Calgary Amazon HQ2
The city of Calgary came to the heart of Amazon’s Seattle campus with an aggressive HQ2 pitch. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)

The deadline has passed and the proposals are in from cities and states and Canadian provinces hoping to be the home to Amazon’s second headquarters. The city of Calgary made an aggressive push in the final days, with a video pitch, newspaper ads and marketing via sidewalk chalk.

A giant sign that runs the length of a boarded up building on the corner of Westlake Avenue North and Republican Street in the South Lake Union neighborhood that Amazon calls home serves as the best reminder of Calgary’s aggressive efforts.

“Hey, Amazon. Not saying we’d fight a bear for you … but we totally would,” reads the red sign featuring a bearded man staring down at passersby.

Infiltrating the Amazon campus, and staying there while executives begin the work of poring over RFP submissions, is a genius move. That cactus from Tucson got plenty of attention, but it never made it to Jeff Bezos’ front step like it was intended.

If Amazon was smart and sought to draw even more eyeballs to the ongoing HQ2 news cycle, they’d get a bear (or someone in a bear suit) to South Lake Union this week, holding a sign that says, “Bring it, Calgary.”

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