Durham Chamber to launch "Make IT Durham" campaign to lure execs

Even as Durham finds itself drawing more and more newcomers to the Triangle -- from the new Durhamites lured to the fast-growing Southpoint area to the residents of revitalizing downtown neighborhoods -- there's one big demographic that the Bull City has tended to underdraw.

And that's corporate executives. While academics and physicians may tend, for reasons of preference, fit or proximity, to live in the Bull City, North Raleigh, Cary and the like have tended to be the first destination for higher-end real estate sales.

One approach to changing this: a new campaign called "Make IT Durham," launched by the Durham Chamber of Commerce, with $30,000 in funding from the City Council to back it up.

By one estimate, Durham has 22% of the region's population, but draws less than 5% of executives and their senior leadership groups relocating to the Triangle.

Not that there isn't housing stock in Durham for that market; from Hope Valley to Forest Hills to Croasdaile to Treyburn, houses at the top of the price range are there. But they tend to sit on the market longer than their peers in other parts of the Triangle.

Which is where "Make IT Durham" comes in:

The “Make IT Durham” campaign was formed by the Chamber of Commerce following statistical information that, although Durham was receiving a good share of new and expanded companies, the preponderance of executives of those companies were locating elsewhere.  The image of Durham as a place to live and as a place to call home has been, for years, hammered by the media, relocation companies, realtors, and long-term residents from neighboring counties.

This campaign serves to enhance Durham’s image with marketing materials directed to executives and employees locating in the area, to provide concierge-type service to lead locating executives that will help to ensure their location in Durham, to hire a staff person to provide personalized marketing and client response services, to review past marketing and image data, develop focus groups to better understand how they make their decisions on where to live, and to develop new marketing materials better suited to enhance employees’ decision to move into Durham.

The program will bring a program coordinator to the Chamber to provide "personalized marketing and client response services with targeted companies," while producing new print, web and digital video materials with high production values to help market the Bull City to this segment of the relocating population.

The project will also review also put together focus groups to better understand the decision-making process and choices made by execs relocating to the region.

Look for the City Council -- which already budgeted the funds in this fiscal year for the project -- to vote on the item via the consent agenda at next Monday'sCity Council meeting.

Comments

[GreenLantern]

I don't get it.

Make "I.T." Durham (Information Technology??)

Make IT Durham?

Make it DURHAM?

MAKE it durham?

How about just "Make Durham HOME" or, " Live in Durham, You Could Have Been At Work By Now"

[Annie]

The actual name is "Make !T Durham," with an exclamation point in place of the i. I'll let the marketing whizzes figure that one out.