Want to attract a young, energetic, vibrant crowd of people to fill your Mid-American, mid-sized city? Check out the new “Possibility City” campaign for Louisville. Here is just one of the cheeky new spots:
Besides the spots themselves (here and here), Louisville has done a great job of using social media. A well-designed website, as well as a good following on their “Friend of Lou” Facebook page, and Twitter page. It’s rare that you find a city with the guts to take the risks that this campaign takes. And, as expected, the local newspapers and city council people are up in arms about the “racy” campaign. But here’s a little secret: they’re not looking to attract gray-haired newspaper editors and incumbent city council members. They’re looking to attract young, creative people who will come to Louisville, eventually start new businesses, raise their families and pay taxes. You can’t appeal to this audience with stale, unimaginative, creative-by-committee campaigns that everyone expects.
For any organization with a lot of stakeholders and opinions, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of building consensus, trying to appeal to everyone and offend nobody with your marketing. But what you end up with a very safe campaign that nobody ever remembers. Might as well flush your marketing budget down the toilet.
A hat tip to Louisville for having the guts to move forward on a well-done, creative campaign – and a thumbs down to the cowardly nay-sayers who would rather see a typical, unmemorable, politically-correct, traditional campaign that nobody would remember. Now for the hard part Louisville, can you live up to the hype?
Author: Tom Flynn III
www.lessingflynn.com
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