Not sure where to take your sweetie for Valentine’s Day?
A new local advertising and social-media campaign wants you to take your date out on the town in Akron — and gives you suggestions of restaurants and other locales from eight local couples.
The campaign slogan, “You Had Me At Akron,” is a play on words from the famous line in the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire.
“We’re trying to get people to go out and fall in love with Akron and each other,” said Kyle Kutuchief, Akron program director for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which paid for the $28,500 campaign.
Kutuchief and Gregg Mervis, president and chief executive officer of the Akron/Summit Convention & Visitors Bureau, came up with the idea in the fall. Kutuchief said he was pleased at the quick turnaround by the convention bureau’s Vice President of Marketing and Brand Management Jim Mahon and Hudson-based advertising firm About350.
The campaign, which launches Sunday, includes 5,000 booklets distributed at venues throughout Akron as well as a website, www.YouHadMeAtAkron.com, and social media plans.
As part of the campaign, the couples — diverse in age, race and sexual orientation — were asked to share some of their favorite date-night locations. The couples are photographed in one of their chosen locations.
Robert and Charlene DeJournett say they loved being asked to participate in the campaign.
“If you live in Akron, you ought to love Akron. And if you love Akron, you ought to support it,” said Charlene DeJournett, a patient navigator for the Center for Holistic Health.
The DeJournetts have been married for 15 years and have a blended family of five grown children and four grandchildren. The couple often like to go out in Highland Square, where they have lived for 13 years, said Robert DeJournett, director for community relations and diversity for Summa Health System and pastor of St. Ashworth Temple Church of God in Christ.
But he admits, like many couples, they need to be more intentional about going out for date night. The couple, both lifelong Akron residents, said they plan to use the “You Had Me At Akron” list to explore more of the city, including locales they never heard of before the brochure.
“We want to give local business owners our business,” he said, as the couple took a mid-afternoon break at Angels Falls Coffee Co. in Highland Square.
On date nights, Matt McCallum and Ben Manista, who live in the Merriman Valley, may go to multiple places within Akron. They like to stay close and use Uber, the ride-sharing service.
The engaged couple who have been together for seven years enjoy going to music venues, such as BLU Jazz+ and the other associated businesses around Maiden Lane in downtown Akron off East Market Street.
“We love the arts here [in Akron],” said Manista, a hairstylist for MC Hair & Studio in Cuyahoga Falls, while having coffee at Urban Eats, also in Maiden Lane.
McCallum, a partner for talent development for Akron advertising firm Hitchcock, Fleming & Associates, said as a gay couple, he and Manista feel very welcome in Akron.
Interactive campaign
The campaign is interactive, with more locations listed online than in the brochure, Mervis said. On the website, locales are grouped by one of Akron’s 21 neighborhoods.
The campaign using the #YouHadMeAtAkron hashtag on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn will also have a weekly sweepstakes to win a $50 gift card by asking people to share their favorite Akron date-night spots and a grand prize of an overnight stay at the new Hilton Garden Inn near the Goodyear headquarters.
Interestingly, Mahon said, the couples’ lists of favorite things to do around town didn’t have too many duplicates.
“They all had their own unique things,” he said, adding that there was a little “curating” that happened with the lists to ensure that the same places didn’t get listed multiple times.
No venues paid for mention in the campaign and most first heard about the campaign after being notified they were in it, he said.
James King, who has co-owned Angel Falls with Rafael Oletta for 20 years, said he enjoys when Angel Falls gets some love.
“We always like having the opportunity to greet new customers, especially people moving to Akron,” King said.
Kutuchief said while the launch of the campaign coincides with Valentine’s Day, he hopes people will use the information all year round and not just for dates, but girls’ night out and excursions for friends, families or grandparents with their grandkids.
Kutuchief said he’s also happy that the campaign featured a wide variety of couples from Akron, including what he would call “emerging leaders. These aren’t the senior statesmen of Akron.”
A lot of times, people might think about suburbs and chain restaurants rather than exploring Akron for a date night, Mervis said.
“We want to showcase that there is now a critical mass of unique places you can go,” Mervis said. “When you put in a little effort, you can get a unique experience.”
The “You Had Me At Akron” is the second creative Akron-centric funded campaign by the Knight Foundation. Last year, 2,500 “Outside The Box” brochures highlighting different venues and activities to summer interns were distributed. The campaign is online — www.AkronOutsideTheBox.com — and can be also used by anyone wanting to explore Akron, Kutuchief said.
Separately, the Downtown Akron Partnership this month brought back its own valentine to Akron with its “Kiss My Akron” campaign, which includes window clings and #kissmyakron and #downtownakron hashtag. The social media campaign encourages people to share selfies from downtown Akron locations for a chance at prizes.
Kutuchief said he knew about the Kiss My Akron campaign. “It’s awesome that we have overlapping campaigns.”
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ.