Marketing 101...

With all that has been written about what Sun City needs, i would take a little more aggressive approach when it comes to marketing the community. We know from our history DEVCO built virtually everything in Sun City; shopping centers, churches, homes, rec centers and golf courses. Their goal at the end of their build out was to own nothing.

During those 20 years, they either gave it away, built if for cost or sold it for a profit. Every step of the way, everything they did had a base line of marketing "the new active way of life." The cast of DEVCO characters involved was large, but one man was accountable for so much of what happened inside these walls.

Most of those who had hands-on are long departed. One youngster who came early and stayed through the entirety of Sun City is still with us. Coincidentally, he was the man responsible for the in-house promotion. He's still lucid and one of the grants the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum got helped fund an interview project that included Jerry Svendsen.

Lots of really great stuff the Museum has been adding and Jerry's two-part interview is one of them. Posted below are the links with Part 1 on the Sun Bowl and Part 2 on everything else they did. Enjoy:
Jerry Svendsen, Part 1, the Sun Bowl.
Jerry Svendsen, Part 2, Marketing the Community.

They are brief and interesting and later we can talk about why.

 

Curious how little members, board and GM understand or appreciate the importance of marketing Sun City. Back when it opened we were the only game in town and the goal was to convince seniors looking to retire to move away from their families and enjoy a new active way of life. Without endless promotion, it was a dead end street. Hence the beauty of what they did.

Now days, it's a wholly different challenge with unlimited choices of communities with a massive range of costs. We know the RCSC has shown no sense of urgency to market the community to potential buyers and frankly they don't do all that good a job marketing it to their own members. We used to be way better with our internal communication and with our external.

Here's the math when we drop from 2000 homes sold per year to 1600. 400 homes times $6000 ($5000 PIF, $1000 CIF) is 2.4 million dollars. That's a boatload of money in anyone's book. If that trend continues, in ten years we lose nearly $25 million dollars.

So, the question is simple: Does marketing matter...or not?

 

Bill,
Marketing Sun City as a place to want to be once you have transitioned to your next phase of living is going to be, in my opinion, a great opportunity and undertaking.
The opportunity to sell others on a retirement lifestyle should be an energized promotion offering classes, lifestyle enrichment sessions such as wine tasting or travel experiences and the ability to be as active or inactive as you choose. I know Sun City is a great place to live, but is it a great place to be alive? In reviewing some writings about how the next generation is being drawn into this lifestyle and the communities being built, I see a lot more opportunity for personal growth, small group social gatherings and events that invite the owner to want to participate.
The dollar figure mentioned for revenue lost is staggering. By the same token, how do you make this community stand head and shoulders above the rest as the first choice? I can tell you, being the cheapest is obviously not the best marketing strategy to draw people in. I feel we need to rethink if we really do want to grow the community as a prime active adult community or a retirement community? Yes, I feel there’s a distinction between the two. Retirement today is a completely different picture for those making life choices. It makes a difference if the setting is intimate or in a crowd. It makes a huge difference when you can log into the local community and check out upcoming classes or events. Or sign up for a visiting author to hear them speak.
I am not advocating $290 month fees as other adult communities have, but we also have a need to be competitive for those retirement dollars. If we don’t get a plan together very soon, one that attracts people to want to visit, then it’s going to be a slow descent into not having what it takes to attract them at all.

 

Just facts I found after the Youngtown post. The Southern part of YT is very nice, more than I can afford. The taxes on those homes are the same as I pay. There is s $30/mo HOA fee, so 360/annual vs 675. There are parks, lakes, walking paths, areas for picnics and large areas to rent for family events.

The website is interactive with fillable PDF's to submit and request city information, other requests, job applications and on and on. If you read the post it appears their 70th anniv celebration was a blast. Pony rides, food etc.

Just my opinion but it appears YT put their heads together and brainstormed to come together with results that worked. Still in progress, but they are going forward. I have gone back to 2013 when this site started and people are still talking about the same things now in 2025, 12 years later. I was busy taking care of parents while working full time, so I did not have a clue what was happening in SC even tho I lived here.

Just an observation/opinion, that's all.

