Matt Joblon wants to make it known that Denver isn’t all doom and gloom.
So, the CEO and founder of local developer BMC Investments brought together a group of executives to start the marketing campaign “Denver. The Best Return on Life.”
“Denver has gotten a bad reputation nationally because of a lot of the negative stuff thatap been going on,” Joblon told BusinessDen. “I am crystal clear that PR and marketing alone doesn’t solve the problem. There’s got to be policy changes, and there are other organizations that are focused on that. But this will be a supplement to the policy change.”
Over a year ago, Joblon approached Mayor Mike Johnston and asked if a private investment campaign similar to one San Francisco has undertaken in the last couple of years would be beneficial. An organization for the California city raised some $60 million from locals to help promote and revitalize downtown.
With Johnston on board, Joblon reached out to high-profile Denver executives. The resulting organization’s board features Joblon alongside former DaVita CEO Kent Thiry, Sage Hospitality Group co-founder Walter Isenberg, Walker & Dunlop’s Willy Walker, Evan Zucker of Academy Partners Group and Downtown Denver Partnership CEO Kourtny Garrett.
The crew then sought to raise funds from their network. Joblon said the campaign has $3 million from 70 local business people.
That money will be used to fund the PR machine, which includes paid and earned media, social media advocacy and testimonials on how Denver has helped business owners, from public company CEOs to coffee shop owners. Joblon said they’ll work to “counter a lot of the B.S.” media attention by promoting positives and directly responding to misleading stories and accounts.
“Itap a sign that the business community is awakening and coordinating,” Joblon said. “You can’t complain about it and do nothing. Itap about actions. We saw a huge vacuum and gap in the PR and marketing for the city and state, so we decided to step up and fill this.”
Joblon said his group is targeting Seattle and Portland residents and businesses in an effort to get them to move to Denver. The campaign will also advertise in Los Angeles and Chicago.
“Denver has structural advantages over a lot of cities today. We don’t want to just go national and say ‘Denver’s got all these great things,’” he said. “Itap more of a tactical push into cities where we think we can win. Despite some of the headwinds that we have, those cities have even more.”
He said the campaign will promote the mayor’s recently announced $100 million jobs plan that hopes to add 10,000 jobs to the city. It will also tout Colorado’s highly educated workforce, along with the economic engine that is the Denver International Airport.
Lifestyle-wise, the group will show off nearby skiing and hiking, as well as the local music scene, venues and restaurants.
“When you think about what is unique to Denver, it truly is that you can grow your career and have a great lifestyle here,” he said. “Itap simple and compelling. Culturally, we truly punch above our weight.”
Joblon said that success for the campaign entails getting Denver’s net migration positive again and seeing job creation, business growth and more investment dollars flowing into the city. The group will track the marketing response as well, but results are harder to quantify.
Despite the positivity, the Best Return board members aren’t content with the status quo. Joblon, Thiry, Isenberg and Garrett were among hundreds of signatories on an open letter sent out earlier this year called “Ensuring Colorado’s Innovation Future.”
The letter, organized by local tech entrepreneur and investor Dan Caruso, calls for a host of policy changes across the state.
“We have our challenges here. We’re not ignoring that,” Joblon said. “But through all the negative press Denver has been getting, there’s a tremendous amount of positives here.”
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