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2018 One Show - Social Media

The Most Well Reviewed City On Amazon

Agency Barkley / Kansas City

Client Kansas City Economic Development
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OS_SM18064M

About the Work

In 2017, every city in North America scrambled to answer one simple question - where should Amazon build their new 5 billion dollar headquarters? Kansas City, a modest midwestern city without the resources of its flashy coastal competitors needed to stand out from the pack. They set out to hack the thing Amazon holds most dear – their coveted and highly-protected product review system. The mayor of Kansas City (and an army of copywriters) purchased and wrote exhaustive reviews for 1,000 products from Amazon. But with a twist. Each review became an unexpected opportunity for the mayor to share an interesting stat or fact about his beloved city. The reviews didn’t just stay on Amazon. They spread to social media and quickly became national and international news. All without a single dollar of paid media. This sneaky, slightly ridiculous idea made Kansas City the most well-reviewed city on Amazon.