Why did Little Rock feel compelled to do that strange Amazon HQ response? (Dell: tech jobs) - Little Rock - Conway area - Arkansas (AR) -Pulaski, Faulkner, Grant, Lonoke, Perry, and Saline Counties - City-Data Forum

WestForkGrant · 04-18-2018, 08:26 PM

I know Amazon's announcement of a 2nd HQ search is a few months old now, but can we revisit Little Rock's "campaign". Maybe this has already been addressed, but I can't get over how dumb this strategy seems to me. I've lived in Little Rock about half my life so I have at least some connection to it. The "it's not you, it's us" idea just doesn't feel clear and seems to say we are happy with the city the way it is. I think Little Rock is improving but this campaign just felt insecure and sort of pathetic. We were never in the running for this so what's the point in reminding the outsiders that may have read this. This kitschy attempt at humor fell flat in my opinion. It's obviously just to grab attention but I feel like this makes the city appear behind. This whole thing reminds me of Fed Ex which was a company we actually could have landed and let slip away.

Here's the "break up" letter the city wrote.

Quote:

We know, we know, when you originally sent out your offer for cities to send in proposals for your future HQ2, we were all over it.

After all, you’re Amazon. You’re smart, sexy, and frankly, incredibly rich. And thanks to our booming business environment, tech-savvy workforce, diverse, creative culture and flourishing downtown, there are a lot of reasons why we’d be great together.

But when we started really thinking about what our future would look like, we realized it would probably never work out between us.

You want 50,000 employees for your new campus. We have a sizable, resourceful workforce, but if we were to concentrate them here, it would be a bummer. Our lack of traffic and ease of getting around would be totally wrecked, and we can’t sacrifice that for you.

You want on-site mass transit at HQ2. Here, there are many transit options that fit our city perfectly, and thanks to our compact urban footprint, many of our residents can easily get to the office on foot, on a bike or just by a quick drive. It would be cool if we could offer that, but we simply can’t do that just to make you happy.

Amazon, you’ve got so much going for you, and you’ll find what you’re looking for. But it’s just not us.

We’re happy knowing that many great companies find our natural good looks, coupled with our brains for business, irresistible.

If another expansion opportunity comes up and you’re ready to join the visionaries, dreamers, romantics and the idealists who know that bigger isn’t always better, give us a call. We would love to find a way to make “us” work out.

We wish you all the success in the world.

sub · 04-18-2018, 08:48 PM

Well, that's just weird.

Tech savvy? Sort of...ish?
Walking and biking to work? Maybe for a few, but it's not the Little Rock I know.
It'd be nice if a company like Amazon could think outside the box for a 2nd location, but I highly doubt they will.

Old Fossil · 04-19-2018, 01:58 PM

Westfork, you gotta keep in mind who wrote, or was responsible for the writing of that

. But there is an election coming up so maybe things will change. I'll not belabor the point, but I sure hope so.

BMW335i · 04-19-2018, 04:32 PM

Most people thought it was a brilliant move, me included...what a way to take advantage of Amazon to promote our city, which was never in the running in the first place!

Slytrix · 04-21-2018, 02:58 PM

I think it was hilarious. Way to go Little Rock

kettlepot · 04-21-2018, 03:43 PM

It was a smart PR move to parasitically feed off of the Amazon HQ2 hubbub.

Little Rock absolutely knew they would NEVER get the Amazon HQ2 or any other large business relocation. It's just too small. However, they could use all the attention to tout their city to smaller businesses who also wanted a similar environment.

Just reading the break up letter, I now know that Little Rock's city center is very walkable and has some kind of transit, but overall the city has an unclogged mobility system.

hitpausebutton2 · 05-01-2018, 06:04 PM

Glad they did it, but not glad. Arkansas LR area needs tech jobs. No reason why only NWA gets all the attention. Honestly ,if it wasnt for walmart, NWA be just another ozark town with a college. State really needs more tech business to bring in more students and other jobs that comes with it. Didnt we have Dell/HP come to town and build a great nice call center only to go belly up after the tax breaks went away. But they did want 500 people that we simply couldnt provide the talent.

WestForkGrant · 07-06-2018, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hitpausebutton2

Glad they did it, but not glad. Arkansas LR area needs tech jobs. No reason why only NWA gets all the attention. Honestly ,if it wasnt for walmart, NWA be just another ozark town with a college. State really needs more tech business to bring in more students and other jobs that comes with it. Didnt we have Dell/HP come to town and build a great nice call center only to go belly up after the tax breaks went away. But they did want 500 people that we simply couldnt provide the talent.

Maybe it gets attention because JB Hunt and Tyson are there also? Walmart isn't the only show in town. Those 2 companies are also huge players in their respective industries.