This splashy digital campaign celebrates Baton Rouge all year long

Each year on Feb. 25, the Baton Rouge community comes together to celebrate the Capital Region on 225 Day, but there’s a movement that celebrates the city every day.

Better in BTR is a digital campaign initiative that highlights the nine parishes that make up the Greater Baton Rouge area in an effort to attract and retain young professionals in Louisiana’s Capital Region. Launched by the Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership in collaboration with Visit Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish in 2024, the campaign targets new potential residents while also working to develop community enthusiasm and pride within established residents. 

“The idea of retaining young professionals is important and the idea of attracting folks to Baton Rouge is important, but neither one of those things happens if the broader community isn’t excited about the place that they live,” says Lori Melancon, president and CEO of the Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership, which runs the campaign.

BetterinBTR.com provides a space for potential new residents, as well as current ones, to connect with the city by finding communities, neighborhoods, work opprotunities and more. For almost a decade, Baton Rouge has lost young professional talent to other major cities such as Houston, Dallas and Atlanta, so Better in BTR aims to shift the perspective of Baton Rouge, Melancon says.

“It’s hard to encourage folks to stay when you don’t have a real sense of pride about your place,” Melancon says.

Social media is at the forefront of the campaign’s efforts to attract audiences outside of the Capital Region, and every resident of Baton Rouge is encouraged to participate. With its open-source marketing, Better in BTR’s branding is available to the community to endorse the campaign’s collaborative and transparent mission. 

Local people and businesses can use Better in BTR’s social media templates, sign up for its quarterly newsletters, download a guide to the city, share photo submissions and more here.

“We don’t want to be the only owners of this brand,” says Morgan Almeida, senior vice president of marketing and communications at the Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership. “It’s really meant to grow throughout the community.”

It’s important for Better in BTR to share the stories of many different voices within the community, so people can see their lives here more long term, rather than just coming for an education, Almeida says. She explains how the campaign’s data has shown that 25- to 35-year-olds in Baton Rouge tend to migrate to other cities more frequently than other age groups, since they are at a much more mobile age. 

“That’s one of the perceptions we’re battling against,” Almeida says. “You can have all different sorts of careers here. You can have a creative career. You could work at a top industry as an engineer. There are so many things you can do here, and we want to make sure we’re highlighting that.”

Since its launch, the campaign has helped promote all the city has to offer, from local business spotlights to the people that make up the Capital Region. 

“We do this more than just a campaign,” Almeida says. “It’s truly a movement to build pride.”

Keep up with the Better in BTR campaign here.