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'Pull Up A Chair, You Are Welcomed Here': New Marketing Campaign Promotes An Inclusive Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A Pittsburgh icon, Mister Rogers had a famous welcoming phrase: Won't you be my neighbor? Now, a new national marketing campaign builds on that idea by promoting Pittsburgh as a welcoming city.

Launched by the city's tourism board, VisitPITTSBURGH, the campaign is called Pull Up A Chair, You Are Welcomed Here. It's inspired by the act of offering a chair to someone -- a sign of hospitality and respect around the world.

The goal is to highlight the city's welcoming nature on a national scale -- and celebrate the Pittsburgh parking chair as a symbol of inclusiveness.

parkingchair
A Pittsburgh parking chair saves drivers' parking spaces. (Photo Credit: KDKA)

"We want to focus on the welcoming spirit of our city and our residents by encapsulating moments that will encourage people to visit our great city and inspire Pittsburghers across the world to share the message," Tom Loftus, VisitPITTSBURGH's chief marketing officer, said in a press release.

The campaign rolls out locally today, nationally on April 29. It will mostly be carried out across digital platforms and includes "large amounts of paid media and boosting on social channels, especially Facebook," says the press release.

Digital signage featuring the campaign will be on view locally at the Pittsburgh International Airport and along the Parkway West.

In Times Square, a campaign video will play for four weeks. It will also air as an intro for the new Mister Rogers movie, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, when it comes to theaters in New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Pull Up A Chair, You Are Welcomed Here was introduced at press conference today by VisitPITTSBURGH along with County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Mayor Bill Peduto. Three local artists -- Reginald Stewart, Sara Tang, and Lizzee Solomon -- were also there to paint chairs and involve the local arts community in the campaign.

There will be chairs across the city as part of the campaign. To help spread the word, residents are invited to take photos with the chairs and share them on social media using #PullUpAChair and #LovePGH.

A video for the campaign can be found here.

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