A new marketing campaign is underway in Hackensack to draw crowds to Main Street restaurants and apartment complexes.

The nickname ‘The Sack’ was chosen by the Hackensack Main Street Business Alliance as a way to promote the area, which is now home to 4,000 new apartments and a number of restaurants. There is also a billion dollars' worth of new development underway on Main Street. 

Radio ads and billboards are just some of the tactics being used to create a buzz. 

Andre Oviedo grew up in Teaneck and says the name is nothing new to him. He says when he was younger they called Hackensack ‘The Sack.’

Cassie Summers, who grew up in Hackensack, says she never heard of the nickname.

“They might have done that because of the Billy Joel song,” says Summers. “Hackensack-ack-ack. But I don’t know.”

The Main Street Business Alliance is funded by a special assessment on businesses in the downtown district.