Client: Nine sponsoring Howard County employers: Ascend One, Baltimore Aircoil, Enterprise Community Partners, Healthways, Howard County General Hospital, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Micros, Nemetschek and Verizon Wireless.
Job: To promote Howard County as a place where individuals can both live and work
Agency: Howard County Economic Development Authority
Theme: “Get Your Life Back”
The Concept: Concerns of a labor shortage prompted the authority to create a radio-based ad campaign urging individuals to consider working in Howard County rather than commuting toD.C. or Baltimore.
The group found that 100,000 Howard County residents currently commute out of the area to work.
The Plan: About 1,500 spots will air on radio stations in Baltimore and D.C., which reach a demographic between ages 25 and 40.
The spots were funded by nine employers that are featured on a job-listings Web site, howardjobs.com, which the radio ads urge listeners to visit.
The spots emphasize the opportunities in the region as well as the time saved, which could be spent with a person’s family instead.
Radio was chosen as the medium because it would reach the most commuters.
Many ads are being played in sponsorship with or adjacent to traffic reports.
Ellicott City-based advertising agency The Caplan Group provided a new home page for the Howard Jobs Web site pro bono.
Creative Team: Alice Settle-Raskin (communications manager), Richard Story (chief executive officer)
Background: The Howard County Economic Development Authority is a privatized county agency that helps businesses with land and building selection, financing, recruitment, training and other support.
Working on Next: The group plans to spend approximately $100,000 on a different Howard-themed marketing strategy in the upcoming months.
