2014 was a banner year for do-good social media campaigns. People willingly doused themselves with buckets of ice for ALS, vowed to eat their vegetables thanks to Michelle Obama’s ‘Turnip for What?’ Vine and raised $5.5 million for Canadian mental health programs using the hashtag #BellLetsTalk.

Inspired by these creative campaigns, the ULI communications committee turned its attention towards encouraging Torontonians to better their city in 2015. New Year’s e-blasts are impersonal, we thought, and resolutions often fall by the wayside. Ultimately, what we came up with was a simple hashtag that yielded a tremendous response on social media.

#CityResolve engaged over 270 Twitter users in just four days. Collectively, they Tweeted 618 times and our YouTube video featuring Jennifer Keesmaat  has garnered 500 views. ULI web traffic increased from around 100 visits per day to over 2,000. Although it was intended to be a local campaign, we saw activity from Venezuela all the way to Indonesia. ULI’s online visibility increased significantly — even Mayor John Tory participated, sharing his resolve to visit all corners of Toronto.

Winners were selected daily, and were awarded gift certificates to Spacing Store. Their city resolves ranged from smiling at strangers to checking out Etobicoke’s waterfront to supporting urban beekeepers and involving youth in city planning. We noticed a number of recurring themes under the hashtag — all of them very positive, which we hope will play out over the coming year.

It was Sarah Marchionda who took home the grand prize — she’ll be having coffee with Toronto Chief Planner, Jennifer Keesmaat. Her #CityResolve is to “meet one Torontonian each day, 365 new people, ask them what they love about our city — and then document it!”

Marchionda’s winning Tweet promised to reach beyond the computer screen and bring the dialogue onto the streets. If I’ve learned anything from following Humans of New York on Twitter it’s that every single person has a story to tell — you just have to ask. ULI hopes to check back in with her later this year to find out what she’s learned from speaking with everyday Torontonians.

Happy New Year and don’t forget to stick to those resolves — your city is depending on you.

By Matthew Slutsky
Buzz Buzz Homes