It is through emotion that the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal wants to convince workers and employers to return to downtown. To do this, she launched this Monday the advertising campaign “I love to work downtown” with a slam by Montreal artist Antoine Leclerc who performed during the press conference.
Rather than focusing on the economic importance of returning to the city center, which suffered greatly during the pandemic, the multiplatform campaign deployed over several weeks will focus on verbs that want to arouse the pleasure of being in the city center to dine at a restaurant with colleagues or go out after work to see a performance, such as “getting together”, “getting motivated” and “entertaining”.
“We want to have a positive emotion, of envy, of desire, of love, which reflects the I love working downtown,” said Michel Leblanc, President and CEO of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce. metropolitan. We are also trying to seduce young workers in “sneakers” rather than those in “ties”.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Artist Antoine Leclerc gave a performance with a slam in Montreal.
Seduce the commuters
While winter is upon us, with congestion, roadwork and teleworking weighing in on the balance, how do we convince suburbanites to leave their homes? “In the middle of January at -20, will everyone be on the road to return to Montreal by public transport? Surely not ! replied Michel Leblanc. But will next summer come to May with the mildness of spring, with everything that will have happened, will people get used to the idea and come back two, three, four days a week? This is what we hope for. ”
To win back as many workers as possible, the President of the Chamber agrees that everything must be fluid to access the city center, whether it is public transport or the car. “So works management, parking management, send out clear messages that we are open to cars coming to the city center. ”
Focus on new pricing for public transport
According to the Minister responsible for the Metropolis and the Montreal region and Minister for Transport, Chantal Rouleau, the best way to get back to downtown is by public transit. “Obviously when Public Health will put all the flags to green,” she said during the event. The minister recalled that the metro and the bus were safe for users and that there had been no outbreaks in recent months.
Minister Rouleau took advantage of the press briefing to point out that pricing would change on 1er December. Users will now be able to buy a booklet of 10 multi-zone passages which will cost less than bought individually. The Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM) will be running an advertising campaign in the coming weeks to publicize its new rates as well as those already existing, but less known.
“Seeing the place taken by all teleworking, which is now part of certain habits, we must adjust public transport,” said Minister Rouleau.
There are more cars than in 2019 on the island of Montreal, she raised. “It’s troubling, so we have to correct this situation. ”
However, the President of the Chamber would like the ARTM to go further. Since workers in hybrid mode are likely to travel multiple times in a single day downtown, businesses and employees would, he says, want a pricing tool that allows unlimited trips for 24 hours.
“Should the module be a 10-day card in the month, where during that day an infinite number of trips are possible?” suggests Michel Leblanc. At that time, it will allow workers in hybrid mode to have the same flexibility that an Opus card gave them. ”
According to the Chamber’s analysis, the return to the city center will take 12 to 18 months.
At the end of August, 47% of employers told the House that their business had begun to make a comeback. An update to this survey is expected to be released shortly.