Denver economic development push targets California companies

California business is the target of a Valentine’s Day marketing effort from the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.

The Metro Denver EDC’s “COlovesCA” campaign is focused on California companies identified in research as being in growth mode and ripe for expansion.

Components of the campaign:

Starting the weekend of Feb. 14-15, ads will run in newspapers in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose, inviting California companies to expand to Colorado.

Valentine-style marketing pieces have been sent to senior executives at 500 California companies.

A plane with an 80-foot-long “Colorado Loves CA” banner is flying Friday over Los Angeles.
The thinking behind the effort is that Colorado has lower taxes and lower living costs than the Golden State, as well as high quality of life and an educated work force.

“Shared companies and similar economies closely link our two states. Our economic cycles are different, so we trade workers back and forth,” Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver EDC, said in a statement. “Right now, Colorado is in a stronger position. We’re offering an opportunity for economic growth that isn’t currently available in California.”

The EDC noted San Francisco-based brokerage Charles Schwab Corp.’s recent announcement that it will bring 500 new jobs to Colorado by 2011, even as it reduces its total work force.
The agency has created a micro-Web site themed to the campaign and is using the micro-blogging service Twitter to post announcements about it .

Going forward, the Metro Denver EDC plans to further the “COlovesCA” campaign via direct marketing, pitches to journalists and visits to California companies, site selectors and venture capitalists.

“We want to capture the attention of business decision makers in the Golden State,” Janet Fritz, director of marketing for the Metro Denver EDC, said in the statement. “And what better way to do that than to send ‘I love yous’ during tough economic times?”