Minneapolis boosters start billboard campaign to attract people from the suburbs

Have you recently enjoyed a night out at a show at the Guthrie or a bike ride around the Chain of Lakes? You could soon see yourself on a billboard.

To coax more people from the Twin Cities suburbs to visit Minneapolis again, promoters are using digital billboards to advertise the "positive stories of people enjoying the city."

The purpose of the Minneapolis Momentum marketing campaign is to encourage people to return to Minneapolis restaurants, stores and other establishments.

"We have folks that we know when they are thinking about Minneapolis really haven't come to the city in the last two years, even folks that live close by," said Courtney Ries, senior vice president of campaign partner Meet Minneapolis.

The billboards will feature short tweet-like descriptions and photos of residents dining, shopping and exploring the city. Starting Tuesday, people can submit entries on mplsmomentum.com.

One entry will be chosen each day for use on the digital billboards starting in mid-June. Selected entries will win city experiences like sports, theater and concert tickets, dinners at Minneapolis restaurants and hotel stays.

The campaign will use 15 digital billboards and each board will show the ad a minimum of 1,250 times per day. Over the 30-day life of the campaign, the messages will be hard to miss, the promoters said.

The Minneapolis Momentum campaign also includes bi-weekly newsletters summarizing "positive stories about Minneapolis" like information on conferences and show openings.

The newsletter and billboards are meant to push back on negative perceptions some people may have about Minneapolis, including that the city is unsafe, and nudge suburbanites to get reacquainted with the city after hanging around home during the pandemic.

"There are thousands and thousands and thousands of people that come into the city every single day that have a safe, enjoyable and memorable experience ... You have a lot of people, all the people who are working in the city that are coming and having these enjoyable experiences and we just need to remind people that they can have that too," Ries said.

The campaign is being paid for by the Greater Minneapolis Building Owners and Managers Association, Greater Minneapolis Hotel Association, Greater MSP, Hennepin Theatre Trust, Meet Minneapolis, Minneapolis Downtown Council, and the Minneapolis Regional Chamber.

"We know when people return to downtown once, the second engagement comes quickly," Leah Wong, vice president at the Minneapolis Downtown Council, said in a statement.

People have continued to return to Minneapolis and downtown skyways have started to get busier in recent months as COVID-19 cases declined. Yet many small businesses still report the need for more customers. Taxes generated from entertainment, tourism and hospitality are still lagging, Ries said.

According to the latest numbers compiled by the Minneapolis Downtown Council, city hotel occupancy and seated diners are still below 50% of what they were before the pandemic. Downtown building occupancy is at a little less than 60% as more people return to work in the office.