MILLIONS of people have been told the message that Wangaratta is a great place to live under a new Rural city of happy little locals campaign.
There have been more than 14,000 visits to a new Live Wangaratta website and people are spending 5-10 minutes on the site which means they're looking at the content and referring off it.
Six local children were picked out of a casting callout seeking kids who could tell the audience about why Wangaratta is such a great place to live.
Television commercials, online videos on YouTube, SBS on demand and 9Now, along with social channels have all been sending the message about why it would be a good choice to move from Melbourne to Wangaratta.
The Live Wangaratta website gives prospective residents a one-stop-shop showcasing all that's good about Wangaratta across lifestyle, townships, work, education and health with subsections under the categories.
Council creative marketing specialist Lucy Clark said COVID has changed some people's perception about how and where they want to live and there has been a resurgence of interest in regional living.
She said people who are employed in Melbourne are now able to work remotely and they are thinking more about living in a city with their neighbours on top of them and they're actually starting to consider moving to regional areas.
"We identified that as an opportunity for us and first of all we wanted to make sure people are aware of Wangaratta and all the great facilities that we have and the lifestyle that we offer," she said.
"This campaign is a starting point in making sure people know who we are so that when they start considering where they may want to move that we're in that consideration set right from the start."
Council's marketing team worked with agency Dutch Media and they pitched an idea to them which they loved.
"We loved it because it wasn't telling people why to move to Wangaratta, it was an authentic way to get some people who love living in the area to talk about why people should consider moving to the area," Ms Clark said.
"You get a really honest answer when you ask children because they don't have a filter.
"We did a casting call on our Facebook page and we got an overwhelming response and it was really hard to narrow it down to just six kids.
"We wanted to make sure we had a breadth that could showcase all the great reasons why to move to the area, for example we got a little swimmer to talk about the new Wangaratta Sports and Aquatic Centre, a child who moved from Melbourne to Wangaratta who was able to have a big backyard now."
The response from the community after the search for the six actors has also been heart-warming with Ms Clark saying it has in a way reminded people in the community about why Wangaratta is great and there is a real sense of pride.
To view the new website or perhaps share it with your Melbourne-based friends visit www.livewangaratta.com.au.
