Place Marketing: How San Antonio rebranded its economic development organization and region, became the fastest-growing city in U.S.

SUMMARY:

You have two sets of ideal customers.

I’m sure you’re already focusing on the direct purchasers of your product. But what about other people you need to win a ‘yes’ from so you can influence those direct purchasers?

We bring you a specific example in this case study. Read on to see how San Antonio’s EDO expanded its brand beyond corporate relocation decision makers to also win more of the people that influence those decision makers to relocate: workers.

by Daniel Burstein, Senior Director, Content & Marketing, MarketingSherpa and MECLABS Institute

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BEFORE: B2B-only campaign

greater:SATX, a public-private economic development partnership, is the largest economic development organization (EDO) supporting the eight-county greater San Antonio region.

Formerly, the EDO was known as the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. The organization and the region itself had no brand position. The EDO did not directly market to individuals to expand the region’s workforce.

Creative Sample #1: Previous logo for the EDO

Traditional marketing activities focused on reaching site selection consultants as the primary audience through print ads, trade publications, face-to-face pitch meetings, and direct marketing executions.

Creative Sample #2: Traditional print ad for trade media outlet Site Selection Magazine

Creative Sample #3: Another traditional print ad for trade media outlet Site Selection Magazine

The team decided to rebrand the EDO itself and create a place marketing campaign targeting early- and mid-level professionals, who local employers have identified as an in-demand workforce group.

What is a place marketing campaign?

Place marketing focuses on fueling corporations and individual citizens to make a city or region their new home. Like any consumer purchase decision today, people and businesses shop for new cities, comparing their features and costs, checking online reviews and resources.

Place marketing differs from destination marketing, which targets tourists to visit a locale.

AFTER: Research and rebranding to reach both B2B and B2C audiences

Recognizing that consumers 'shop' for places to live, the team adopted consumer branding practices, creating a cohesive brand and creative assets for the place marketing campaign.

They targeted corporate business leaders and 25- to 50-year-old professionals across a range of desired industries.

Consumer research

The team engaged with The Harris Poll to survey consumer sentiment and gauge the city’s image compared to competing cities among younger early-career and mid-level professionals they wanted to attract. “When we first reached out to Harris Poll, they noted that greater:SATX was the first EDO in the nation to engage with them to capture consumer opinion on a city/metro,” said Cecilia Garcia Redmond, Chief Brand and Communications Officer, greater:SATX.

They also researched what drove consideration for relocating. Their research showed that, among 25-50 year-old adults within their target geographies, the most important factors for relocation overall were:

cost of living
employment opportunities
crime rates

Among the least important were:

past visits to the city
cultural activities
proximity to other cities

For San Antonio specifically, key factors driving interest included:

cost of living
reputation
weather
knowing people in the city
access to food and dining

They found that overall the greatest challenge to lure newcomers to the region was a lack of information about the area and the benefits of living and working there.

New name

‘greater:SATX Regional Economic Partnership’ was chosen as the new organization name because the team felt that:

‘SATX’ stands for ‘San Antonio, Texas’
‘Regional Economic Partnership’ relays the organization’s purpose
‘greater’ is flexible and can communicate San Antonio's positive attributes, including its burgeoning economic region and the benefits of residing, working, and building a career in the area.

Creative Sample #4: New logo for the EDO

Advertising campaign

‘Life Works Greater™ in San Antonio’ became the campaign tagline and promise, targeting people to come work, live and build a career in the San Antonio region.

The campaign rolled out in late 2022 and continues to today. It includes digital advertising, display and retargeting ads, programmatic video, SEO, and paid social media on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Creative Sample #5: Examples of digital ads

Creative Sample #6: Example of outdoor ad

Ongoing competitive research

The team deploys weekly surveys to track the sentiment of different U.S. regions compared to San Antonio. Like a marketer would do for a consumer brand, the surveys are ongoing and track consumer sentiment around brand momentum, consideration, quality, and familiarity.

They track the region’s brand against other metros and are able to drill down further into their target audience and geographies to monitor if their marketing efforts are impacting the regional San Antonio brand.

“Do a competitive analysis – determine consumer sentiment about your metro compared to others. Harris Poll and other consumer survey firms are good at this,” Redmond advised.

RESULTS: San Antonio rises to the top

In focus groups, 24% of the target audience of workers said they were likely to consider San Antonio as a place to live and work. That increased to 50% after they saw the advertising creative – a 108% increase.

According to U.S. Census data, San Antonio became the fastest-growing city in America in 2023, adding 22,000 residents.

Corporate America also took notice. The region attracted corporate expansion. For example:

Agriculture and construction equipment manufacturer, JCB, chose to position its second North American manufacturing facility in San Antonio – a $500 million, 720,000 sq. ft. facility that will bring more than 1,500 jobs to San Antonio over the first five years.
Toyota recently announced a $541 million investment, expanding its manufacturing presence in the region.
San Antonio was named the top office real estate market to watch by CoStar, a commercial real estate data firm. In 2024, more than half of greater:SATX projects won have been office projects across cybersecurity, financial services, and life sciences industries.

This case study was distributed through the MarketingSherpa email newsletter.