Co-founders of LAB tapped to be on the South Main Association Board

The two co-founders of LAB Digital Creative have been tapped to join as board members of the South Main Association. Alan Hudgins and Michael Newsome will serve as co-directors of membership for two years to help the organization grow.

Hudgins has lived in the South Main Historic Arts District for six years after moving to Memphis from Louisiana in 2013. A native Memphian, Newsome has lived in the neighborhood for 14 years. Both Newsome and Hudgins had personal South Main Association memberships before joining as a business and being asked to join the board to bring innovation and new ideas to the organization.

“Our company is headquartered in the South Main Historic Arts District, and it is where I have called home for six years,” Hudgins said. “We were asked to bring new technology and process flow to the organization to help improve membership and bring new ideas to the table.”

Newsome has lived in the South Bluffs area for 14 years and has witnessed first-hand the growth of the neighborhood, and has watched numerous projects and businesses come to fruition.

“The South Main Association wants us to help them measure membership in order to be able to grow,” Newsome said. “We want to improve engagement and bring the same technology and ideas to the South Main Association board that we use for our own clients.”

The South Main Association includes areas starting one block south of Beale Street. It holds some Memphis’ greatest legends, architecture, art innovation and characters.

“We’re excited for Hudgins and Newsome to join the Board because as our membership grows over the next year, we want to continue expanding our online footprint as well,” Eric Bourgeois, vice president of the South Main Association, said.

The South Main Association is full of DIYers and entrepreneurs, locally-owned shops, chef-owned restaurants and organizations that support the arts. South Main was Memphis’ first suburb, first arts district, the hub of the world’s first modern grocery store and where rock and roll was first played on the air.

“This duo of proven professionals in the digital field is the perfect addition to the team. They have strong and longtime ties to the South Main Arts District, and we‘re looking forward to them applying their expertise to the 2020 Board,” Bourgeois added.

Today, the world comes to South Main to hear the story of the civil rights movement at the acclaimed Civil Rights Museum. Nearly $500 million in new development is underway in South Main, bringing in more residents, attractions, restaurants, shops and creative spirit.

“We are excited to bring new life and ideas to the South Main Association and to show our appreciation to the neighborhood who has supported us since our inception.” Hudgins, co-founder and creative director of LAB Digital Creative, said.

Newsome, president of the company, and Hudgins, creative director, launched Lab Digital Creative last year because they saw a need to fulfill small- to-medium-sized businesses’ design and marketing needs with affordable, customized website design and branding.

“We launched LAB Digital Creative to offer nimble, agile digital marketing services to clients in the Mid-South and beyond,” Newsome said.

Newsome and Hudgins use a six-step process to help their clients reach their digital marketing goals — discover, define, design, develop, deploy and drive growth. The team designs and builds websites and helps drive traffic to the sites.

The team has worked with more than 100 clients and brands in all industries across the U.S during the course of their careers, including South Main favorites such as the Arcade Restaurant, Elite Total Wellness, Silly Goose and Pasta di Strada.

LAB refers to the pair creating the perfect “mix” in the lab for all of their clients and also stands for their primary core values—loyalty, accountability and boldness. Three traits they offer all of their clients.

“We’re passionate about using great design and clever marketing to help businesses achieve growth and success at the next level,” Hudgins said.

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