Local firm revising efforts to market the Toledo region

BY JON CHAVEZ
Toledo Blade Business Writer

After nearly 4½ years, a $500,000 effort to create and promote a “Toledo Brand” has progressed to where the group behind the initiative will begin a fourth phase — attaching their brand’s message to local companies in an attempt to move it out beyond the northwest Ohio-southeast Michigan region.

The latest effort likely will begin in the spring and utilize traditional media, social media, and help from North, a local marketing firm that designed the logo for the upcoming Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

But before the fourth phase can start, the brand on which the group has worked since 2009 will need to be revised and updated.

Jeff Schaaf, the Toledo native hired last December to sell the “Toledo Region” brand, said the effort up to now has painted Toledo and northwest Ohio as the heart of the “New Manufacturing Economy.” It was a narrative designed to tell outsiders the truth about the Toledo they only thought they knew.

“Our DNA is strong with manufacturing. We know how to build things,” Mr. Schaaf said Thursday in an interview with the editorial board of The Blade. More here.

After nearly 4½ years, a $500,000 effort to create and promote a “Toledo Brand” has progressed to where the group behind the initiative will begin a fourth phase — attaching their brand’s message to local companies in an attempt to move it out beyond the northwest Ohio-southeast Michigan region.
The latest effort likely will begin in the spring and utilize traditional media, social media, and help from North, a local marketing firm that designed the logo for the upcoming Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
But before the fourth phase can start, the brand on which the group has worked since 2009 will need to be revised and updated.
Jeff Schaaf, the Toledo native hired last December to sell the “Toledo Region” brand, said the effort up to now has painted Toledo and northwest Ohio as the heart of the “New Manufacturing Economy.” It was a narrative designed to tell outsiders the truth about the Toledo they only thought they knew.
“Our DNA is strong with manufacturing. We know how to build things,” Mr. Schaaf said Thursday in an interview with the editorial board of The Blade.

Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/business/2013/12/20/Local-firm-revising-efforts-to-market-the-Toledo-Region.html#iXgefUX5ewq6GsTP.99

 4½ years, a $500,000 effort to create and promote a “Toledo Brand” has progressed to where the group behind the initiative will begin a fourth phase — attaching their brand’s message to local companies in an attempt to move it out beyond the northwest Ohio-southeast Michigan region.
The latest effort likely will begin in the spring and utilize traditional media, social media, and help from North, a local marketing firm that designed the logo for the upcoming Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
But before the fourth phase can start, the brand on which the group has worked since 2009 will need to be revised and updated.
Jeff Schaaf, the Toledo native hired last December to sell the “Toledo Region” brand, said the effort up to now has painted Toledo and northwest Ohio as the heart of the “New Manufacturing Economy.” It was a narrative designed to tell outsiders the truth about the Toledo they only thought they knew.
“Our DNA is strong with manufacturing. We know how to build things,” Mr. Schaaf said Thursday in an interview with the editorial board of The Blade.
But, “while it’s true, it doesn’t resonate with everyone,” he said. Feedback has indicated that for half the region, which is involved in other businesses and services, manufacturing is not their Toledo, Mr. Schaaf said.

Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/business/2013/12/20/Local-firm-revising-efforts-to-market-the-Toledo-Region.html#iXgefUX5ewq6GsTP.99

After nearly 4½ years, a $500,000 effort to create and promote a “Toledo Brand” has progressed to where the group behind the initiative will begin a fourth phase — attaching their brand’s message to local companies in an attempt to move it out beyond the northwest Ohio-southeast Michigan region.
The latest effort likely will begin in the spring and utilize traditional media, social media, and help from North, a local marketing firm that designed the logo for the upcoming Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
But before the fourth phase can start, the brand on which the group has worked since 2009 will need to be revised and updated.
Jeff Schaaf, the Toledo native hired last December to sell the “Toledo Region” brand, said the effort up to now has painted Toledo and northwest Ohio as the heart of the “New Manufacturing Economy.” It was a narrative designed to tell outsiders the truth about the Toledo they only thought they knew.

Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/business/2013/12/20/Local-firm-revising-efforts-to-market-the-Toledo-Region.html#iXgefUX5ewq6GsTP.99

After nearly 4½ years, a $500,000 effort to create and promote a “Toledo Brand” has progressed to where the group behind the initiative will begin a fourth phase — attaching their brand’s message to local companies in an attempt to move it out beyond the northwest Ohio-southeast Michigan region.
The latest effort likely will begin in the spring and utilize traditional media, social media, and help from North, a local marketing firm that designed the logo for the upcoming Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
But before the fourth phase can start, the brand on which the group has worked since 2009 will need to be revised and updated.
Jeff Schaaf, the Toledo native hired last December to sell the “Toledo Region” brand, said the effort up to now has painted Toledo and northwest Ohio as the heart of the “New Manufacturing Economy.” It was a narrative designed to tell outsiders the truth about the Toledo they only thought they knew.

Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/business/2013/12/20/Local-firm-revising-efforts-to-market-the-Toledo-Region.html#iXgefUX5ewq6GsTP.99

Dublin Officials Say 'You Are a Piece of the Dublin Puzzle'

When your city shares the name with an internationally recognized place brand, it makes the task of marketing and branding your community even more difficult.  You can't create or change your name, nor can you protect it from being used by others as consumer brands can. The puzzling part will be how to uniquely distinguish it from it's Ireland namesake AND the other 20 or so Dublins in the US. More here.

Development group hopes to profit from teaching venture

By Chris Gautz, Crain's Detroit

Kalamazoo-based Southwest Michigan First is moving into for-profit territory with the creation of Consultant Connect LLC, which aims to help economic development groups connect with and learn from site consultants around the country.

The nonprofit has contracted with New York City-based Development Counsellors International to provide programming and other services for the new venture — led by Jennifer Owens, who operates it as part of her responsibilities as a vice president of Southwest Michigan First.

The goal is to sign up 50 agencies by the end of the year. Each would pay $5,000 for access to quarterly strategy webinars with four site consultants.

So far, 39 have signed up, said Ron Kitchens, Southwest Michigan First's CEO.

Each Consultant Connect webinar focuses on how to improve a particular skill needed in economic development, including how to impress site consultants with an area's workforce, the most effective deal-closing programs and what marketing tools site consultants care about.More here.