Signature Speaker Series Community Engagement Marketing
Tuesday, 17 October 2023 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
2023 BrandSmart Award Grand Champion Winner Presentation
In this presentation, attendees will hear about Choose Chicago Neighborhood Strategy Team’s innovative community engagement program.
A highlight of this program is the Neighborhood Resident Influencer program, designed to involve social media-savvy residents from various neighborhoods. These residents play a pivotal role in creating genuine and captivating content that highlights their communities’ unique attractions and activities. Recognizing the growing desire for authentic travel experiences, this approach resonates with travelers seeking genuine connections.
The collaboration with local residents has proven to be immensely successful and greatly benefits the local businesses and attractions that have been showcased so far.
3 KEY TAKEAWAYS
Rob Fojtik, Vice President, Neighborhood Strategy, Choose Chicago, will provide valuable insights during this presentation, including:
- Methodologies
- Strategies
- Outcomes that can be adapted to enhance your own campaigns
AGENDA
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm networking and a light supper
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm presentation with Q&A
FOOD & BEVERAGE
Light supper
Our Speakers
Rob Fojtik
Vice President, Neighborhood Strategy, Choose Chicago
Rob Fojtik is the Vice President for Neighborhood Strategy at Choose Chicago, where he oversees the organization’s engagement to promote and support neighborhoods across the city.
In order to ensure Choose Chicago’s neighborhood marketing efforts are authentic and representative of community desires, Rob and his team work directly with residents to promote the small businesses, events, parks, museums, public art, and other attractions that make Chicago so unique.
In this role, Rob also leads Chicago Alfresco, a $2.5 million grant program launched in 2021, in partnership with the City of Chicago’s Department of Transportation and generously supported by Diageo North America, to create active community spaces that promote outdoor dining, highlight community-focused placemaking and support community identity. Chicago Alfresco is an integral part of Choose Chicago’s push for more neighborhood tourism and one pillar of the City’s broader initiative to open streets and create places for dining, public life, community, arts, culture, walking and biking.
Before joining Choose Chicago, Rob was a Senior Advisor to Mayor Lightfoot on economic development and international relations at City Hall. Prior to government service in the Lightfoot administration, Rob ran her winning campaign in the crowded 2019 Chicago mayoral race. Previously, Rob has done public affairs for a Fortune 500 company downtown and spent time in Washington DC working for former Secretary of Defense William Cohen. In 2014, Rob served a one-year appointment at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence as a policy advisor on Central and Eastern Europe.
Rob holds a MA from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service’s Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies (CERES), and an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University in Slavic Languages and Literature.
