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CASE STUDY
American Tobacco Campus
- PR & Strategic Communications
American Tobacco Campus is a historic and modern complex in Durham, NC, offering flexible spaces for business, dining, and entertainment. In what was once an abandoned cigarette factory, the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, NC, has become a hub for world-class companies like Burt’s Bees, innovative ideas, and irresistible ways to beat the 9-to-5 grind.
But getting there took more than the massive and meticulous remaking of a vintage industrial stronghold. It also required marketing smarts, especially in transforming a former warehouse space into the acclaimed startup hub now known as The American Underground.
In 2010, shortly after the idea of creating a startup mecca was hatched, Brasco’s Senior Director of Public Relations and Strategic Communications, Greg Behr, helped organizers announce the news with an attention-getting media event designed as a late-night talk show. “Guests” included tenants such as the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, a gaming incubator, and a tech incubator.
The Underground’s mix of resources and amenities — ranging from an arcade to ongoing media relations and events –attracted a remarkable roster of startups and the attention of Time, Fast Company and The Atlantic G.E.’s Jeff Immelt, techleader Steve Case, and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg visited the Underground on behalf of the President’s Council on Jobsand Competitiveness. TechCrunch announced American Tobacco as the site for its first visit to the Research Triangle region. CNBC declared it “the startup hub of the South.” Now home to more than 200 companies and an innovative online talent-recruitment tool, the American Underground remains a heralded leader.
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