Greater ROC

Greater ROC is an initiative of ROC2025, an alliance of regional economic development partners dedicated to accelerating growth in the Greater Rochester, NY, region. Built on the collective strength of the region’s many individual energies and contributions, Greater ROC’s purpose is to galvanize, empower, educate and celebrate all that makes the nine-county region Greater.

Many agencies across the Greater Rochester region have executed individual initiatives over the years, all designed to accelerate growth. And while these efforts contributed to incremental changes over time, none were driving significant progress. Local business leaders wanted to do more—and commissioned an independent market research study to identify what would make a worthwhile impact. The answer: a united effort across multiple industries and business sectors. To do that, all of the region’s voices needed to be heard and considered when deciding on a direction forward, and an inside-out approach would help overcome current perceptions and start to move the needle. The new goal: igniting belief in a new Rochester.

Enter Greater ROC, a new place brand that demonstrates the collective good happening in Greater Rochester, galvanizes local pride and draws new people to the region’s nine counties. Created with the support of partners and business sectors throughout the region, the distinctive and engaging rebrand authentically represents Greater ROC, building internal pride and communicating the area’s cultural and economic benefits locally and across the country.

DS+CO believes in the collective strength of many voices and experiences, so we partnered with Meshin Movement and Optic Sky to spearhead Greater ROC’s strategic and creative process. Messaging and imagery were defined through in-depth interviews with a broad cross-section of people in multiple business sectors, demographics and communities. Conversations with alliance partners and board members—as well as a third-party assessment of brand positioning and materials—ensured inclusion, diversity and equity. An introductory video demonstrated what truly makes the region greater, with anthemic language and imagery that kicked off the marketing campaign. A multi-platform approach included messages across traditional and digital mediums to capitalize on reach, social media channels were created and monitored, and public relations secured stories with major news outlets. And all of that drove traffic to GreaterROC.com, where people inside and outside the region could learn how to get involved as a Champion for Greater ROC or by downloading a “Guide to Greater” toolkit to help promote the new brand.

The first phase of Greater ROC kicked off in late July 2020 with four weeks of coverage across multiple tactics and channels. In the first week alone, the campaign delivered 3.3 million impressions and reached 65% of the region, focusing on adults 25+ with a 4.5x weekly frequency. The first phase set the stage for Phase 2, which included more videos, regional storytelling, social media content, outdoor and digital ads, and email and influencer marketing. The results of Phase 1 included:

• Awareness:
  • 36.5 million total impressions
  • 31 PR stories
  • 598,000 video views
• Engagement:
  • 14,000 clicks to GreaterROC.com
  • 162 brand ambassador signups
  • 1,289 new social media followers