Who Said Advertising Was Dead?

Tempe, Arizona...

Tempe isn't writing personal postcards to corporate leaders, but it is buying promotional advertisements aimed at national business leaders in the January editions of Fast Company, Money, Fortune, BusinessWeek and Forbes.

The magazine ad features a Tempe-based venture capitalist lounging barefoot on a boat in Tempe Town Lake. The ad will not appear in the magazines nationwide, but will be targeted at readers in three select cities with a high concentration of high-tech and biotech firms. The city hopes to generate a buzz among decision-makers to lure corporate relocations and expansions. Tempe officials won't say in which cities the ads will appear, but it isn't hard to imagine they will be coated in snow during Arizona's most temperate months.

"I'll let you use your imagination," Tempe spokeswoman Kris Baxter said. "We are saying, 'Lower your overhead without losing your lifestyle.' Some tech towns are so expensive. Tempe is a tech town and we are 40 percent less expensive." Tempe is spending $40,000 on the ads.

Source: Arizona Republic