'Are You Most?', Owen Sound's innovative entrepreneur marketing and recruitment campaign is back with Phase II, beginning this month. The concept matches local residents with interested applicants who apply for a personalized 24-hour test drive of the city. This campaign is designed to pique the interest of urban millennials looking for new opportunity.

The push to get local residents to apply to become hosts starts this week. Residents who are willing to dedicate 24 hours of their time to show prospective new entrepreneurs what makes Owen Sound so great, are asked to go to https://www.areyoumost.com/ call-for-hosts and fill out a short application. Visits are anticipated to start mid-September.

The inaugural 2017 campaign yielded 75 applicants, eight personalized visits and resulted in one couple, Yuri Rosa and Marilia Ebert relocating from Kitchener-Waterloo to start Bearwood, custom carpentry business. Ms. Ebert is also working on plans to open her own home-décor store on the city's East side.

Phase II focuses not only converting urban millennials to future residents but also on creating a robust roster of local hosts who will be available to showcase the city on an ongoing basis year-round.

"Personally guided tours, which turned into friendships between hosts and visitors was a key pillar of the program's success and we want to build on that to create a sustainable, year-round program," says Brent Fisher, Manager of Community Development and Marketing for the City. "Candidates and visitors seemed to appreciate the honesty and creativity of the message but were able to see for themselves the positive direction that Owen Sound is headed in," concluded Fisher.

source: media release, City of Owen Sound