G20 Marketing Efforts Underway

With the leadership of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development the new group “Pittsburgh G20 Partnership” has gathered a long list of participants and nearly half a million dollars. The goal of the organization is to capitalize on the media attention that will come with the G20 Summit in September. Conference CEO Dennis Yablonsky says with the delegates will be on such tight time tables during the event the real opportunity will come in showing off the city for the estimated 3,000 members of the international media. Yablonsky says a media center has already been established and the Partnership will soon begin hosting media tours. Story ideas showcasing the city’s renaissance and resilience are being gathered to distribute to visiting media. Many of the ideas are based on thoughts put forward during the three G20 brainstorming sessions. Yablonsky says he hopes to raise an additional $100,000 in the coming weeks. He says the members of the Pittsburgh G20 Partnership are already meeting on a regular basis and the collective international media marketing expertise of the participants has already been very valuable. Yablonsky says a focus will also be put on efforts following the summit. He says that will be the time to capitalize on the good image he hopes will be generated worldwide. He says it may put Pittsburgh on the radar screen for companies considering expansion in the US that had never considered Pittsburgh as a landing spot. Among the more noticeable aspects of the pre event efforts will be the remaking of 25-30 empty store fronts, training for hospitality workers, and volunteers wearing “Ask Me” buttons on city streets ready to provide help to visitors. More ideas and volunteers are still being solicited at the Partnership web site.