From Forever Young Magazine wwww.foreveryoungnews.com
A charming blond high school whiz kid has earned a place on the marketing team that is promoting the Sarnia-Lambton region in southwestern Ontario as a potential retirement destination for boomers.
But make no mistake about it, Lynden Evers is not merely a student intern looking to absorb the wisdom of his elders. The 17-year-old founder of his own marketing firm known as Pro Motion Ads has an important role working alongside Ted Zatylny, project leader for the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership in charge of attracting new residents.
Evers has recruited over 100 Toronto-area drivers to participate in a promotion intended to send commuters to a new Sarnia-Lambton website, ihatetraffic.ca, using vehicle messaging. Cars are set up with bumper stickers and other signage bearing the website’s URL, the logic being that the worse the Toronto traffic is, the more likely it is the Toronto commuters will notice and remember the website.
When they visit ihatetraffic.ca, they’ll read how Lambton County is located only 269 kilometres from Toronto; how it’s much less congested than Toronto (43 people per square km., compared with Toronto’s 866); how average housing prices are hundreds of thousands of dollars cheaper; and how the Sarnia-Lambton lifestyle, with over 20 golf courses, good health care and proximity to major U.S. and Canadian cities, is a good fit for retirees.
Other components of the campaign are print and radio advertising.
“The ihatetraffic.ca concept occurred to me on the 401, near the airport one day last summer at about 4:30 p.m.,” said Zatylny. “I had some time to think.”
“Vehicle advertising has done very well out west in cities like Vancouver and Calgary and it is also going strong in the States,” explained Evers. “It’s also used a lot in Russia and India.”
Drivers receive $75 a month to allow their vehicles to carry the Sarnia-Lambton message. Forty-six drivers were slated to take to the Toronto roadways within the first weeks of the debut of the campaign.
Driver recruiting was done online on such sites as Kijiji, said Evers. “It’s a good way for hard-working people to early a little extra money each month,” he said.
Evers got involved with the Sarnia-Lambton program through a chance meeting earlier this year. When Zatylny bumped into Evers at a Chamber of Commerce social and they began to discuss their mutual business interests, he didn’t realize he was talking to a grade 11 student.
“I figured he was about 25 or so,” said Zatylny. “I had no idea he was 17.”
Evers, now in grade 12 at Ecole Secondaire Franco Jeunesse, works quickly. He got the idea for his company last December; launched it in April; met Zatylny at the Chamber of Commerce function and received a follow-up email from Zatylny in July; presented his ideas to Zatylny in response the next day; and the campaign was launched Oct. 1, the same day Zatylny and Evers were greeting potential customers at the FYI Lifestyle Show for boomers in Toronto.
Besides the mentorship of Zatylny, Evers says he works with a local agency, CCI Studio, run by Sarnia entrepreneur Scott Palko, for marketing and creative guidance.
His youth has its advantages and disadvantages, Evers said. “Some people are impressed but they are understandably hesitant to use the services of Pro Motion Ads,” he said. “I am young and learning, but I want to be taken seriously and I have a will to succeed.”
Said Zatylny, “Despite the fact he’s just 17 years old, dealing with him is a pleasure. I appreciate vendors who can take an idea and run with it, and this has been my experience with Pro Motion Ads thus far. He also contributed some valuable ideas to the campaign as a whole.”
In mid-November, Evers says, he will undertake a case-study analysis to determine the effectiveness of the program.
Why, Evers was asked, isn’t he enjoying his teenage years engaged in the typical pursuits of his peers?
“I find myself bored with the normal,” he says. “I need to try new things and expand my knowledge.”
Websites: Pro-MotionAds.ca; liveinlambton.ca; tourismsarnialambton.com.
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