Live + Work in Maine kicks off 'Boomerang' campaign
Courtesy / Live + Work in Maine
Live + Work in Maine is distributing branded coasters, glassware and other swag to partner venues in a holiday campaign to spread awareness of Maine’s career and lifestyle attractions.
Live + Work in Maine is launching its second “Boomerang” campaign to increase awareness about career opportunities in the state.
The campaign is a grassroots, statewide effort that will span the coming holidays but will focus on next week, Nate Wildes, Live + Work in Maine’s executive director, told Mainebiz.
The campaign targets the “boomerang” demographic: people who have an association with Maine, perhaps growing up or visiting here, but currently are not in the state. The goal is to spread awareness of Maine’s work and lifestyle opportunities, in hope that those people may return.
Thousands of people visit the state over the holidays, especially around Thanksgiving week, when many Mainers living "away" come back to be with family and friends. The campaign seeks to reach these people in places where they'll spend time, such as bars, restaurants and hotels.
“Our objective is to get in front of them while they’re here, and get out the message that they’re wanted here, that there’s enormous opportunity in Maine,” Wildes said.
The campaign includes distributing free Live + Work in Maine swag, such as stickers, coasters, glassware, T-shirts, koozies and mugs to participating venues.
Plus there are co-branded activities. For example, he said, Luke’s Lobster in downtown Portland is branding its menu and some breweries are branding beers as “Live + Work in Maine” for the night before Thanksgiving.
By earlier this week, several dozen venues in greater Portland had signed up, along with ones in Bangor, Farmington, Lubec, Aroostook County and elsewhere, he said.
“They’ll be serving a lot of Maine craft beer on ‘Live + Work in Maine’ coasters,” he said. “Our hope is to create ambassadors for this message.”
There’s a social media element, too.
“We’re featuring Instagram content of people and their quotes, photos and videos, who boomeranged back to the state and had success,” he said. “The objective is to raise awareness that a lot of people have had success in Maine already.”
Before the first Boomerang campaign, at this time a year ago, Wildes said he expected to sign up a dozen venues.
“We ended up with several dozen venues,” he said. “As soon as we went to one or two venues in Portland, others saw their photos on Instagram and contacted us. There was a lot of enthusiasm.”
This year’s campaign has already exceeded that number.
“We hope to have 50 to 100 venues,” he said.
Wildes reaches out to venues one-on-one and through partnerships with chambers of commerce, the Maine Brewers Guild and other organizations. This week he was in downtown Bangor, going door-to-door to recruit participants.
Wildes estimated last year’s campaign reached tens of thousands of people who were engaged at venues and through social media. He expects far higher numbers this year.
It’s difficult to say how many people return to Maine to live and work due to his organization’s work, he said. But employers have offered feedback that a growing number of recruited employees are returnees to Maine, Wildes said.
Live + Work in Maine is a private-sector initiative designed to increase awareness about Maine’s career opportunities and quality of life.
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