Two trailers traveling to the West Coast and down the Eastern Seaboard will encourage people to “live, work and play” in Northeast Pennsylvania.
Economic development agency Penn’s Northeast unveiled a national marketing campaign on Monday. Working with Calex Integrated Supply Chain Solutions in Yatesville, Penn’s Northeast hopes the exposure will bring more business to the region.
“It's a three-year commitment on their part of really helping to continue to promote Northeastern Pennsylvania, because when one business moves in, it's good for everybody,” said John Augustine, Penn’s Northeast president and CEO.
Along with the words “live, work and play,” the trailers include QR codes and website addresses, move2nepa.com and go2nepa.com, that link back to Penn’s Northeast. Using GPS data, the organization will be able to track the regions in which people are scanning the QR codes.
Penn's Northeast seeks to expand or locate businesses in a nine-county region: Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Schuylkill, Wayne and Wyoming.
The backs of the trailers highlight the region’s proximity to much of the United States and Canada. Regulations allow a truck driver to drive for 11 hours before pulling over to rest. Within that 11 hours, the truck can reach one-third of the United States or half of Canada, according to the agency.
The refrigerated trailer parked outside for Monday's debut will be used for hauling mostly produce. It will head to California this week.
Calex approached Penn’s Northeast with the marketing idea. From a strip of shade behind the trailer on Monday, Doug Barbacci, owner of Calex and a board member of Penn’s Northeast, said the truck will travel about 250,000 miles a year.
Augustine said he looks forward to people nationwide learning why the region is the ideal place to “live, work and play.”
“That's really one of the things that makes our region so great,” he said. “We don't just want the companies to move here. We want them to live here, enjoy what we have here.”
