Ad folks try novel sales pitch

If you're in advertising, Sara Sparrow would like you to move to Minneapolis -- just like she did.

Far from being the cold, barren farmland her friends in Texas predicted, Minneapolis turned out to be a vibrant city where she can do creative ad work, according to a video of the local graphic designer on the new website MinneADpolis.com, which went live on Monday.

The website, jointly run on behalf of several Twin Cities ad agencies, has taken on the metro area's toughest marketing job: Selling Minneapolis to talented young advertising people who live on the East or West coasts. It combines the virtues of the city with job listings, a messaging function for website visitors and examples of award-winning ad work done here.

But the website is debuting at a time when there isn't much hiring being done by local advertising agencies, which have been hurt by the recession. So far, the 10 ad agencies sponsoring the website have posted four jobs, all from one agency. Three more job postings from other agencies are expected within two weeks.

That doesn't worry the ad agencies, because the website serves a dual purpose: to hire a few people while acting as a banner advertisement that they hope will attract new clients to the local agencies.

"The website has broader goals than just recruiting," said Nanci McMenamy, vice president and director of the Minneapolis office of New York-based BBDO. "It's designed to raise the profile of the ad business we have here."

Added Keith Wolf, founder and chief creative officer at website creator Modern Climate (formerly WolfMotell): "The idea of the website is to showcase the body of work being done here. It's more about the body of work than about specific jobs. When the jobs come, they will be available on the website."

Still, the website mostly comes off as a recruiting poster.

"Everyone thought that I was going to go to a farmland," says Sparrow, who took her first job out of college at Modern Climate, in the video. "They all thought it was cold constantly, that there was no summer, that everyone just worked and went through gerbil tubes, which is how they referred to the skyways."

But when she arrived here, she learned that "there is a summer, there is a downtown, there's city life, there's sophistication. It's not just nature."

Getting the real story out

"Right now there are even more people on the job market than before because of the shrinking size of ad agencies and companies," McMenamy said. "We want to make those people aware of the ad community here, because Minneapolis is one of the places that people tend to overlook because they think there are cold winters here. This is a real opportunity to get the real story out about what the city offers."

Wolf said it's an effort to get Minneapolis in front of thousands of advertising people who have no connection to the city.

"Instead of approaching them as individuals, why not try to attract them with a website?" he asked. "Can this be the way to pull them in?"

Selling the Twin Cities' quality of life to people on the coasts has always been difficult, whether the message came from the state's economic development people or local corporations seeking employees. A Honeywell executive once told the story of a job interviewee from California who flew into the Twin Cities in January -- and promptly refused to get off the plane because of the wintry conditions.

But the ad agencies are taking a different tack: They are dealing with the stereotypes of life in Minnesota with earnestness, honesty and a dose of idealism.

The video of Char Roseblade, senior account director of Carmichael Lynch, offers blunt honesty: "Part of the misconception that comes with Minneapolis is that we're sort of stuck in hickville here, and it's a farm community and it's cold. What people fail to recognize or know is it's a city that has a ton to offer."

The local ad agencies participating in the website include BBDO, Bolin Marketing, Campbell Mithun, Carmichael Lynch, Clarity Coverdale Fury, Colle+McVoy, Martin/Williams Advertising, Modern Climate, Periscope and Russell Herder.

Steve Alexander • 612-673-4553