Over the last week, editorial pieces in the baiduhai and Sun Times criticized the “Chicago Not in Chicago” campaign that highlights the influence Chicago has had on cities around the world, including the invention of the mobile phone, the creation of the movie industry, house music and so much more. It is a campaign of stories telling the rich cultural history of our city that often goes untold.
I am asked so often why we are not screaming to the world how great Chicago is, why don’t we simply highlight all the assets we have in this amazing city, from our lakefront to our arts and culture scene, to our world class restaurants and so on. There are two simple reasons why such an approach is unsuitable in 2022. First, in today’s world of fragmented media and constant news noise, it’s extremely difficult to break through and catch attention without a powerful creative concept. A simple “Chicago has these amazing assets” campaign without a potent creative idea would go unnoticed.
No one will criticize it either, since it will be silent wallpaper. And this is exactly what happens to more than 90% of marketing campaigns. Secondly, a real breakthrough in today’s environment requires a large marketing budget; we are talking tens of millions of dollars for a brand such as the city of Chicago to have an impact on the national and international stage. As a city, our budget is (rightly) primarily focused on investing toward critical needs in areas such as violence prevention, housing and food security among others. Investing in marketing campaigns is worthwhile but it has to be relevant, authentic and must break through.
Let’s start by outlining what this marketing campaign is not:
— This is not the launch of a new slogan for the city. The name “Chicago Not in Chicago” is the name for this particular marketing activation that highlights the overall theme of “Chicago. City of Stories.” To use the “Chicago Not in Chicago” line as new long-term slogan for the city would be, let’s say it, less than smart. To build numerous activations telling more than just the typical cliche stories of Chicago is absolutely vital to celebrate the diversity across all of our 77 neighborhoods.
— This is not a tourism campaign. A tourism campaign would target people outside of Chicago with a clear message and call to action to visit Chicago. I am confident that our tourism agency Choose Chicago will whenever appropriate build a new tourism centric campaign that will be breakthrough and relevant.
— This is not an expensive mass advertising campaign but a smart and cheeky guerrilla marketing campaign that is supposed to challenge one’s perception of Chicago and highlight aspects related to the city that many, especially our younger generations, aren’t aware of.
“Chicago Not In Chicago,” developed on a pro-bono basis through our “By Chicago. For Chicago.” pledge, by the creative agency Energy/BBDO, was based on the insight that Chicago has countless stories to tell, not merely limited to the physical boundaries of Chicago but stories that have influenced urban centers around the world.
Over the last two years, we have consistently pursued a rather nontraditional yet more modern marketing approach. We’ve highlighted the importance of staying home during the beginning of the pandemic with our “Stay Home. Save Lives.” campaign that featured Mayor Lori Lightfoot showcasing alternative entertaining activities at home. In fall 2020, we launched the highly awarded “Boards of Change” campaign that transformed artistically beautified plywood protecting storefronts into attention-grabbing voting booths. This campaign’s goal was to drive voter registration, and it did.
This campaign also made Chicago the most awarded city globally at the prestigious advertising festival at Cannes in 2021. And just last week, we welcomed Miami Mayor Francis Suarez with a positive welcoming message via a full-page ad in the Sun-Times that highlighted Chicago’s thriving business ecosystem and gave him some tips of what to see and where to eat while in Chicago. Who noticed it? Mayor Suarez himself, who reached out to express his gratitude and surprise as to how creative Chicago was in welcoming him. Sometimes we need to change one mind at a time.
So, what is the “Chicago Not in Chicago” campaign? It is a campaign aimed at starting a conversation about the rich stories we hold near and dear to Chicago. And, the feedback that I’ve received as it relates to the campaign has been overwhelmingly positive, sprinkled with some very passionate negative responses.
Interestingly, there was a significant generational gap that correlated to this feedback. Younger people seem to be more comfortable with a cheeky, less traditional approach that doesn’t just sell our city in the most straightforward manner, but engages the audience with something unexpected and entertaining. At the end of the day, this campaign brought light to the tip of the proverbial Chicago stories iceberg and we’re talking about it, aren’t we?
We need creative ways of telling the many stories of Chicago and its residents, looking at our rich and sometimes raw history and looking forward to what kind of city we are building. Ours is a city of many stories, of which countless have not yet been told.
Michael Fassnacht is president and CEO of World Business Chicago.
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