Summary:

How do you get people in the 7-county Chicago Metro area to care about urban planning?  How do you get the independent municipal governments to come together around a cohesive vision?  ASA named and branded GOTO 2040, Imagine that… and developed integrated communications and public engagement strategies that personalized the challenge and piqued people’s imaginations.

Challenge:

CMAP’s branding challenges were two-fold; CMAP itself was a newly formed government entity whose role and responsibilities were little understood among stakeholders; and CMAP was embarking on a comprehensive planning process for the year 2040, with a state mandated timeline that was marching forward. CMAP retained ASA to develop a brand, design a multi-part communications and community engagement strategy and consult with their internal communications and community outreach staff

Activities:

• Naming and brand research
• Message platform
• Online interactive and social media consultation
• 5-part public engagement campaign design
• Community events
• Graphic design, logo, brochures
• Webisode video production
• Contest design and promotion
• Media strategy
• Youth engagement strategy and implementation
• Networking and constituency building
• Community outreach staff training
• Communication with elected officials
• Community Partner Program

Results:

• The urban planning process can be dull.  ASA’s worked with CMAP to personalize it and pique people’s imagination. Outreach strategies meshed with agency methods, and took advantage of existing networks and contacts to catapult into new networks. As a result, tens of thousand participated in GOTO2040.
• Abundant media coverage of events, milestones, and the public engagement strategies reached hundreds of thousands.
• A robust website with an “Idea Zone” invites community engagement, and offers opportunities to engage at many levels, from posting photos to leaving feedback on policy papers.
• Through the community engagement campaign and partnerships with cultural organizations, the Burnham Centennial and Chicago Matters, and many other non-profits and foundations, GOTO2040’s messages saturated the Chicago region.