As the state’s population stagnates and people are packing up for Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and elsewhere, Kansas is determined to lure back the population it’s losing with a new marketing campaign.
The Legislature this year approved $2 million for a campaign aimed at bringing expats back to Kansas, which lost about 7,400 people because of domestic migration from 2021 to 2022, according to census data.
The state has already hired a national firm – Development Counsellors International – with expertise in marketing places and a local company to develop a campaign that will be aimed at bringing people back to Kansas for new opportunity.
“We think Kansas has a lot of really great, new things happening, and Kansas isn’t probably the same as when they left. We want to make sure we get that message out,” said Rachel Willis, director of legislative affairs for the Commerce Department.
Commerce officials say they need to get aggressive about luring people back to the state as it adds more jobs – think Panasonic – that will need to be filled.
They say the state needs to move quickly to implement an array of strategies to boost population that complement investments in economic development.
The population in Kansas remained relatively flat in 2022 even as the state continued to lose people migrating elsewhere in the United States, census data show.
From 2020 to 2022, the state lost about 14,400 to domestic migration, which was eased by the 7,700 coming into the state because of international migration.
Net in-migration accounted for about 32% of the state’s population increase in the 1990s, but it accounted for only about 4% of the population increase in the 2000s.
New census estimates out last week revealed that from 2019 to 2021, Kansas lost people to Missouri (21,602), Texas (11,039), Oklahoma (5,899) and Colorado (3,862).
Meanwhile, the state continues to age as it loses young adults.
About 17% of the state’s 2.9 million people in Kansas are 65 and older, which was an increase from 13.2% in 2010
The population of the 25-to-29 age bracket now makes up about 6.3% of the state’s population compared to 6.9% in 2010.
Nevertheless, some Republican leaders think the state needs something more permanent to address population growth such as tax cuts.
Republican state Sen. Renee Erickson, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said she would like to see more done to address retirees and keep them from being priced out of the state with higher taxes.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a terrible thing to do,” Erickson said of the marketing campaign planned by the Commerce Department.
“However, I would rather see more substance over symbolism,” she said. “I would rather see us doing things like cut taxes and cut property taxes for retirees.
“I think that’s a better focus for growing our state long term,” she said.
Republican state Rep. Sean Tarwater, chair of the House Commerce Committee, said the state should take a shot at winning back Kansans.
“We’ve got to try, right?” Tarwater said.
“I think there’s an argument to be made that Kansas is a safe to place to live and a low cost of living, and we have an opportunity to bring Kansans homes,” he said.
“If you turn on the TV anymore, we’re being inundated by other states to come there,” he said, adding that Kansas should respond.
“We’ve got to do something.”
Kansas is the latest state to market itself to the rest of the country in an effort to combat population loss and build its workforce to fill open jobs.
Two years ago, then-Republican Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts launched a national marketing campaign to promote the state as a quality place to live, work and raise a family.
The state spent $10 million on an advertising campaign using federal coronavirus relief money that aired in television markets within 500 miles of Nebraska, including Minneapolis, Kansas City, Denver and Chicago, as well as in Austin, Texas, and Silicon Valley.
Nebraska campaign
The ads featured actor and comedian Adam Devine, a Nebraska native who narrates the ads titled, “Nebraska, The Good Life is Calling.”
Ricketts said the campaign was intended to attract young adults who value quality of life as they look to start a family. He noted that the state had 50,000 open jobs.
“Nebraska is one big small town and we just have a tremendous quality of life that goes along with that, and we want people to know about that,” Ricketts said in announcing the ad campaign in 2021.
“We want Nebraskans who have left the state to remind them of that and ask them to come back to our state and raise their families here,” he said.
“Want people that are looking for a change of pace, especially after the last 18 months,” he said alluding to the COVID-19 pandemic
“Maybe they’re tired of those big urban areas and are looking for a better quality of life to move to Nebraska to be able to help us grow our state.”
In Ohio, the state’s private economic development arm, JobsOhio, posted billboards in coastal cities across the country promoting the Buckeye State.
The recruitment effort put up billboards in New York City, Seattle, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Austin and in the Washington, D.C.
The agency put up a bill in Seattle that read: “Live where you can actually save for a rainy day.”
Another billboard in Boston near Fenway Pak read, “0% corporate tax rate? That’s the ticket.”
The Columbus Dispatch reported that JobsOhio doubled its marketing budget to $25 million to pay for the campaign, although it allowed for the possibility the initiative could be pulled back if didn’t produce benefits.
Back in 2014, Louisiana launched website that used an algorithm to connect job searchers with employment opportunities that matched their skills and experience.
The state also started a campaign called “Come Home, Louisiana” that targeted former residents between the ages of 25 and 50 who might want to return home.
Louisiana campaign
In Louisiana, the effort was focused on bringing talent to the state, drawing former residents back home and connecting people with jobs, said Lori Melancon, an economic development marketing consultant who worked on the Louisiana campaign.
The campaign stood out, she said, because of the state’s unique attributes.
“Louisiana has such a special culture that really you can’t find anywhere else in the country,” Melancon said.
“The festival culture. The food culture. The friendliness of the people,” she said.
“It got a lot of attention not only among competitors but of all expats and people who saw the campaign and considered it.”
Melancon said the campaign worked with businesses to understand what kind of talent they needed as well as the barriers that kept people from relocating to Louisiana.
Meanwhile, they worked with state universities and used social media platforms to identify former Louisiana residents who might consider returning to their home state.
“This is very common. Lots of states do this,” Melancon said.
Melancon left Louisiana shortly after the campaign started and was unsure what the long-range measurements looked like.
“I do think the ground that we took in establishing Louisiana as a viable, strong location of choice for your next career move did help with talent attraction in the state,” she said.
Meanwhile, Michigan has launched a $10 million campaign to attract job talent.
The campaign is planning to go up on TV this summer and fall, starting with spots running on Discovery, the Food Network, HGTV and Magnolia Network.
Regional efforts will target the state of Michigan, as well as Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Fort Wayne, Green Bay, Indianapolis, Louisville, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, South Bend, St. Louis and Toledo.
“A talent marketing campaign is just the next logical step to fill in-demand jobs, grow our communities and promote the state as the ideal place for people to live work, and play,” said Kathleen Achtenberg, spokesperson for the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
Michigan campaign ad
A nonprofit civic news outlet in Michigan took an in-depth look at Michigan’s planned marketing campaign to lure former residents back to the state.
It revealed that winning back residents won’t be easy.
Bridge Michigan’s reporting found that DCI – the same group doing work in Kansas – surveyed more than 800 Michigan residents.
The poll included more than 120 residents who moved to the state and about 1,500 people who resided in other metro areas.
“The results showed the tough fight Michigan faces attracting residents,” the media outlet reported.
“Among survey respondents who don’t live here, the most common word used to describe Michigan as a place to live was “cold;” the most common phrase to describe Michigan as a place to work was “don’t know.”
