Honda ads working for Shelby County

Four Honda workers and their families have committed to buying homes in Shelby County in the past two weeks, and dozens more have visited, according to the Shelby County Development Corp.

The economic development group attributes their interest to the advertising campaign and Web site it launched in early April. That campaign ran advertisements in newspapers in Marysville, Ohio, where Honda of America Manufacturing is headquartered.

Officials estimate as many as 200 families will move from Ohio to southeast Indiana to help open a new Honda Civic plant in Greensburg.

The development corporation said its Web site, www.welcomehonda.com has received 98,000 hits since it launched. Shelby County officials now are considering whether to expand their promotional program into Champaign County and Urbana, Ohio, which it says also are home to large numbers of Honda families.

The campaign was partly funded by the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors. Plainfield-based Avatar Communications Group created the site and promotional campaign.