DTCR SUCKS: A VIRAL MOMENT

A popular opinion was that “Cedar Rapids sucks.” So we grabbed that hot take, and dared people to talk about it. The “Downtown Cedar Rapids Sucks” campaign wasn’t about playing it safe—it was about flipping a popular opinion on its head and forcing a double (and triple) take. What started as a risky local social campaign blew up into a statewide viral moment, with newspapers, TV stations, and business pubs all piling on. In a region of just 250,000, we racked up 19 million impressions, sparked real-time focus group chatter, and got people talking—love it or hate it. The verdict? Cedar Rapids doesn’t suck. Ignoring it does.