YSU marketing students dream up visions of Lowellville’s future

By GRAIG GRAZIOSI

ggraziosi@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Mayor James Iudiciani of Lowellville hopes to sell young adults on a new vision of Lowellville by having them sell a new vision of Lowellville to him.

Tuesday evening, 12 Youngstown State University seniors in the marketing program presented their capstone projects to Iudiciani and a group of business professionals and village officials at the Williamson College of Business Administration.

The goal of their capstone project was to develop a marketing strategy for the village of Lowellville and then present their plans to the mayor.

The re-branding of the village isn’t a hypothetical dreamed up for the sake of the class; the village, with Jeff Glavan of the Glavan group, developed a comprehensive plan for the future that calls for the development of Lowellville’s riverside properties, the creation of a kayak and canoe livery on the Mahoning River and a focus on attracting college students and young professionals.

Under the tutelage of Bruce Keillor, YSU marketing department chairman, the students researched the village, identified its current limitations and drew up plans for capitalizing on the potential for new businesses and unique attractions that could bring a fresh crop of visitors.

“It’s easy to sell a package product. If I brought a can of pop in here, there’s a certain intuitiveness to marketing a can of pop,” Keillor said. “You don’t have that with a destination. It requires more creativity. They did a really good job.”

The students’ presentations included ideas for attracting tourists – festivals, bike races, rooftop bars and even a small amusement park – and more general upgrades, such as the construction of a gas station, implementation of new lighting and paving space for additional parking.

Hannah Adams, a senior marketing student who participated in the project, said she grew up in Campbell and was well aware of Lowellville, but that many of her classmates had no idea the village even existed prior to the project.

“It was kind of funny because none of them knew about it beforehand,” Adams said. “But I think as we researched and came up with ideas, people started to get interested in visiting, especially if some of these developments we came up with actually happen.”

All of the projects included the transformation of Water Street into a vibrant main street lined with shops, bars and restaurants.

Christopher Kogelnik, Lowellville’s chief engineer, said the exchange was a “cool exercise” and praised the students for their unique ideas.

While the project was presented – and in fact served – as a symbiotic exchange of ideas and experiences among municipal leaders and marketing students, Iudiciani treated the project itself as a marketing opportunity.

Iudiciani pitched the idea for the partnership to the university as not only a learning experience for the students, but as a means for him to market the village directly to a group of college students.

While it will be some time before Lowellville resembles the finished visions presented in the students’ projects, there has been some progress toward those goals: the removal of a dam in the Mahoning River where a canoe livery will eventually stand began in October, and Iudiciani has stated that riverfront property on Water Street has been purchased by a company interested in erecting new structures along the street.