‘Peggy’ aims to get more people downtown

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/07/2010 (5752 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you want to know what’s going on downtown, just ask Peggy — even if she’s not exactly a real person.

Downtown Peggy is a new marketing initiative from the Downtown BIZ. With a name playing on our city’s pet name, Peggy is a vivacious young character with her finger on the pulse of Winnipeg’s city centre. She blogs about what’s hot downtown, including food, entertainment and shopping opportunities, at downtownpeggy.wordpress.com.

"She’s a persona representing downtown," said Nisha Tuli, marketing manager for the Downtown BIZ. "This is a first for us and so far it’s been pretty good. She’s definitely getting a lot of notice."

Peggy’s blog gets about 300-400 hits a day, which sometimes increases to up to roughly 1,000 when a specific campaign is going on, such as when a friend of Peggy’s (i.e. a BIZ employee) lived in a Portage Place mall suite for a week to promote downtown living.

Although Peggy’s persona started as a way for the BIZ to tweet with some pizzazz, the campaign has spread through the social media world. In addition to her blog, Peggy can be found on Facebook and foursquare. Her musings are advertised on billboards across the city and will continue through the fall, Tuli said.

Peggy shows the light, fun side of downtown, in contrast to the more advocacy-based messages the BIZ is known for.

"It’s a bit of a different voice than the BIZ usually has," Tuli said.

Peggy’s message is that downtown can be a fun place and Tuli hopes her words will quell some people’s reluctance to venture to the city core because of safety fears and concern over lack of parking.

"Sometimes people have negative attitudes around downtown that we’re trying to change."

Tuli was vague on Peggy’s true identity, but she’s practically considered a member of the team at the office.

"We really like her," Tuli laughed. "She’s close to our hearts."

sandy.klowak@freepress.mb.ca