Aiming to position Yonkers as “the next great urban frontier,” the latest phase of the city”™s millennial-targeted marketing campaign kicked off this week.
The city”™s $350,000 “Generation Yonkers” campaign launched on Tuesday with six television ads that will run for three months on FIOS and Cablevision. The campaign also includes 60-second spots that will run on WCBS-880 radio through the end of August. Generation Yonkers will also sponsor the station”™s opening bell report each weekday morning.
“When we first launched Generation Yonkers, we set out to answer the question, ”˜Where is the next Brooklyn? Where is the next Hoboken?”™” said Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano during a press conference at the Hudson River Museum announcing the campaign. “The answer, I think, is pretty clear that Generation Yonkers is what”™s next.”
Developed by Westchester-based public relations and marketing agency Thompson & Bender, the campaign also will include print ads in local publications through the end of the year. Interior car cards will appear on the Metro-North Harlem and Hudson lines through March 26. Generation Yonkers launched a website in connection with the campaign, which will also include Facebook ads, geotargeting and contextual ads.
“These ads communicate what we all know, that Yonkers is on the move,” said Elizabeth Bracken-Thompson, a partner at Thompson & Bender.
The ads feature Yonkers residents, professionals and business owners describing what makes Yonkers “the city to live, work and play in,” Spano said.
“You look at Brooklyn and you look at Yonkers, Yonkers just makes more sense,” Jason Evege, founder of textile company Linoto, said in an ad.
Linoto moved its manufacturing facility to Yonkers from Manhattan in 2008.
“As a business owner, it”™s so refreshing to be in Yonkers. People are happy to meet with you. There”™s more space. They”™re more receptive to what you need to keep your business going.”
Masha Turchinsky, the recently named director of the Hudson River Museum who is also featured in the ads, said the campaign exemplifies all the people, talent and promise the city has to offer.
“It also fills me with great enthusiasm for all the newcomers who get to come to this city,” said Turchinsky, who was born and raised in Yonkers. “Yonkers is a really exciting place to live and flourish.”
The most recent marketing blitz marks the third round of the Generation Yonkers marketing campaign. The previous two campaigns launched in April 2014 and October 2015, respectively.
“We”™ve seen tremendous growth in our city over the past five years thanks in large part to the Generation Yonkers campaign,” Spano said, adding that the new campaign will build on that momentum.
“Yonkers is the future, and the future is happening now,” he said.
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