narrative and catalog of useful attributes, USPs, and attractive business proposals.
Aside from the 12,500-foot runway, hangars, and aprons, a vast 17,000-acre site dotted with bunkers, wetlands, inaccessible parcels, and environmental issues required prioritization and remediation. After eight years of action by JAXPORT/JAA and the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, the site, renamed Cecil Commerce Center, was ready to be marketed to developers, site selection executives, and initially, aerospace and defense interests.
Although the site had mainly local and regional business news coverage, the national and international site selection industry lacked awareness of the site's commercial advantages and opportunities.
The Solution
Axia was hired to provide marketing materials to support the intergovernmental stakeholders through JEDC. It became immediately clear that identifying audiences, desired business outcomes, and results were required before concepting and designing printed and online marketing materials. Axia led the planning process, which resulted in message development and a marketing plan. This identified the future scope and requirements for effectively marketing and recruiting new tenants and businesses to the center.
As the scale of marketing the project and presenting viable opportunities to manufacturers, logistics firms, and investors grew, a master developer (Hillwood Construction in Texas) learned of the project and made a significant and valuable offer to lead the long-term effort.
The Results
Axia was a trusted adviser to the intergovernmental and agency partners tasked with converting a surplus military base in a remote location into a desirable commercial site for global product and services suppliers. By listening, collaborating, informing, and delivering print collateral, copy/content, public relations counsel, and a recommended media plan for Cecil Commerce Center, Axia helped set expectations and define plans for future decades-long business development initiatives.
Already, Amazon, Boeing, FedEx, Lockheed Martin, Wayfair, Saft Battery, and Bridgestone Tire have substantial long-term investments at the center.
Today's large inventory of remaining undeveloped land at Cecil represents North East Florida's "bank" of future commercial growth opportunities as spaceport, surface transportation, aviation manufacturing, and logistics firms continue to sign on.
