• by Liz Tascio , September 12, 2011

Google Fiber's setup in Kansas City has residents and professionals preparing for change

Now that Kansas City, Ks., and Kansas City, Mo., (informally, kay-see-kay and kay-see-moe) have dashed the hopes of 1,000 other cities and elated their own residents by winning the installation of Google Fiber, a sober question arises: what now? What does this mean for the brands, ad agencies and techies who make their home in Kansas City?

With few details from Google to guide them, the biggest companies in town are understandably quiet on the subject. h&r Block, founded in Kansas City, Mo., in 1955, said simply that the company doesnt expect Google Fiber to impact its immediate marketing plans. Hallmark, a Kansas City, Mo., icon since its founding in 1910, didnt have any comment. Ad agencies say their clients havent asked them about Google Fiber.

Like a lot of the new social media tech, this is something the big brands will sit and watch from the sidelines to see how it will play out, says Ramsey Mohsen, director of social media at Digital Evolution Group, a Web development firm and e-consultancy in KCMO. Until you open it up to the entrepreneurial community to get their hands on it, you dont know what you dont know.

But thats not to say there arent any big plans. To describe the two Kansas Cities advertising and tech professionals as a little excited would be like saying barbecue is just a little bit popular here.

Joe Cox, president of the Kansas City Social Media Club, is an interactive strategist at Muller Bressler + Brown; the agencys clients include PayPal, eBay and Sprint. Cox, who has worked for Red Bull and other national brands while living in Kansas City, imagines, for example, a more human style of videoconferencing.

Webinars suck. WebEx sucks. Its not a comfortable way to do business, Cox says. I worked for Coca-Cola and everything was done from home, so I was on 100 conference calls. Business that way is not human enough, its not fun.

Google Fiber, he says, will allow the entire Internet to behave more like the best kinds of social media and more like people. Part of the secret with Twitter is that its instantaneous its small bits of data, Cox says. Its popular because it is that quick; it acts like we do. With gigabit, we wont have those handcuffs anymore; those small bits of data should be gone.

Mark Logan is a 20-year veteran of digital media and the vice president of digital innovation at Barkley the agencys clients include Nestl Purina, LOreal Paris and Lee Jeans and he heads up Barkleys Innovation Lab. Logan works on the Missouri side of the state line but lives in a Kansas suburb, too far away to catch the first rollout of Google Fiber. (If they get to Prairie Village, he says, I will drop Time Warner in a heartbeat.) So, Logans home Netflix wont stream any faster, but hes hoping for a big impact at work: Google Fiber could attract a bigger, deeper, richer tech community and accelerate the growth of the tech ecosystem in Kansas City, Logan says. An influx of smart new entrepreneurs would attract investment dollars, and that would draw ever-more innovative tech firms.

Thats a godsend, because that means well be living in this very rich ecosystem where all sorts of ideas and new technologies will be bubbling up, says Logan. That kind of rich technology community in Kansas City would be a game-changer for us.

Among Kansas Citys current tech rock stars is Bo Fishback, the creator of Zaarly, a proximity-based app whose users buy and sell to each other in real time (e.g., a latte, delivered; a table in a packed restaurant; a last-minute ride to the airport). Zaarly debuted in February and received one million dollars in seed money from a slate of investors that included Ashton Kutcher. Fishback took a leave of absence from his job at the Kauffman Foundation (headquartered in Kansas City, Mo.) to work on Zaarly full time.

Easier access to the kind of community Logan is talking about may attract more Fishbacks to the two KCs and support the Fishbacks who are already here.

At both city halls, thats the focus.

John McGurk, chief of staff for KCMO Mayor Sly James, says the city is reorganizing its economic development strategy: All the stats show that real growth in the country is coming from entrepreneurs and small businesses, he says. Thats what we wanted to do before getting sworn into office, and I think Google Fiber is going to put afterburners on that.

Same goes for Kansas, says Brent Miles, president of the Wyandotte Economic Development Council, which serves KCK. Im going to be able to recruit companies that I would never have had access to before, he says. Until recently, the city would go after the big automaker plant, this big 1,000-job, $100-million capital investment project. With Google, its more, how do we facilitate a place where 100 entrepreneurs could live and work, and have angel investors and capital? What about graphic designers, folks who are editing movies and theyre on the West Coast and they could buy real estate cheaper in the Midwest boy, thats big stuff.

The two Kansas Cities have a history of competing for companies, tax dollars and residents. But now, both mayors, James and Mayor Joe Reardon, are picking six people from each side of the state line to found what theyre calling the Mayors Bi-State Innovations Team. The mayors see Google Fiber as a chance to operate as a unified region. Of course, when the two sides do compete, Google Fiber might now factor in. One recent Missouri win was Applebees, which announced this year it was moving from a Kansas suburb (no Fiber) to KCMO proper (yes Fiber), getting tax breaks in exchange for jobs.

Scott Gulbransen is Applebees first director of social media and digital content. I dont know if it was a factor in the decision, but certainly it sweetens the pot, Gulbransen says. Applebees is a heavily franchised brand, but we own the Kansas City market. Its a good place to test social media and marketing, he says.

And testing is exactly what everyone wants to do, but with little information from Google as to when and where the network will be available first, thats hard to plan. Cameron Cushman, senior analyst at the Kauffman Foundation, has been convening people from all sectors of both cities. Hed like to see a test kitchen set up as soon as possible, maybe in an abandoned school or an abandoned warehouse or right here in Kauffman Labs.

Shaul Jolles, founder of the coworking space OfficePortkc, was the first person to suggest to KCMO officials that the city apply for Google Fiber. His group grew to include leaders in not only business and technology but also health care, arts and entertainment, education and city administration. OfficePort changed its name, signs, letterhead and logo to Google kc Headquarters and hosted meetings almost daily. As the ever-growing group completed the application, they generated 1,200 Google Docs filled with ideas for what to do with a gigabit in Kansas City.

One thing that we kept on saying to each other is, Even if we dont get it, we learned a lot about what a huge need there is for high-speed and how really behind we are compared to other cities around the world, Jolles says.

Now that the network has been won, life is back to normal at OfficePortKC. But the truth is theres not an hour that goes by that were not thinking about the opportunity we have, Jolles says. More than anything right now, were thinking about what we can do to not miss that opportunity.