 

People are very unhappy with a $675 Annual Fee, or the 5 year projection. Annual fees go too high and there might be a mass exodus. I am on both El Mirage and Youngtown E-Mail lists. Received an amazing questionnaire from El Mirage and what their residents want to see. The questions were well thought out, not too many, not too few. Now when they get answers if they follow through that would be Marketing 101. Marketing .5 is when you send out a $10k survey to some people, get the results and stick them in a drawer.

 

Let's start with this from a very personal perspective regarding your remark: "I know Sun City is a great place to live, but is it a great place to be alive?" Yes, yes, yes a thousand times yes. For those home bound, or those who either don't go out or don't use the facilities/amenities offered, it's just another place to live. All of which is and has been the problem.

We were created around a new active way of life and then evolved to a community where way too many people decided to buy here because it was cheap...not because of what was offered. Just the other day i read another commentary from someone arguing about increasing rec fees and complaining it wasn't fair because they never used anything or did anything.

Every home buyer should be made abundantly aware when they sign a facilities agreement, costs will go up. There is no free lunch, there never has been, there never will be. Some folks want the peace and quiet; some like not having local school taxes; some want the clean, wide streets; some like having all of the medical options available just down the street. While each of those are legitimate reasons to buy in Sun City, they are far from why so many buy here.

Our best selling points are the 125 clubs, the 8 rec centers, the 8 golf courses and of course the unlimited opportunities to volunteer in the dozen organizations that have flourished over the years. It was that "new active way of life" so many found that changed what retirement offered before Sun City opened. A rocking chair existence with lots of chances to babysit the grand kids.

The world is changing and as many of you look to the future, i often re-visit the past. If i told you over the years DEVCO was selling Sun City, there were entire ad campaigns featuring new residents continuing to work, would you be surprised? They weren't one offs, they were a constant drumbeat of the potential for those 50 and older (the initial age they catered to) to be able to work all day and come home to a community offering a better choices. They even showed people who covered the country arriving back home for weekends filled with golf, pools and the like.

But let's be clear, affordability was always their core message. There is a difference between cheap and affordable. Which is exactly why when we look at all Sun City offers for what it costs, few others compares. I have argued this point for as far back as i can remember, over the years, we lost sight of the value of showcasing what we offered.

We hoped the marketplace and the Del Webb name would be enough. For many, being the first only means we are the oldest. Right after Fairway opened the two guys that own 55Places stopped by the Museum and i took them through the new rec center and they were stunned. They turned to me and said why aren't you marketing this?

Oddly enough, at that same time the board in 2011 and 2012 earmarked money from their budget for marketing. We were coming out of the worst housing crash any of us had seen, sales were soft and housing prices were dirt cheap. I think the first year dollars was around 100k and the second year 50k for marketing. We were both there by 2012 and if recall everything with the board was like pulling teeth. The GM was still flexible, to a point. Her agenda was golf and the board was on board with her. We were simply no votes amidst a sea of yes's.

The problems began then with those really undervalued homes, we too often became a destination for those who's only requirement was cheap. Then to keep us on that path, we migrated to cheap being the underlying value. We invested a lot of money in updating the Marinette center, redid 4 of our golf courses with huge investments of cash and even bought the property and built the Grand Center. The PIF was working, but the checks and balances built into our documents and our committees had been gutted.

In doing so, we let Mountain View slide into oblivion and worse yet ignored completely our woeful technology and stopped doing preventative maintenance that is an essential ingredient with an amenity package like ours. Board members fixated on cheap and never held the management team accountable for anything. The evolution and now the fight to get back to solid footings has been and will continue to be a slow slog.

When i see and read the grandiose plans for the next 10 years coming from PIF, i know the importance of keeping sales in that 2000 per year range. The board and the management team will see the sales dipping and once again return to the well and clamor to just raise it another $1000 or more to make up for the decreasing number of homes sold.

It's folly as there is always a cause and effect. Raising the costs on many things typically results in less sales. Golf is the classic example as we have begun to realize cheap golf (via full play passes) was never going to be sustainable. It was a flawed system that once the costs exploded resulted in dramatic increases that caused the cash shortfall this past year. We never once considered revamping the program, we just kept sticking band aids on the broken arms and hoped it worked.

