MADE FOR ROCKFORD: HOW RESEARCH DROVE A REGIONAL TALENT ATTRACTION BRAND

GrahamSpencer created the Made for Rockford talent attraction campaign through extensive GSearch research, strategic planning, branding and marketing design. Years later, the idea continues to find new life in the community it was created to serve.

For nearly four decades, GrahamSpencer has worked alongside organizations like the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau (GoRockford) and Rockford Area Economic Development Council (GRCC) to help attract visitors, businesses, investment and people to the region we call home.

During that time, we learned something fundamental about economic development: Attracting businesses is only part of the equation. Businesses need talented people. And attracting talented people means offering them more than a good job. It means offering them a place where they can build a good life.

That fact took on new urgency in 2021.

The Challenge: Competing for People, Not Just Businesses

The 2020 Census confirmed what many in the region already knew. Rockford had lost population over the preceding decade, as had much of the surrounding metropolitan area.

Meanwhile, local employers were competing for skilled workers in an increasingly national marketplace. A competitive job offer wasn’t always enough. Recruiting talent to Rockford meant competing not just with other employers, but with other communities and the lives people imagined living there.

Yet new opportunities were emerging. The pandemic had accelerated remote and hybrid work, changing the relationship between employment and geography. Smaller, more affordable metropolitan areas were attracting renewed interest from people reconsidering where and how they wanted to live.

Rockford had a story worth telling. But what would make that story compelling to people who didn’t already know the region?

And how could we find out?

Research, Collaboration and a Shared Vision

In 2021, the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau (now GoRockford) engaged GrahamSpencer to lead a regional talent attraction research and planning initiative, initially called the Rockford Regional Marketing Plan.

Working with a task force of business and civic leaders assembled by RACVB, we undertook one of our most extensive GSearch research and strategic planning initiatives.

The process brought together diverse perspectives on the region’s strengths, challenges and opportunities. Through primary and secondary research, we explored perceptions and migration patterns, studied competing communities and examined housing, employment, cost of living, quality of life and the rational and emotional factors that influence where people choose to live.

The objective wasn’t simply to create another marketing campaign. It was to establish a research-informed strategy that regional stakeholders could believe in, support and build upon.

First, We Had to Understand Who Might Choose Rockford, and Why

The resulting GSearch report approached 300 pages. But the value of research isn’t measured by the page or by the pound.

It’s measured by what you learn, what you do with that knowledge and what happens afterwards. 

One particularly revealing audience was boomerangers — people who had left the Rockford Region and either returned or were considering coming home. Their perspectives were both revealing and encouraging.

We also heard from prospective homebuyers and professionals in industries important to the regional economy, including engineering, healthcare, education and aerospace.

Together, these findings helped us better understand not only who might choose Rockford, but why. And, perhaps more importantly, what Rockford could credibly promise them.

Affordability Isn’t Really About Affordability

Rockford’s attainable cost of living was clearly a competitive advantage. But people don’t aspire to spend less. They aspire to what spending less makes possible in their lives. They aspire to living bigger lives. 

A larger home. A fenced-in yard. A shorter commute. More time with family. More money for experiences. Greater access to recreation. More opportunity to become involved in the community.

Respondents also validated what we had been saying in economic development work for many years: that Rockford is a place where people can raise their hands and make a difference, where they can start something, join something, be part of something bigger than themselves … and assimilate into the community quickly. It’s a community for hand-raisers that extends its hand to all people.  

These Insights Became Made for Rockford

From the GSearch findings and strategy, GrahamSpencer created Made for Rockford — the name, brand identity, positioning, messaging platform, digital experience and original talent attraction campaign that had a successful three-month run in multiple target markets.

The idea was particularly appropriate for a city of makers.

Rockford has spent generations making things – products, businesses, neighborhoods, institutions and opportunities. Made for Rockford turned that history into an invitation to people interested in making something of their own.

The campaign brought the idea to life with messages including:

If you want to own your life, not rent it, you’re Made for Rockford.

If you’re a rider without a trail, you’re Made for Rockford.

If you’re a chef without a chef’s kitchen, you’re Made for Rockford.

Different lives. Different motivations. One underlying proposition: What could you have more of if you lived in the Rockford Region?

We Tested and Measured the Idea in Three Markets.

In February 2022, GrahamSpencer launched the initial Made for Rockford digital campaign targeting prospective residents in Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison.

The campaign used programmatic display, Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn and Search. Targeting incorporated the research itself — reaching potential homebuyers, people with behavioral connections to Rockford, professionals in key industries, real-estate shoppers and other audiences demonstrating an interest in moving.

The audiences responded.

Programmatic advertising generated more than 1.36 million impressions and 4,500 clicks, with a 0.33% click-through rate against a 0.20% benchmark.

Facebook and Instagram generated another 1,494 website clicks and a 1.78% click-through rate. That’s nearly twice the 0.90% benchmark.

The research had produced an idea. The campaign demonstrated that people responded to it.

The Campaign Paused, But The Idea Endured.

Following the successful initial test campaign, Made for Rockford remained inactive for several years. Then GoRockford revived the initiative, developing it into an ongoing community program much like the one envisioned in the original GSearch recommendations.

Today, with dedicated leadership and resources at GoRockford, Made for Rockford connects prospective residents, employers, community ambassadors and newcomers through events, outreach and storytelling.

We’re pleased to see an idea we researched, developed and launched finding new purpose and momentum in the community it was created to serve.

The world is catching on. And catching up.

There is another reason Made for Rockford looks particularly interesting in hindsight. In the years since the original research, Rockford has attracted national attention for its housing market.

Realtor.com ranked Rockford the No. 1 hottest housing market in America in December 2024, and subsequent rankings have continued to recognize the region’s combination of housing demand, affordability and quality of life.

Of course, cities aren’t made by marketing campaigns. At GS we have always said that our city was made by thousands of hard-working, creative people over generations.

And, unlike communities blessed with mountains, oceans or other obvious natural attractions, much of Rockford’s appeal is decidedly man-made. Our industrious, ambitious people have taken what was always here and made more of it.

Since 1987, GrahamSpencer has helped research, shape, promote and sometimes build initiatives that make Rockford a more interesting, welcoming and vibrant place to live. We’ve helped turn blank walls into public art, helped launch a movement to make Rockford a more welcoming community, helped breathe new life into a landmark industrial building and helped celebrate homegrown people and stories that give Rockford pride — and get the world’s attention.

Made for Rockford is part of that history.

Perhaps the most enduring value of Made for Rockford isn’t the advertising performance or even the program’s continued growth. It’s the recognition of something that has always belonged to this community, long before the national rankings began taking notice:

Rockford isn’t simply affordable. It offers real value: more room, more time, more access, more opportunity and the possibility of a bigger life.

That’s what became Made for Rockford. And years later, the idea continues to prove its staying power. Meanwhile, Rockford just keeps becoming more made for Rockford.