On May 20, Oakland City Manager Deborah Edgerly accepted the “Change Master” award presented by the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Marketing Association (SFAMA) during its annual Excellence in Marketing Awards celebration. The City of Oakland was recognized for its multi-year marketing campaign to enhance its image as a competitive business location.

“It’s a tremendous honor that our marketing campaign received the 2004 ‘Change Master’ award,” said Samee Roberts, the City of Oakland’s Marketing Manager. “We wanted to communicate all of Oakland’s strengths to our target audience and the campaign broke through the audience’s perceived image of Oakland.”

The eye-opening campaign, which included print, television, and outdoor advertising, positioned Oakland as a major player in the regional economy by playfully taking on San Francisco with attention-grabbing headlines such as “Fine, Leave Your Heart in San Francisco. We’re More Interested in Your Business” and “San Francisco Now 30% Off.” From there, the viewer’s eye was drawn to beautiful images of Oakland and copy touting the competitive advantages of doing business in Oakland. Print ads appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Business Times, Silicon Valley Business Journal, the northwest edition of the Wall Street Journal, and several economic development industry publications.

Other facets of the marketing campaign included a toll-free new business hotline (1-877-2-Oakland), an economic development newsletter, a comprehensive business attraction web site (www.business2oakland.com), media events welcoming new businesses, and high profile groundbreaking events and ribbon-cutting ceremonies for new development projects.

Young & Rubicam/San Francisco provided pro bono creative design and media placement strategy for the campaign. The agency leveraged the City’s $600,000 campaign budget with an additional $800,000 in free production and media placements.

The SFAMA “Change Master” award category recognizes companies that have demonstrated creative thinking in designing and executing marketing campaigns to enhance their brand. Past recipients of Excellence in Marketing Awards include Google, Apple Computer, and LeapFrog Toys, among others. Founded in 1937, the SFAMA is a professional association with 600 members working in the field of marketing across a wide range of industries and disciplines.