Now with 45 million dollars of golf upgrades coming over the next 10 years...the ultimate answer to me is an aggressive marketing program for golf and our 8 course(along with everything else we offer). Nope, our courses are never going to be anywhere near championship-like, but they will always be more affordable than others. Note; affordable, not cheap (except in those summer months when everyone gives it away).

I know, i drifted and i rambled. Virtually everything is circular in life. While inventing the wheel sounds exciting, the reality is it was created a long time ago and re-inventing it is folly. Marketing, branding and creating an image as to what the community is and is all about is simply revisiting what DEVCO did over and over again.

Today we have tools available to us they never did. DEVCO spent a fortune on print ads, television and expensive promotions with multi-layers of endless visibility. We have the internet, social media and hopefully an interactive new website where reach is a daily experience of outreach and the selling and telling of Sun City story.

Unfortunately, i will not beholding my breath.

 

I am all for marketing Sun City as a destination for those seeking a retirement location with a lifestyle unique to living here. The costs just to maintain what is currently here are rising and it would be silly for anyone to believe there is never going to be any increase in the yearly assessment, especially with the expenses associated with maintaining 8 golf courses. It was during our “golf is everything” tenure, we witnessed firsthand how it was known that golf was not going to be self sustainable based upon known trends of decreased demand and higher costs. While I don’t have a copy of the budget in hand, I still suspect maintaining the golf courses is a top expense for the RCSC. We also know from experience that continuing to subsidize the game and the courses is, what I feel, is creating a vacuum of resources being available for other activities. Can we liquidate the courses? That’s a question I will not begin to address. That discussion has been ongoing as the game of golf has been declining in recent years and the costs will continue to rise. Could some of the land immediately around the courses be repurposed for retail space or general green spaces for all of the membership to utilize? I believe it would be a great solution and opportunity to include baristas or small eating establishments. It would also be a great marketing tool to attract the next generation of retirees. Resizing the golf courses could make room for multi-story condos to be built, adding additional dollars to the PIF fund. Building and maintaining ownership of retail venues around the periphery of the courses gives the ability to create a revenue stream that the RCSC can utilize to generate more interest in coming to Sun City.
I am not against the notion of what we have is good and there’s a need to expand our market reach to attract folks to want to be here. I only ask if there is a value in trying to attract more of the folks who are like minded and are willing to be part of the community for today and the future. Those who can see the value of what is here and amenities that can be developed for the growth of Sun City I feel is what needs to be sought.
I am truly not anti Sun City. It’s the history of how the community was marketed then amenities added to attract buyers to want to embrace an affordable, sustainable active lifestyle. This strategy is still true today. I only look for additional opportunities to expand the offerings so the community markets itself.

 

Noting breeds success SCG, like success. Unfortunately as the RCSC focused on cheap, we lost sight of big picture Sun City. Realistically the RCSC has no ability to draw businesses to buy up empty shopping malls. What they do have the capacity to do is create an internal energy of members who are like Meeker once bragged, "the greatest sales force in the country."

I've said this a number of times to staff and board members; "clubs offer us unlimited opportunities for exposure." They are the one constant that relies on members to keep joining and guaranteeing they have their dedicated space. We've done nothing to capitalize on that, and in fact at one point the Committee On Clubs (COC), became the policing arm to insure the rules and regulations were followed. Like everything else, turning that around has been a slow slog.

A friend reminded me just this morning, in an email, about the decision to remove the checks and balances written into our documents. I laughed and said, i just wrote about it this thread. The truth is, there was nothing funny about it. We had the bad luck of watching it up close and personally. We saw committees diluted or disbanded with one express purpose: Absolute control in the GM's office.

It worked and now we are where we are. I suspect 2025 will be painful as the new board will struggle to find their footing. Most of them know nothing about how we got here and have little interest in learning. That's too bad because we have an enormous window of opportunity as California, Florida and parts of Texas are and have been experiencing weather events that will be driving seniors to be looking for locations that are affordable and far more safe from exploding costs.

