Love, Little Rock:

Abstract

In early September 2017, Little Rock, Ark., through Mayor Mark Stodola, initially threw its hat into the competition ring in an effort to entice Amazon to its city, as the company announced it was searching for a second headquarters. After a few weeks, city officials realized Little Rock did not meet many of the requirements put forth by Amazon and would never be a serious contender. At that point, an unorthodox city branding campaign was born, which included a new slogan, “Love, Little Rock,” and messaging designed in the form of a “break-up” letter, as a way of bowing out of the competition for Amazon’s new headquarters. This case study uses agenda-setting theory and visual and textual analysis to examine the Love, Little Rock campaign. In particular, this paper explores how the city set an agenda in today’s attention economy through non-traditional strategies and tactics through thematic analysis of news coverage of the campaign.