New Lowell Marketing Campaign to Launch in September

08/12/2015

Contacts:    Jeff Cournoyer, 978-934-3332 or Jeffrey_Cournoyer@uml.edu and Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu

LOWELL, Mass. – The city of Lowell, UMass Lowell and the Lowell Plan are joining forces on a new marketing campaign designed to highlight what makes the city a great place to live, work, study and play.

The campaign, “#Lowell: There’s a Lot to Like,” will feature colorful images depicting scenes from the city that illustrate that message. The awareness campaign is intended to draw new visitors, businesses, students and others to Lowell.

“Identifying joint marketing opportunities with institutions like the university and the Lowell Plan has been one of my top priorities,” said Lowell City Manager Kevin Murphy. “I believe this new campaign will showcase our city throughout the region and demonstrate what those of us who live here already know – there is a lot to like about Lowell.”

Through the campaign, Lowell’s cultural, recreational and other attractions will be highlighted in a series of advertisements and other messaging that will begin appearing in regional media in September.

“Promoting Lowell’s unique attributes and educating prospective students, visitors and businesses about what the city has to offer is a key component of our strategic initiative to advance Lowell’s image as a ‘college town,’” said UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney. “We are proud to partner with the city of Lowell and the Lowell Plan on this exciting campaign.”

A suite of print and digital ads will feature the line, “This is how we …” with a verb describing the action associated with the image and a link to a website that will provide more information about what Lowell has to offer. For example, one ad features a photo of the Lowell Folk Festival with the phrase “This how we jam” and another features a photo of a UMass Lowell hockey game with the phrase “This is how we chill.” Every ad will also feature the tagline, “#Lowell: There’s a Lot to Like.”

The Lowell Plan, a nonprofit economic development organization, is rallying the city’s business community to support the campaign.

“The Lowell Plan started the ‘There’s a lot to like about Lowell’ campaign in 1998, so we are pleased to be re-engaged in this effort,” said James Cook, executive director of the Lowell Plan. “Lowell has many reasons to draw and keep people here.”

The target audience for the effort are people who live in, work in and visit communities within a 30-minute drive to Lowell, an area that reaches Nashua, N.H. to the north, Groton to the west, Haverhill to the east and Burlington to the south, with some outreach in the Greater Boston area.

The campaign, funded initially by the three partners, will run over the next year. The majority of the funds will go to purchasing advertising in regional media outlets, as well as on billboards in highly visible locations and in movie theaters. Banners and social media will also be used to get the word out. UMass Lowell will provide in-kind creative and design services through its Office of University Relations.

Bryce Hoffman, UMass Lowell’s executive director of marketing, said the “#Lowell: There’s a Lot to Like” theme is “a twist on an old friend, as ‘There’s a lot to like about Lowell’ is still a phrase associated with the city.”

UMass Lowell is a national research university located on a high-energy campus in the heart of a global community. The university offers its more than 17,000 students bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs, vigorous hands-on learning and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be ready for work, for life and for all the world offers. www.uml.edu