We are exactly that, and as i watch everything unfold around me, i see little in the way of reaching out and showcasing all this community has to offer.

 

After watching the exchange meetings over the past year people are angry and disappointed. Jean's recent post about the financial situation here could impact buying decisions. As petitions are signed word will get out past the walls. Add home loan interest rates between 7 and 8% and credit card rates around 20%, people just can't afford homes right now. Prices are high.

Has anyone looked into other 55+ communities and the home sale rate? Has anyone considered SC is just past its prime and going the way of the Cine Capri Theater or the water parks in the East Valley, Bedrock Park by the Grand Canyon, drive in movie theaters? My personal favorite Riverview Park in Chicago.

 

This is the 2nd time you mentioned this, the 1st time you didn't include Texas. Yes, Houston got snow. There are videos of adults and kids having fun on inner tubes. The zoo animals are out playing. The last time Houston had snow was 2021.

In Florida people get hurricanes annually. I vacationed on Captiva Island annually for many years (time share). Captiva was closed, but Sanibel, as demolished as it was, had started rebuilding. I was there in November 2004 after Charlie hit and stayed with friends. The people in Florida and Louisiana are used to this. The folks I stayed with have never evacuated during a hurricane. As far as the snow in the panhandle I really don't think one time in the last 100 years will cause a panic.

Then we have the devastating fires in California ruining so many homes and killing many. No water in the hydrants/reservoirs. A very sad state of affairs that could have been a lot less devastating, or maybe even stopped. The median price of a home in L.A. County is $900k, and in the Pacific Palisades it's $5 million.

My point is I highly doubt people will have a mass exodus from these states to live in Sun City AZ. Especially from CA where most of the people who lost their homes a multi-millionaires and Hollywood elites. They will rebuild, and I don't think save the smelt will be a thing in the future.

 

Takes us full circle of emphasizing training for board members. Maybe even taking it further to a learning opportunity for everyone wanting to know more about who we are, how we came to be and why it’s so important to be involved.
Showcasing the community is a vibrant, vital, and important next step in keeping the community together for the future.
I think of marketing Sun City as multi phase project. First, decide what is the goal one is trying to achieve through a marketing strategy. Is it simply to attract more buyers to the community?
Is the desire to expand the desirability of Sun City as a destination?
Second, are we willing to set a marketing plan and stick with it? That’s a big question for the community to consider. Any money spent toward marketing should have ROI attached to measure the success of the process.
One of the most important aspect is will the community have a say in how the next phases of communal living and family structure will look like. In reading several studies on what the future generations of retirees look for, it’s important understand how their perception of retirement is and how those perceptions are changing the landscape of active adult communities. The next generation of retirees will want to continue to work, at least part time, perhaps occasionally volunteer. As I read I see gaps between what we offer now, versus what is being sought both short and long term. I was reading several articles about how retirement means being able to be with family, support family members who may need continuing support and care, and feel supported by their community. I have read surveys and opinions about what is happening today to steer those dollars into the active adult market, and Sun City would need to do a culture change to garner a better market share of those dollars. A culture change such as understanding they those who retire will still not be at home. They go to small venues, congregate in smaller groups, and look for intimate spaces for time to spend with family and friends. From what I understand, they are not joiners. Social activities are often impromptu and the closer they are or built within the community to these types of activities, the more likely people are going to want to join their friends and live in this type of environment.
As you have stressed repeatedly, let the community and its members be the leading reason people come to the community. The best way to do that is through word of mouth. The best way to create buzz that translates into word of mouth advertising is to offer more bang for the buck. And that “free” advertising is costly.
I want Sun City to stay relevant, I want it to thrive with opportunities for education, travel, and well being of the members.
Bigger question, will anyone support the money needed to promote and market Sun City as a destination to consider?

 

Like the article. What time frame are they referencing? 10 years out, 20? Are they predicting for Gen X, Millennials? Sounds like back to the old ways which never changed in China. The elders are revered and taken care of. But what about children?

As far as supporting monetarily to promote your ideas for me that's a big no. I can't. The old saying you can't get blood from a turnip comes to mind. So now for the biggest question if all this were to happen before I am dead will I be kicked to the curb to join the homeless? I have a difficult time accepting why you don't want to support the current residents and our needs. You seem to care about the next gens a great deal, what about us folks who plan to be here until God says it's time to come home?

