PUBLIC SECTOR & CIVIC • OOH MARKETING • DIGITAL CAMPAIGN • COPYWRITING
Client: City of Prince George
My Role: Lead Copywriter
Design: Chris Young
Deliverables: Campaign Messaging Strategy, OOH & Transit Copywriting, Digital Ads Copywriting.
Advertising Platforms: Out-of-Home (OOH) Transit Ads & Digital Display.
Project completed while working at KIMBO Design Inc.
To stimulate the local economy, the City of Prince George needed to attract skilled professionals, new businesses, and young families from larger, highly competitive urban centers. The ongoing challenge for the award-winning Move Up Prince George initiative was overcoming regional misconceptions and convincing big-city urbanites that relocating to Northern British Columbia offered a faster track to career advancement, homeownership, and a superior quality of life.
Acting as the lead copywriter for the 2018/19 national campaign rollout, I developed targeted messaging centered on core themes of affordability, career velocity, and family lifestyle. To reach our demographic effectively, I crafted high-impact, scannable copy for a widespread Out-of-Home (OOH) transit media buy. I then paired this physical rollout with engaging, action-oriented copy for complementary digital ad placements, designed to funnel offline awareness directly into the city's online relocation and job portal.
The integrated campaign successfully captured the attention of urban professionals experiencing big-city burnout, effectively bridging the gap between physical awareness and digital engagement. The strategic messaging contributed to the sustained success of the overarching initiative, which generated widespread national media coverage and won the prestigious Gold Excellence in Economic Development Award from the International Economic Development Council.
Writing for physical transit infrastructure requires extreme economy of language. I developed punchy, high-retention copy that successfully communicated the complex socioeconomic benefits of municipal relocation—such as lower housing costs, shorter commutes, and accelerated career growth—in just the few seconds of a commuter's attention span.
To convert physical awareness into measurable civic engagement, I authored the accompanying digital advertising campaign. This required pivoting from broad, billboard-style awareness messaging to sharp, action-oriented digital copy that directly incentivized targeted job seekers and families to explore specific opportunities on the Move Up Prince George website.
To maximize visibility among daily commuters and active job seekers, I crafted specialized copy for a cross-channel media buy. By aligning the messaging strictly with the medium, we created a seamless funnel from offline awareness to online engagement:
OOH & Transit Ads: High-impact, rapid-read messaging placed strategically in major urban transit systems to capture the attention of commuting professionals.
Digital Display Ads: Highly targeted, click-driven copy designed to capture online audiences and drive measurable traffic directly to the City's job boards and relocation resources.
“ Do what you love, earn what you deserve, spend on what matters. ”
— Vancouver Skytrain Ads (OOH Copy)
“ Live better for less. ”
— Vancouver Skytrain Ads (OOH Copy)