For a long time, St. Paul residents have had a common credo: Don’t spend your money in Minneapolis.
“Part of the St. Paul community identity was that Minneapolis didn’t need — didn’t deserve — our money,” said Mary Lethert Wingerd, a historian of the Twin Cities.
But the 21st century economy is forcing St. Paulites to swallow their civic pride — and obliging indifferent Minneapolitans to stop ignoring their neighbor, according to the AP.
This summer the so-called Twin Cities will embark on a joint marketing campaign to tie the longtime competitors together as a single tourist destination.
Plans for the national ad campaign include a logo, website, billboards and print ads, and potentially TV and radio commercials to attract tourists, conventioneers and others to what will be portrayed as one Minnesota hot spot.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the idea came from tourism officials in Minneapolis. While they’re called twins, Minneapolis has been more like St. Paul’s bigger brother for more than a century.
Report by David Wilkening
