A Trend Setting Partnership: Dishcrawl
“Circa 2009—long before influencers were popular in pop culture and a critical component of new media—6 Degrees Group and Dishcrawl created a partnership that focused on new developments and their local, walkable foodie network, fostering deeper connections to neighborhood hotspots, making introductions to popular chefs, and driving relevant foot traffic to sample a taste of each property’s uniquely local lifestyle.”
TRACY LEE, FOUNDER, DISHCRAWL
At a young age, Tracy began realizing that there were two kinds of people, the kind that savored food and the kind that cannot tell the difference between Kobe beef and boiled cabbage. She immediately knew which side of the divide she was going to choose. Dreaming of a world where she can share her passion for good food and equally excellent company around the world, Tracy used her extensive start-up experience, marketing background and technical know-how to launch Dishcrawl.
The Community: Recognized as Silicon Valley’s most luxurious high-rise, The 88 in Downtown San Jose consists of 197 condominiums and reaches a height of nearly 88 meters (286 feet). Touted as the tallest residential high-rise building between San Francisco and Los Angeles at the time of its completion, the building offers stunning views to match.
The Challenge: Penetrate Silicon Valley’s top tech employers, piggybacking on their internal employee communications to drive qualified foot traffic to experience new, highly amenitized, luxury high-rise living in downtown San Jose.
The Solution: Promote a specialty Dishcrawl to connect local techies to their foodie community in the downtown area. By utilizing interest lists from our neighborhood restaurant and Dishcrawl partners that included local tech company employers plus area foodies and lifestyle bloggers, 6 Degrees Group created a Trojan horse approach to reach relevant prospects and drive a series of qualified, high-traffic individuals to connect to the building and to the neighborhood. Before exploring the series of pre-set venues featuring chef specialties and pairing education, ticket holders met at The 88 for sips and bites on the skyline observation terrace on the 21st floor to enjoy the stunning views of Silicon Valley from the top of this high-rise tower and received a personal tour of building amenities and model homes. Guests were welcomed curbside by The 88’s interactive LED light installation, designed by Jim Conti, which was programmed to display a warm personalized message on the side of the building. The event resulted in a 25% increase in foot traffic in the weeks following the event, a renewed demand for downtown living, and two eventual referral sales citing the event.
The Community: Uptown Place Oakland, a collection of spacious flats and one-, two-, and three-bedroom townhomes located in the heart of Oakland’s newly emerging restaurant and entertainment district.
The Challenge: To drive interest from local Oakland luxury rentals and SF commuters and connect them to the location and neighborhood in order to capture a new standard of price per square foot as trailblazers in this newly vibrant area of Oakland.
The Solution: Partnering with Dishcrawl and Oakland’s popular First Friday Art Walk, plus a series of local galleries and restaurants, a ticketed list of guests and friends of new homeowners were invited to explore life in an emerging neighborhood through “A Taste of Uptown.” A custom QR stamp linked to an Uptown Place lifestyle video was an easy, hands-free takeaway. The event led guests from a soiree that started with live music and cocktails in an open-air courtyard at the building through model homes and on to some of the most popular venues, where guests were greeted personally by gallery owners, artists, and chefs. Attendees enjoyed some of Oakland’s most popular food truck dishes with a cult-like following, including lemon ricotta doughnuts and Caribbean-style oxtails, while a neighborhood lifestyle film was projected on the community wall. The event resulted in three sales, in which the vibrant neighborhood and an engaging community were cited as reasons for the move.
The Community: Featuring 18 acres of public parks; 40,000 square feet of retail; 780,000 square feet of office space; and 1,000 units of residential real estate, Bay Meadows is one of the largest redevelopment sites in the Bay Area and an award-winning Transit Oriented Development.
The Challenge: Pre-construction, Bay Meadows needed to build a new sense of place and an affinity for the brand as well as create a buzz to drive foot traffic to experience this start of a new “urban village” along the San Francisco Peninsula.
The Solution: Battledish Beta Tasting at Bay Meadows—a partnership among Dishcrawl, Bay Area food truck chefs, local personalities, food bloggers, and food-tographers. Bay Area food truck chef entrants competed on a national level by selecting a new beta dish and drink to test on the public. A panel of professional judges comprisingfood influencers and media personalities voted alongsidethe public for their favorite new chef bites and sips, resulting in Gold, Silver, and Bronze Kings of Battledish. The result was nearly 1,000 visitors to the site and media coverage in dozens of local blogs, digital news outlets, and local magazines, creating a buzz that would last for months and local B2B cross-promotional partnerships that would last for years. Visitors toured the site and learned of future parks, retail, and residential opportunities.