Business Features
Marketing & Communications: A Tale of Two Eras
Those drawn to work in marketing and communications are those who are looking for something different every day, and those who don’t mind starting with a blank white canvas every morning. They are people who accept the risks that come with being in an industry that is often an early economic indicator: the first to advance in good times, and the first to hurt in bad.
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Branding Hemming Park
Great cities contain great places, but only in the past few decades has the “science of place” been given the same serious consideration that architects give to buildings. Placemaking is a multi-faceted approach that creates dynamic, vibrant, and magnetic public spaces. Jacksonville’s historically significant public meeting place has been Hemming Park since the city’s humble beginnings. Laid out in the early 1820s, this public square was created by Isaiah D. Hart, considered to be the founder of Jacksonville. After his death, his heirs...
read moreHRO: Good for Business
As of August 2014, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest civil rights organization in the United States working to achieve equality for LGBT Americans, acknowledges 200+ cities and counties across the US who prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity/ expression in both the public and private sector. The city of Jacksonville and Duval County are currently not on that list. An HRO, or Human Rights Ordinance, is a policy passed on the local level (city or county) to prohibit discrimination based...
read moreJacksonville Arboretum & Gardens: The Green Jewel of Arlington
Inspiring. If one word could describe the Jacksonville Arboretum & Gardens, it would be inspiring. These one-hundred and twenty acres in a nearly forgotten corner in Arlington inspired a fiercely determined group of citizens to realize their dream of creating an arboretum in Jacksonville with the mission of “cultivating a unique environment for recreation, education, and inspiration.” This green space is free for all guests and the trails have inspired plein air landscape painters to pilgrimage from far away to spend many a spring day...
read moreWomen of Influence, Women Entrepreneurs
Twenty-one years ago Arbus Magazine began dedicating one issue annually to highlighting some of the area’s most influential and award-winning entrepreneurial women. Now, twenty-one years later, this special section continues to serve an important purpose: drawing much deserved attention to the women who change, and contribute to, our community in myriad ways. From a Jacksonville chef and caterer who has garnered a national clientele (the lovely Liz Grenamyer) to a longtime gallery owner exhibiting and accelerating the careers of regional...
read moreChocolate, Beer and Rooftop Bars
Local entrepreneurs bring a slew of new venues and vitality to the city core The perfect place to highlight as we begin our tour of the new is an exciting marriage of local hotshot Peterbrooke Chocolatier, a Jacksonville business that has not only taken over the local market but expanded beyond it, and local dessert maven Anita Adams, who is best known for her Avondale dessert bakery Let Them Eat Cake (now under different ownership), and the baker behind several favorite area restaurants’ dessert cases. Adams approached Peterbrooke at the...
read moreThe Friends Of Hemming Park Save the Day
Downtown’s Newest Crusade Dr. Wayne Wood: His name is ubiquitous when it comes to Downtown Jacksonville, bringing to mind thoughts of progress and change. But this man of vision could be seen as duplicitous at times, due to the fact that he is, after all, a renowned historian of our city who values the past and its preservation, yet, at the same time, he pushes forward to promote change for the better in certain current situations. Dr. Wood has used his big name to make some big changes. Recently, what we all know as Hemming Plaza in the...
read moreDelivering Change
Ben Wilson of Community Couriers pedals all day long to deliver groceries and other necessities to residents of Jacksonville’s urban core. Ben pedals a bike with an attached wooden box on the back. He picks up whatever the customer needs and delivers it to their home or office. His delivery region is Riverside, Avondale, Murray Hill, Springfield, San Marco and Downtown. If you didn’t think there was a need for this type of delivery service, think again. The business makes up to ten deliveries a day, including business-to-business...
read moreJacksonville MarCom Firms
WIDENING ROLES, BROADER SKILL-SETS, BIGGER EXPECTATIONS The movers and shakers of Northeast Florida’s thriving marketing communications firms (abbr: mar′com) immediately make it clear that while advertising does play an important role in their profession there is much, much more that their dynamic and creative agencies have to offer to their clients. Will Ketchum of Burdette Ketchum opens our discussion about mar′com firms and why they are so important to our business community by saying, “When we talk about the marcom field we include...
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