CED launches new ad campaign to attract tech workers, restore Calgary's 'entrepreneurial' reputation
A new $4 million ad campaign aimed at attracting tech talent to Calgary will also attempt to combat a growing perception that the city has lost some of its entrepreneurial spirit, Calgary Economic Development said Wednesday.
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A new $4-million ad campaign aimed at attracting tech talent to Calgary will also attempt to combat a growing perception the city has lost some of its entrepreneurial spirit, Calgary Economic Development said Wednesday.
The organization’s president and CEO, Mary Moran, told the crowd at CED’s annual economic outlook event that the “Live Tech, Love Life” campaign will be rolled out across Canada as well as in key international markets as part of an effort to fill some of the more than 2,000 tech-related job vacancies currently being advertised in Calgary. While the city’s overall unemployment rate remains elevated at 6.8 per cent, Calgary businesses consistently report difficulties finding software engineers, data scientists and other skilled technical workers.
The campaign will try to increase outsiders’ perceptions of Calgary as a technology hub while also promoting the city’s lifestyle benefits. An ad with the tag line “Angel Investor,” for example, will show someone playing in a Calgary winter, while the phrase “Cloud Computing” will be presented against the backdrop of a Rocky Mountain skyscape.
Moran said Calgary’s highly educated workforce and energy sector expertise means the city has a chance to play an important role in industrial technological innovation. But she said attracting skilled workers and investment capital will require changing the perceptions of outsiders. According to research conducted in June by CED in Vancouver, Toronto, Seattle, San Francisco and London, England, only 30 per cent of Canadians and 50 per cent of global survey respondents think Calgary is “innovative and entrepreneurial.” She said only five years ago, as many as 80 per cent of Canadians said they viewed Calgary as an innovative city.
“It is greatly disappointing,” Moran said of the research. “So we know we need to go out and tell more people in more places a different narrative about Calgary, and that there’s a lot more going on here than they actually think.”
Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who said Wednesday was the first time he had heard about the CED survey, said he found the numbers “shocking” but added they replicate some of what he is hearing when he travels across the country. He said he has been concerned for some time that, while Calgary’s economy may not be booming the way it was in 2014, the message that the city and province have recovered significantly from the worst days of the downturn seems to be getting lost.
“Things are getting better, but we’re doing a lousy job of talking about how things have been getting better,” Nenshi said, adding that a constant “doom and gloom” refrain may actually be starting to discourage outside investment.
“This is the kind of thing I’ve been saying now for many, many months,” he said. “If you keep telling people how awful it is, guess what? They’re going to start to believe it.”
According to ATB Financial chief economist Todd Hirsch, who gave a presentation at the economic outlook event, Calgary’s economy saw an encouraging growth spurt in 2017 but has flattened out again in the years since, largely due to concerns over pipeline access in the energy sector. However, while he said ATB expects Alberta will see just 0.8 per cent real GDP growth for the full year of 2019, things should pick up slightly in 2020.
“Two per cent growth is what we’re forecasting,” Hirsch told reporters. “Relative to what we’re used to growing at, that is still modest, but is definitely an improvement over 2019.”
Also at the event, Calgary Economic Development announced Joe Lougheed, a Calgary-based lawyer and the son of former premier Peter Lougheed, will take the helm as the organization’s chair. Lougheed replaces Steve Allan, who has served as chair of the board for nearly six years and is stepping down to lead the provincial government’s $2.5-million public inquiry into foreign-funded campaigns targeting Alberta’s oilsands.
Twitter: @AmandaMsteph
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