ATTENTION: There’s a new item on the menu at Bagels and More in Town Center. Introducing The Midtown Muffin!

The Midtown Muffin is a lemon blueberry treat, voted on by residents and friends of Midtown at Town Center on Bonney Road.

What does it take to land a permanent spot on the menu at one of Town Center’s favorite bagel spots? A little creativity, some relationship-building and A LOT of taste testing.

Last spring, we sat down with our client, Midtown at Town Center, a Ripley Heatwole property, to discuss goals and strategies for the year. The Ripley team wanted to increase brand awareness and strengthen the relationship with Town Center businesses and patrons.

To complement the new “Midtown at Town Center” brand, RCG facilitated conversations between Midtown and Bagels and More to brainstorm new ideas and create an eventual partnership.

From there, the idea for the Midtown Muffin was born. The “taste-testing team” at Midtown sampled recipes throughout the summer and narrowed the choices to two flavors. Next, RCG planned and promoted an event at Bagels and More where Midtown residents and the Town Center community sampled both flavors and voted for their favorite.

In the end, the lemon-blueberry muffin won top honors and became a fixture on the menu, which helps to boost the “Midtown” name in Town Center. Plus, residents can enjoy the muffin seven days a week in the Midtown clubhouse.

So what’s the community relations lesson behind the Midtown Muffin?

Relationships are essential in business-to-business marketing. The muffin concept is just what Midtown needed to generate exposure, and it’s also given Bagels and More new traffic in the door. The early conversations and willingness to work together made the idea happen. Now it’s a win win — and everyone gets muffins!

See the new Midtown logo designed by the RCG team below, and don’t forget to “like” the Midtown page on Facebook.