The Case
In 1999, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce realized it was getting the raw end of the deal in the technology revolution. Universities like Georgia Tech were educating some of the best young
talent, but come graduation day, those students were migrating to Silicon Valley and other technology hubs, leaving Atlanta in the lurch.
To lure high-tech employees and companies back to the Atlanta area, the Chamber launched a five year economic development campaign known as "Industries of the Mind" (IOM). During the initial stages,
the campaign promoted concepts like "quality of life" and showcased schools and resources in the Atlanta community. But it wasn't long before the Chamber realized its approach was outdated and needed an
upgrade.
The Classic Disconnect
After a few months of frustration, the Chamber approached Duffey Communications for help in conveying its message to the high-tech community. "What most chambers of commerce do is focus on attracting
business with the idea that if you bring businesses, people will follow," says Lee Duffey, president and founder of the eponymous agency. Here, the Chamber hoped to deploy a reverse strategy, first
selling employees on the idea that Atlanta was a great place to live. "The Atlanta Chamber's concept was, 'let's retain our folks.' They were basically looking to attract intellectual capital and
not fixed-asset capital," Duffey says. The agency set its sights on high-tech talent as its primary audience.
A needs analysis of the Atlanta tech community and job market revealed that the most coveted high-tech workers were young, educated, conceptual thinkers who were on their first or second jobs - not
the kinds of folks who would respond to "quality of life" (read: middle aged) messages.
"It was the classic disconnect," Duffey says. "We [couldn't use] traditional channels of communication. Those would be appropriate for their fathers and mothers, but [not them]."
Persuading Atlanta companies to abandon business as usual was the next hurdle. Duffey created and distributed a revised message booklet to local Chamber members highlighting a new recruiting strategy.
For example, hiring managers were encouraged to tout the youthful population of Atlanta - as in, "You're not waiting 15 years in your career for people to die in order for you to move up."
Messages touting "ability of the workforce" and"excellence of the labor pool," also were ditched in favor of plugs for Atlanta's year-round mild weather and its vibrant (but not oppressively
expensive) entertainment and real estate scene.
Duffey's choice in delivery channels for the campaign were similarly unorthodox. While the team went with traditional print choices like Fortune, Forbes and the Wall Street
Journal, they also hit books like People, Rolling Stone, Wired and Red Herring with a print campaign. Youthful recruiting messages also were incorporated into the IOM Web
site (http://www.AtlantaSmartCity.com), which the team then promoted to colleges and universities, using viral marketing tactics that encouraged
visitors to recommend the site to their friends.
Creating Controversy
The media campaign took a similarly quirky approach. Duffey knew the typical high-tech worker was not averse to risk or controversy, and therefore injected a little controversy into the campaign,
prompting radio stations in other metropolitan areas to poll their listeners on the best place to live. When audiences in Boston were asked if they would prefer to live in Atlanta sunshine or Boston snow,
40% of Bostonians opted for Atlanta.
On the West Coast, the IOM campaign told Californians: "You have threats of brownouts, but in Atlanta, we have the largest utility company in the country, [so systems are always up and running]."
These kinds of tangible arguments helped differentiate Atlanta from other cities . Most economic development messages are far too generic, Duffey says. "If you take out the name of the city and put in
Cleveland, it works. We made sure spokespeople didn't allow themselves to fall into the generic."
Non-traditional Results
Meanwhile, campaign results have been anything but generic. On a $225,000 budget, Duffey procured 81 media placements for IOM in publications like the Wall Street Journal, The Boston
Globe, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Business Chronicle, CIO, Business 2.0, Competitive Edge, Computerworld and IT Career World.
In 2000, IOM drew more than 40 tech companies to Atlanta, which, in turn, committed more than $200 million in capital program expenditures and more than 1,963,200 square feet of real estate space.
That's more than double the results logged in 1999, when new companies invested only $97 million and committed to only 92,325 square feet of space in the city. The Web site, which averaged only 100,000
hits per month following its 1999 launch, is now garnering 1 million hits per month.
(Duffey, 404/266-2600)
Bypassing Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy can put a crimp in any campaign, especially when you're dealing with committee-driven organizations like chambers of commerce. By the time Duffey arrived on the scene, the Atlanta Chamber
of Commerce had already hired and fired another large PR firm. "They were unhappy with the work, and they were digging to determine why," says Lee Duffey, who attributes the failure of the original
relationship to what he calls the "administrative trap."
To avoid a similar fate, the Duffey team asked for a single contact and warned the Chamber of Commerce that Duffey representatives would not sit in on committee meetings or otherwise become entangled
in the Chamber politics. "I think it was brave of us to demand it and brave of them to agree to it," Duffey says. "We told them, to accomplish what you want on budget, we need CEO access, CEO
accountability and CEO decision speed. And we stayed on budget."
Duffey Communications
HQ: Atlanta
Billings: $7.2 million
Clients: Kroger Food Stores, HPC Interactive, American Express, Best Software, UnumProvident, CYBeR-CARE
Specialties: technology, healthcare, utilities, consumer brands, professional services, public affairs, interactive marketing
Employees: 50
Employees on IOM
Campaign: 5