D8

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

2 Comment(s)

To The Editor:

The Population Growth Secretariat has launched a new campaign on television and on the Internet that will feature real New Brunswickers telling their stories about why they've chosen to be in this place. These ads are part of a larger government campaign, which we committed to in our population growth strategy, to market our province at home and in other provinces as the place to be.

The campaign has certainly started people talking, an objective of any marketing campaign, but we want to make sure that our campaign tactics and goals are clearly articulated to the public as well.

Yesterday's editorial in the Times & Transcript indicated that it was "hard to fathom" running ads "only on New Brunswick television" and advocated bringing the campaign to a broader audience.

First, we are very pleased that people like the ads and we agree completely that they should be shown to as many audiences as possible. In fact, it has always been part of our campaign strategy to broaden the audience regionally in the Maritimes and eventually moving into markets in central and western Canada.

We are also aggressively marketing our province online on websites like globeandmail.com, canadaeast.com and youtube, allowing us to reach a much larger audience and different age groups more cost-effectively.

That said, there is a very important audience for this campaign here in New Brunswick: families of people who have moved away and individuals currently considering doing the same.

The fact is, most people who have moved away still have family in New Brunswick. Early on, we recognized the power of family members who see this ad, notice the nbjobs.ca site and send an e-mail or a phone call to their loved one, mentioning that opportunities might be available in New Brunswick.

In this way, these relatives are our partners in repatriation because they also have an interest in bringing their loved ones back. With this partnership in mind, we are stepping up advertising on all fronts during the holiday season to capitalize on the ex-pats who have come home.

Finally, we cannot forget the need to retain people here. We have created a retention branch within the Population Growth Secretariat and I talk to young people constantly who don't know that there are opportunities here. We are losing thousands of them every year.

Young people need to be given confidence that there are good, high-paying jobs here in which they can be successful and still be close to those families. Many opportunities are available on nbjobs.ca right now and young people in New Brunswick need to know about them.

I stand behind our decision to promote nbjobs.ca both inside and outside the province and I believe that parents who have children abroad or thinking of leaving will agree. We need people to stay in New Brunswick as much as we need them to come home if we are to be self-sufficient.

Greg Byrne,

Minister

Business New Brunswick,

Minister responsible

for the Population

Growth Secretariat,

Fredericton