 

I remember seeing graphics depicting a barbecue in a single family home and all of the neighbors are walking towards the house, waiving, as others are already present, on scene. This type of small local neighbor gatherings is not the reality for life today. Most people don’t even know their neighbors names within 4 houses of where they live much less expect to be invited to drop by for a meal. The demographics of marketing Sun City in the newer electronic media means finding ways to attract those using social media.
“With today’s technology, this category is almost always your most successful and trackable marketing option. Many different channels make up digital marketing including websites that create emotionally engaging experiences for the viewer, email blasts to send targeted and timely messages to your database, a combination of content marketing and digital ads that can connect with the community and decide if it’s a place where they or their loved ones would enjoy living, etc.” This is a snippet of an article written by Carlson Communications. The article further explains the value of each electronic media type and how it can provide added value to marketing efforts.
Reading other articles about marketing a senior living community highlights best practice to create a desire to want to ask for more information. Suggesting offering classes online with the ability to engage in person and feel connected with the perspective community. It speaks of rounding out the day with lots of activities to engage and encourage further discussion about the community. Hiring a community relations manager to coordinate activities and events so people feel there are opportunities for being engaged.
There is a list of 40 items key to marketing a senior community and together make up a successful marketing campaign. Collectively implementing most of the strategies suggested with a focused approach could be very beneficial for Sun City. We would just need to bring in the features suggested such as classes, interactive video and a single point of focus for perspective residents to see and digest.
All of the strategies suggest great ideas for marketing campaigns utilizing every media type available. Great information outlining direction and focus on capturing the audience’s interest in pursuing your brand as the product of choice. Yes, rebranding Sun City in a positive way other than “Fun City.”

 

“You want marketing, start by putting our presence back on social media. I'll never understand why there wasn't an uproar over that when it was stopped abruptly.”
Probably because most didn’t know there was a social media platform available.
Let’s face it, we don’t do anything of value to inform people about what we have within our community. Marketing is a very powerful tool that utilities communication to reach the audience. What communication tools does the RCSC utilize to reach out to the members? Does the RCSC actively engage in two way communications with its members? If someone were to ask 10 different people why they would recommend living in Sun City, what would you think the response might be? Nope, not being ornery, just asking questions for a clear sense of direction about what we could do differently to make Sun City a more welcoming place to want to explore.

 

All good points ladies and sadly much of what you have written is true. Times change, people change, our values should have remained a constant. Unfortunately they didn't as the general manager had a plan and it was executed to perfection. By taking the safeguards built into our documents and dismantling the committee structure, the concept of community involvement was nearly eliminated.

This isn't something new, i have been writing it for years. And as i have said time and time again, had she been infallible (pope-like), it might have been the greatest thing since sliced bread. The reality is Sun City wasn't built by a general manager, by a board of 9 or even by a committee. It was community built by and for the membership and their involvement was critical as members along the way became the glue that held us together.

Destroy the clue and everything changes. It worked and for that single reason i will always resent the decisions made allowing it to happen. I know with every fiber in my body, had the GM put the question in front of the membership, we would now own the Lakes Club. We would never have purchased the Grand Center sits on, Mountain View would be done and the theater would be in the back portion of the Lakes Club (Meeker Community Center). Best of all, our renovation of the Lakeview Center would be moving forward.

And let's be clear, not because i wanted it, but because the community/membership would have been asked/involved in the decision making process. Instead, we forged forward with our golf course renovation strategy where we plowed 10 or 11 million dollars into Willow Brook and River Creek when the PGA expert told us they didn't need to be done until 2022 or 23.

Yesterdays news and the reality is we have ignored the single best and least expensive marketing strategy available for more than 15 years. The membership has always been available. The problem is if you push them away, rather than making them feel a part of the process, you get the reverse affect. It was a conscious and concerted choice so as to control and contain power and control without the pesky membership screwing up the decision making process.

