Could part of the answer to Pittsburgh's population decline be in viral marketing?
The term was new to me when Peter Durand tossed it across his dining room table. He and his wife, Diane, moved to the Mexican War Streets from Chicago in April, taking their business with them. They bought a house here less than six months after Peter was smitten by our city on a December business trip.
"He came home just raving about it," Diane said. Soon enough, she was telling him, "Go buy me a house."
They ultimately found one together on a visit over Groundhog Day, and here they are, happy to have left a two-story Chicago apartment that they spent $24,000 a year to rent.
"We're a virus now," Peter said.
They're telling their friends and relatives about this place where you can buy a restored Victorian townhouse in the heart of the city for maybe a fifth of what you'd pay in Chicago. Some of them are telling their friends. And so on.
Now, not everyone has a movable job like the Durands. Their Alphachimp Studio, www.alphachimp.com, is a bit hard to explain. This husband-wife team splits up to fly hither and yon about the country, leading seminars for everyone from New Economy start-ups to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"We doodle for dollars," Peter said, and Diane reminded him they're not supposed to say that.
But they do. They have a unique capacity for taking what is said at brainstorming sessions and putting it into clever cartoon form, so that conversations and ideas can be visualized concisely and quickly. That's worth money. So is the ability to walk to interesting places, to have access to the arts and universities, to have a reasonable commute.
Peter, who grew up in Knoxville, Tenn., sees Pittsburgh as "Chicago meets Knoxville." It has hills and vistas like he loved in his youth, with more of the urban texture he came to cherish in adulthood. We're that third bear of cities: just right.
But one look at the population numbers tells you we're doing a lousy job of getting the word out. Tereneh Idia Mosley, director of talent attraction for the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, was excited when she heard about the Durands because she just moved here from Chicago herself.
Mosley, 32, is one of those "boomerang people" who came back to Pittsburgh in April after 15 years away. She'd lived in Philadelphia, New York, Seattle and Chicago, but decided to move back when she saw an excitement and energy that she hadn't seen before while here for a Thanksgiving visit.
The trick, she says, is not telling people about Pittsburgh, it's getting them to visit. You might look at a puppy in a window and keep walking, but if you go in and hold it, you're going to buy it.
A couple of friends of the Durands back that notion of interaction. Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba (a Butler High School graduate) have written a book called "Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force."
It talks about such success stories as Krispy Kreme Donuts, which never advertised yet boomed through word of mouth. "It's kind of a club, but everyone's invited."
The story of the Durands and Pittsburgh came too late for the book, but it might be thought of as a sequel.
"Their love of Pittsburgh happened very quickly and spread very quickly," McConnell said when I called him in Chicago. "They're telling everyone about Pittsburgh and all the great opportunities there -- affordable housing, the arts."
Positive word of mouth works better than a billboard or a radio advertisement because "a billboard can't shoot down objections or barriers or concerns. A real person can."
The trick is harnessing that enthusiasm without robbing it of its authenticity. That's the task of those who are paid to market our town. Meantime, the Durands are deepening their commitment as they explore the neighborhoods.
"We were just blown away by the Strip," Diane said. "I wanted to buy everything. Then I thought, 'I live here. I can come back every day'."
Brian O'Neill's e-mail address is boneill@post-gazette.com.
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