Tamworth Evocities question after Orange still member without paying

Orange City Council pulled out of Evocities mid-last year, citing a lack of state government funding and a downward trend in relocations, and set aside the $65,000 they would have spent for promotional purposes.

Despite not paying a dime, Orange still reaps many of the group’s benefits and features prominently on the Evocities website. However, the city’s jobs are no longer listed.

“If that’s an option, why don’t we do it?” Tamworth Regional Residents and Ratepayers Association vice president David McKinnon asked.

The combined marketing campaign encourages people to relocate from cities and coastal regions to Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Tamworth and Orange.

In 2015, Tamworth council committed $270,000 over the next four years to remain part of the Evocities initiative with the annual membership fee increasing every year from $60,000 to $75,000 by 2019.

“We are talking about spending a very large sum of money on what would be a very natural movement,” Mr McKinnon said.

“You could attribute more of the growth to increasing house prices in major cities than to some vague campaign.”

Evocities said it decided to continue “business as usual” when Orange pulled the pin, “promoting all seven Evocities including Orange”.

“Orange has committed to continue taking Evocities relocator enquiries – this is to enable further discussions regarding… Orange’s future participation in the campaign,” a spokeswoman said.

Evocities says since 2010, it has recorded 2900 relocators across the seven cities, with each household adding $95,000 to the local economy.

TRC’s business director John Sommerlad said Tamworth was committed to Evocities, which was part of council’s broader marketing strategy.

“We don’t have the attitude to hope and pray Tamworth grows, we are actually doing something about it,” he said.

The $65,000 membership fee was only a small portion of council’s marketing budget, Mr Sommerlad said.

“It’s great bang for our buck, and it's much more than $65,000 when everyone puts money in collectively,” he said.

“I don’t think $65,000 [in marketing] would go very far at all in Sydney.”

Evocities recently cancelled its major event, the Evocities MTB Series, the nation’s richest mountain biking series.

At the moment there are no plans for another major event involving all the group’s cities.

“At this stage Evocities wants to focus on maintaining the Evocities brand presence and core campaign elements, however if opportunities should arise in the future for the cities to collaborate on a particular event or series, due consideration will be given,” an Evocities spokeswoman said.

“The Evocities MTB series was largely sponsored by third party organisations, the decision not to continue was not a financial one, but rather due to resourcing implications within the individual councils.”

With out Orange’s contribution the organisation has a budget of $360,000 in the 2016/2017 financial year, all of which goes to the “PR, advertising, marketing and digital elements of the campaign, which focuses on the benefits of living in an Evocity”.

“By the Evocity councils working together and combining their funds, the impact and cut through in the metropolitan market is far greater than a campaign run by individual cities,” the spokeswoman said.

During the past year Evocities has run two major campaigns.

“The new branding of Regional City Living incorporated the new website evocities.com.au and a marketing campaign in Sydney which included radio advertising and train station billboards,” the spokeswoman said.

The other campaign recently launched is the new Evojobs website, evojobs.com.au, which is currently being advertised on Sydney radio stations and western Sydney buses.

“The new site has combined the seven existing sites into one website with a new user friendly interface,” the spokeswoman said.

“Evojobs is a free jobs listing website providing a platform for local employers to access talented jobseekers in metropolitan areas looking at making a city change.”