Let me give you the best, most recent example of how detached we are from the RCSC being a welcoming community: The other day there were two "Experience Sun City" meetings scheduled; one morning, one evening. I didn't go, but i asked some of those there, was there any program? Any warm welcome for those in attendance? Nope...just a boatload of tables filled with clubs and organizations.

Dare i say, overwhelming? With all the warmth of a colonoscopy?

Somebody do me a favor, or perhaps i will do it. Stop by where new members get their rec cards and pay their fees. Take a look at what's in the bag members get. I know when i picked one up 2 or 3 years ago, it contained this God-awful black and white copied set of 36 pages of bylaws and a crappy copy of a sort of welcome. The good news was the SCHOA's full color Guide was in the bag, which was really good, but they aren't printing them anymore.

Imagine if we actually took seriously the value and importance of those writing us a check for $6000 ($5000 PIF, $1000 CIF) at the point of purchase? If we went out of our way to treat them with the significance they deserve upon buying into a community they know little to nothing about? If we had a monthly new comers coffee with an actual introduction to how Sun City works? Imagine if we nurtured that relationship and helped them understand the role they play?

Let's be honest, not everyone would come, some would not care. We don't need everyone, we need to grow the circle...a concept/phrase i have used time and time again. The problem is, was and looks like it is still the case, their goal is wholly different. Sure they want them to join clubs and attend events, but the idea they stick their nose in important decisions like shutting down libraries, moving the visitor center, location of the PAC or staying on budget should be beyond their reach. You and i know it is exactly what members should be doing.

Everything and i mean EVERYTHING started with the membership in those first 20 years. Meeker understood he could not forge a community without the members. He knew they were the one ingredient that offered them the best opportunity to survive flourish and for him to be able to walkaway knowing they could stand on their own.

The cost of membership involvement doesn't take a 100k investment of outside professionals or consultants. It starts with a commitment to build from within an internal structure where those living here matter, not just with the fun stuff, but with everything they (the RCSC) does. You cannot build a sense of community without YOU being involved.

It's that simple...it always has been.

 

I have said this before, you are asking WAY too much from "retired people". They already serve on the BOD and Committees, now you want them to give up more of their time to do meet and greets at the centers, engage with members? When do they get to play golf, use the clubs? These people volunteer! Tom M and I have said this before, board members should not sit on committees. Committees should have their own members with a chair that reports to the board. Keep adding more responsibilities to the BOD and no one will want to volunteer.

 

We know Bill. Saying this over and over, putting all your focus on what they should have done is not going to change it. 132 posts mentioning "Lakes" "Club"

Search Results for Query: lakes club | Talk of Sun City

 

Teachable moments; either you believe in them or you live in a vacuum where you are so self-absorbed in your own little world you choose to pretend they don't matter. Anyone with a half a brain understands we cannot change the past, we can absolutely learn from it. I've always appreciated those more open-minded than those with blinders on, but heck, differences make the world go round eh?

The beauty of Sun City's history is contained in a very short time frame; 65 years. For all practical purposes, it fits neatly within a radius of 7 miles in length and 3 miles in width. And, perhaps best of all, thanks to Jane Freeman and a handful of others, it has all been brilliantly preserved in the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum (aka, Sun Cities Area Historical Society).

It's readily available to anyone interested enough to look. The blueprint, the path they carved is right there for those who think it matters. I had the good fortune of coming across it early in my arrival here and i have found the more i know about it, the better i understand our roots, values and tenets. Sadly, for those who ignore it, they believe they have to re-invent the wheel. Such is life for those incapable of teachable moments; the good news is, some simply don't know and when presented, they come to value what they find.

SCG mentioned above the changing dynamics of coming generations of home buyers. No question, they will be different; in some respects. In others, they will want, perhaps even need "affordable" (note, not cheap). Many will clamor for that sense of community and belonging, the question for them will be on what level? I have no idea, nor will i pretend to know.

That was the genius of how Sun City was built. Our governing documents with their built in checks and balances afforded them to carve out their own future, not just rely on what DEVCO built for them. Committees were the most often used formula, but surveys, town halls and countless monthly meetings insured the membership was the sounding board for any and all courses of action.

