Press Release: April 18th

Saint John City Council Candidate Launches Sustainable "Sign-less" Campaign

Saint John, NB - Ward 3 City Council Candidate Craig Allen was excited to unveil his sustainable campaign here in the city today as part of his pledge to bring new thinking & less waste to the race leading up to the May 12th election. In a different direction from his opponents, Allen will feature no printed signs posted along the city streets, but instead will be passing out apples to drive attention to his campaign.

"I wanted to differentiate myself from the clutter of printed signs & brochures," said Mr. Allen. "We are going to sticker over 4000 apples with our web address to drive traffic to the website & my message. In the least, people will get a healthy bite to eat." Allen strategized the idea to prove a point in several areas; "Voters seem to want change in the city, but the campagin seemed to be unfolding with the same old promises & tactics. I couldn't imagine how adding more signs into the mix was going to benefit anyone. I've got a solid background in online marketing so I knew my web site would be the focus of my messaging anyways, passing out the apples seemed like a higher impact, less wasteful approach to catching voter interest."

Originally, the Germain Street resident planned to have a totally paperless campaign but ended up printing the stickers that will adore the apples with his name and website. "We looked at food paint and even laser labelling, but that technology seems to be a few years away. We wanted to be completely paperless, but at least we will only be putting a few stickers and some apple cores in the land fill. Sustainablity is going to be a major issue in the city over the next few years so I wanted to connect my campaign to that message. Everyone, especially me, is excited to see the city grow, but we are going to need make sure that the growth benefits everyone in the city. Cutting back on waste all of types is going to help us reach that goal."

Mr. Allen is also looking at some other "sign-less" ideas to get his message out in the coming weeks. "We've got a few more concepts we are working on. If people want some new blood & new ideas on council, I hope they'll look to me on May 12th."

Check out his website at: http://www.craigallen.ca for more information.