Situation
In 2006, the Greater Des Moines Partnership felt its “Change Your View” campaign had run its course. A new campaign was needed to reflect the many positive changes that had taken place in the preceding half decade. Perceptions among residents and those outside Des Moines had begun to shift but the campaign the city was using was still soft and slightly apologetic.
Solution
It was time for Des Moines to stop apologizing for not being Chicago or Minneapolis and to start challenging those metropolitan areas for not being everything that Des Moines is. With that in mind, Trilix worked with the Partnership to develop the “Des Moines. Do More.” campaign. The flexible, multimedia campaign, tells individuals that “Whatever you do, do more of it in Des Moines.”
In order to assist Des Moines residents in spreading the message and showing the world how proud they are to call Des Moines home, the campaign was designed to be as viral as possible. That meant not only using traditional ads and collateral materials, but also web videos, t-shirts, sticker books and other non-traditional media that made it easy for residents to carry the “Do More.” message wherever they went.
Results
The “Des Moines. Do More.” campaign is still going strong two and a half years after its launch. It has successfully shifted the tone and message of the Greater Des Moines Partnership and its affiliate chambers. In addition, the campaign has been recognized in a number of national publications and the Partnership has also been called upon by other chamber organizations for guidance about using viral and crowd sourcing techniques as a part of an economic development campaign.