BETTER IN BTR (2024-2026)
These days, the topic of talent retention and attraction is ubiquitous in business economic development circles. While Baton Rouge has experimented with and implemented multiple iterations of this work, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC) secured American Rescue Funds in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to combat a decade-long out-migration of young professionals. Originally concepted as a talent attraction campaign, we made the decision to focus community pride and talent retention first when I joined the organization in 2024.
Better in BTR campaign was designed to foster community pride and talent retention by highlighting what makes the Baton Rouge area special—inspiring residents to celebrate and contribute to making it an even better place to work, live, and thrive.
CAMPAIGN PRINCIPLES
Widely connected, the campaign threaded through the fabric of the community, enabling us to foster collaboration and growth through an ever-expanding network.
Always authentic, with an unwavering commitment to the truth and dedicated to telling the true story of Baton Rouge by acknowledging strengths and openly addressing challenges head-on.
Growth-oriented. As a hub of innovation and economic vitality, the goal is to highlight diverse industries—from energy and manufacturing to tech and healthcare—to create partnerships and retain talent through professional advancement.
Community-minded, embracing and supporting organizations, businesses, and neighborhoods that energize the community and bring everyone together.
Intentionally inclusive with an open-source approach, inviting everyone to participate and contribute to what makes this region great, celebrating the vibrant tapestry of energy, passion, and creativity that defines Baton Rouge.
LAUNCH AND IMPLEMENTATION
The renewed effort launched in early February 2024 at the Baton Rouge Business Report’s Power Breakfast with full activation on February 25 (225 Day). In addition to a website and social media accounts, the campaign included print, digital, video, radio, and out-of-home advertising region-wide as well as collaborations with local businesses for pop-up activations at local events or high-traffic areas.
Unlike many campaigns like this, Better in BTR was intentionally designed to be open source—with all of the brand elements being available to businesses and organizations to use in their own communications. This resulted in promo item collabs, more than 100 posts for 225 Day 2026, and even businesses personalizing the brand video with their own employees for corporate recruitment.
You can read more about the effort here.
WE MAKE THE WORLD BTR
In 2026, we expanded the campaign in partnership with Louisiana Chemistry Association and Industry Makes. Many people associate Louisiana’s Capital Region with petrochemical manufacturing and process industries—without giving much thought to what these companies actually make. But when you dig a little deeper, you learn that just about everything that we use, wear, and consume on a daily basis gets its start in some way from the Baton Rouge area—yet our residents have no idea.
In addition to all of the typical creative implementations, this effort also included a display of hundreds of products that are made possible by Baton Rouge. The display was designed to be portable, and has been used in business, political, and social events around the region and even in Washington, D.C.
My role in this project was to assemble the team that developed the creative and all of the related assets and to manage the effort under the leadership of the Marketing and Communications Team.
Agency Partners: MESH, STUN, RedSix Media + Three SixtyEight did early work on the project
Internal Team Members: Morgan Almeida, Katie Harris, Ricky Bryant, Connor Gonzales, Lauren Fournerat