Re-Establishing Virginia’s Brand for Business
2016 - 2023
Perhaps one of the world’s best place brands belongs to Virginia. Everyone seems to know that Virginia is for Lovers—for beach lovers, for history lovers, for wine and beer lovers, for outdoors lovers, for all kinds of lovers. For visitors to the Commonwealth, the brand is catchy, interesting, and memorable, but for executives looking to relocate or expand their business, decisions are made on a lot more than love.
Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), the Commonwealth’s economic development agency, had riffed on the Virginia is for Lovers moniker for years, with Virginia is for Business and the iconic heart a part of their brand. In the late 2000s, the state added ‘Best State for Business’ after Forbes and CNBC listed Virginia number one in their annual rankings. But in the years since, Virginia fell in the rankings, stopped investing in business attraction marketing, and became known as a ‘quiet state’ in economic development circles.
Rebrand
Virginia Economic Review
Value Proposition Initiative
Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), the Commonwealth’s economic development agency, had riffed on the Virginia is for Lovers moniker for years, with Virginia is for Business and the iconic heart a part of their brand. In the late 2000s, the state added ‘Best State for Business’ after Forbes and CNBC listed Virginia number one in their annual rankings. But in the years since, Virginia fell in the rankings, stopped investing in business attraction marketing, and became known as a ‘quiet state’ in economic development circles.
In 2017, VEDP sought to re-brand itself and re-position Virginia as a business destination. Based on research with c-level executives and site selection consultants, we developed an identity to establish VEDP as a credible, business-oriented partner for companies as well as regional and local economic development partners in-state.
In addition to a new logo and identity system, we launched an entirely new website with comprehensive information about the state’s target industries, incentive programs for growing companies, case studies about successful operations in Virginia, and tools for identifying available sites and buildings. New marketing collateral was developed and photography secured to better communicate the state’s diversity, depth of talent, and VEDP’s resources and expertise. In addition, we launched a marketing resources database for partners—a searchable tool with thousands of assets available for economic developers to use when marketing their communities.
My role in this project was to lead the re-brand process on behalf of VEDP. Our team also developed a robust system for managing and updating the content to ensure that data and information is accurate.
Agency Partners: Subject Matter, Spurrier Group
Internal Team Members: Kevin Miller, Blair Gutermuth, Suzanne Clark, Turner Widgen, Danni Neal, Lauren Frazier
Virginia has historically been a quiet state relative to economic development marketing funding. Upon joining the organization in 2018, we were able to secure a modest marketing budget to begin building brand awareness about Virginia’s advantages for business.
To communicate Virginia’s business climate advantages to select C-level executives and site selection consultants, the VEDP team developed a new publication: Virginia Economic Review.
Launched in 2019 and produced quarterly, Virginia Economic Review, conveys content that is of particular interest to Virginia’s business investment targets and stakeholders. Articles generally focus around a theme, and subject matter experts are featured in interviews and accompanying podcasts with each issue.
Content from Virginia Economic Review is featured on VEDP.org and articles are made available to in-state economic development partners to use in their marketing efforts.
Every quarter, Virginia Economic Review is mailed to top-tier site consultants, business development prospects, in-state business leaders, legislators, select media, and other key stakeholders. More than 9,000 individuals receive the publication each quarter, more than half of them out-of-state. The magazine is also co-mailed periodically with other publications such as Chief Executive and Business Facilities magazines.
As Vice President of Marketing and Communications at VEDP, my role was to manage the editorial board process to brainstorm and flesh out stories, support my internal team’s efforts to procure articles and images, and to work with companies to develop content. I also provided design guidance and editorial approvals.
Agency Partner: Subject Matter
Internal Team Members: Kevin Miller, Chip Knighton, Danni Neal, Suzanne Clark, Stephen Moret, and multiple contributors throughout VEDP
In mid-2017, VEDP began the re-branding process in concert with significant organizational alignment and development efforts. As that work developed, it became clear that there was a gap in knowledge and resources related to the organizations business development target industries.
In 2020, a cross-divisional team was assigned to do a deep dive to collect and document Virginia’s assets and advantages particular to each target industry.
The effort was led by the Marketing & Communications and Research Divisions with participation from Business Investment, Talent Solutions, and the executive leadership.
Over the course of 18 months, a full narrative document (60-90 pages) was developed for each industry to include existing businesses, K12 and higher education programs, infrastructure assets, policy advantages, case studies, rankings, and more. Those narratives provided the content for new industry brochures, website content, social media content, pitch decks, and prospect materials.
My role on this project was as a strategic co-leader, providing the structure for the initiative process and input into the development of all project deliverables.
Internal Team Members: More than 50 VEDP team members contributed to this project, including virtually every member of the Marketing and Communications division.