this is
minneapolis.
a resident-written city campaign that hands the pen to the people of MPLS and lets them define what their city actually is; in their own words, without any filters.
problem
minneapolis has a rich, specific, resident-held identity that no city-produced campaign has ever come close to capturing, because no city-produced campaign has ever thought to ask for it.
CLIENT
city of minneapolis (student project)
Duration
3 weeks / 2026
Service Type
advertising and branding.
insight
minneapolis residents don't need to be told to love their city; they need to feel like someone finally asked why they do.
strategy
remove the city as the author entirely. source every piece of campaign copy from real resident submissions: unedited, attributed, and placed within the neighborhoods they came from.
the hero film behind the 'this is minneapolis' campaign.
core insight
minneapolis residents don't want to be told to love their city, they want to be asked why they love it.
residents don't describe MPLS with common buzz words; they describe it by streets and neighbors, by lakes and streams, by the specific winter that almost broke them. the attachment holds depth and feels earned.
rooted residents (those who have stayed through massive change, through the pandemic, through rising rents) feel invisible in civic marketing. they're the city's most credible voices, yet often the least heard.
MPLS residents across all areas have one shared trait: they chose to stay, and they carry that choice as a quiet point of pride that nobody has ever asked them to say out loud.
the city's complexity; its racial fault lines, rapid gentrification, and unresolved history, means a campaign that asks for honesty will earn more trust than one that asks for a celebration.
campaign assets.
01. OOH placements
billboard and street sign placements running resident submissions verbatim, noticing them by first name and neighborhood - never edited for brand voice.
02. print ads
full spread magazine ads in various tonal directions, whether it's deadpan, warm, or poetic. each is built around a single resident quote and a subtle CTA, designed to read like a personal anecdote rather than advertising.
03. social posts
platform-native content using resident submissions as the main creative asset. there isn't a need for excessive brand copy or polished graphics. instead, the campaign opts to spotlight the residents and encourages them to participate.
04. phone booth experience
a roaming phone booth structure where one person at a time speaks their answer to a prompt, then hears a stranger's submission from a different neighborhood play back before their turn is complete.
05. microsite
a submission platform and living archive where residents submit stories, hear other residents' stories, and see exactly where, if anywhere, their words appeared in the campaign.