Enterprise Florida to push for message money again

Gray Rohrer, 10/15/2013 - 12:49 PM

 

ORLANDO - Enterprise Florida, the state’s public-private economic development arm, will again ask lawmakers for $3 million to promote Florida’s business climate, the organization’s CEO Gray Swoope said Tuesday.

Lawmakers turned down Enterprise Florida’s $3 million request this year, caught up in criticism that its “orange tie” business marketing plan wasn’t inclusive of women. But Swoope says the funding is essential to getting a positive message about Florida’s business climate to executives around the globe. After missing out on state funding, he’s putting together a $1.2 million marketing campaign paid for by private businesses and local economic development organizations.

He cited the elimination of the sales tax on manufacturing equipment as a “story that needs to be told” outside of Florida. The marketing campaign will push that message in business publications and television advertisements in the U.S. and internationally, he said.

“We’ll want to be in business publications, we’ll do mixed media. It’ll include print advertisement, it’ll include social media, it will include actually some limited television marketing. But it’s all telling our story,” Swoope told The Florida Current after speaking to a crowd at the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Future of Florida Forum.   More here.