All of which is why i often share our recent history and how we got where we are today. It wasn't accidental, it was a purposeful act to give the general manager more of the decision making. Prior to 2006, the GM's primary purpose was running the day to day operations...but even that was held in check by a board first who held them accountable, then by committees who had actual purpose and if everything else fell apart, the membership had explicit language to address issues they saw as foolishness.

As i have said often: They were perfectly written documents. And, the exact reason the GM worked tirelessly to rewrite them. In 2024, we saw the results of a GM having too much control over too many important decisions. That would never have happened before 2006. Clawing our way back has been painfully slow. I would and have argued it's too bad more of the board members don't know or appreciate our history.

But alas, that was then, this is now. As i pull away from my earlier years of involvement, i find my best option is so share...a few teachable moments. For those who read and value knowing it, cool. For those who resent it, oh well. Life is way too short to worry or care about those unwilling or unable to learn.

For the rest of you, stay positive and keep plugging away. I know i will.

That's the beauty of Sun City eh? At least for those of us who love it here.

 

I hear and agree, members should be the driving force behind the RCSC decisions that impact how we live within our community. But you and I know, the members rights have been all but removed from our grasp. A former GM made sure of that.
Member involvement is indeed a driving force for showcasing the community as to what it can be. The key is seeking a way to reach members in a way to get them involved. Does sending email blasts do that? I think not. Once again the age old question, what is the best method of reaching out to the members that welcomes them to participate? With all that is available in electronic media, it’s a crime that the RCSC has ignored it’s members, goes out of their way to rebuff attempts to be more inclusive and chosen to insulate itself from the community as a whole. The place we’re in now was done by design, leaving the members outside, looking in.
I know what you have written previously has been repeated by you many times. I believe the message has remained constant and consistent. But there needs to be an awareness brought about to create a positive impact for all to want to rally around the benefits of being a member of the RCSC. There’s no member outreach. There’s defining event that is welcoming to the members. Nothing that says we value you and your time for living here. The annual meeting is a business event: I am talking about something like the ice cream socials or other venues where people come together to celebrate living here. We don’t make members a valued commodity.
Unless and until the members are valued for their contribution to the community, marketing is a feather in the wind. I have read your comments about how the membership built this community. Look at what DEVCO did to entice people to move to Sun City. You have named countless events that were planned for the members to be engaged in. What do we do now for members to want to crow about how great it is to live here? What do we do that makes members feel good about why they purchased here? I know I harp on events but it’s the best way to engage people to participate. Otherwise, most folks live insular lives and because of electronic media, have no need to interact with others if they choose not to. Inviting them to come out of their homes and interact with other members is a good beginning in building a sense of community. Making people feel good about their decision to live here is what the foundation of a good community is. Marketing is outreach to the people who have like minded ideals. It’s not about only those living outside the walls but to those of us who still live here. I would like to see the community once again make a concerted effort to include the members through events. Market to me as a member why is Sun City a good place to live. Look at it from the perspective of not a golfer and don’t belong to a club, because that’s closer to the group that comprises the make up of the membership. Nope, not trying to inflame the debate, just pointing out that using the membership to sell the community is difficult when there’s little sense of community to muster, in my opinion.

 

Many good points by all. One thing for sure, the culture has changed many times since 1960. In the 60s and 70s folks were more engaged with one another, there neighbor and neighborhood.
You had DelWebb Corp. brilliantly advertise in travel magazines in the day, magazines like (Holiday) were they put out wonderful full page ads inviting folks to come to Sun City have a weekend vacation and tour the community. That was in the day where we had no electronic media, just magazine, billboard and other venues to show the charm of SC.
I like maybe many others in here listen to our BOD directors meetings online, and sometimes I may go over to a meeting but doing more from my home, whether good or not good.
I think word of mouth is how we are garnering new potential buyers. Also it is so easy to shop on Realtor.com and Zillow to see what you want. Our price point is still so much lower with fees for other surrounding over 55 communities here, but what is a negative here is the homes are really aging along with our amenities. I am not sure if low fees are enough to attract the needs of modern seniors who want to see a lot of pretty things around them. Maybe we need to focus more on updating our centers, and making the entire community more attractive. I myself would like to see this.