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Kansas City Pitches for Amazon’s Second HQ via Amazon Reviews

19/10/2017
Advertising Agency
Kansas City, USA
26
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Campaign by local agency Barkley sees city purchase 1,000 items and use reviews to highlight the city’s benefits
Cities throughout America are getting fierce and funny in their attempts to get Amazon to pick them as its second headquarters—and to land the 50,000 jobs that come with it. Kansas City’s social-media savvy mayor Sly James is making his pitch for KC in the language the Amazon retailer understands best: product reviews for a thousand Amazon purchases.

In an idea that originated from Kansas City local agency Barkley, Mayor James and his staff purchased 1,000 items on Amazon.com and used the product reviews to evangelise the many benefits of his city. Barkley worked closely with Mayor James and his staff to create a list of products to buy, review, and ultimately donate to charity. A team of writers taking on the voice of Mayor James wrote more than a hundred informative and off-kilter reviews for all thousand products ordered. (In some cases, he bought as many as 25 of each item.)


In one review, Mayor James  gives the deserving art students of Kansas City their very own 3D-simulated horse backpack, “It looks like the stallion is charging right at you if you were to look over your back and at a mirror at the same time. I bought one for myself and one for all the art students in Kansas City, which ranks third-most in participation per capita in the country.”

In another, he extols his love of high-fiber and high-tech: “We have a saying in my hometown that ‘you can never have too much Fiber,’” he says in a review for cereal. “That’s how we keep things moving here in Kansas City, home to some of the fastest internet connections on the planet thanks to more fiber per capita than anywhere else in the US. Except for maybe inside this box of Fiber One, which also really keeps me moving.”


"From concept to execution, Barkley's creative talent and professional quality were on display. The concept was a stroke of genius, and provided a totally organic way for people to share what makes us great as a city, and I had a lot of fun taking part,” says Kansas City Mayor Sly James.

“Here at Barkley, we love two things - Kansas City and online shopping backed by a two day shipping guarantee. This project enabled us to combine the two,” said Matt Pruett, Barkley Creative Director.
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Agency / Creative