“‘Perfectly Centered, Remarkably Connected’ captures the essence of what the research revealed is credible and distinctive about the region and relevant to business decision-makers we aim to influence,” said Richard C.D. Fleming, the RCGA’s president and chief executive officer. “It reflects the rich range and ideal blend of business opportunities and lifestyle choices across the region that few other markets can match. It also communicates the value of our desirable location and the strength of our ties to one another, to the rest of the United States, and to the world of business.”

The new regional campaign is the third five-year effort the RCGA has undertaken since 1995. It builds on past campaigns in these ways:

• Increased funding: The new campaign is budgeted at $4.2 million in its first year, compared with $2.7 million in the last year of the previous campaign. Projected at $21 million for the five years, the funding will be on par with the resources already committed by some of the regions with which Greater St. Louis competes.
• Greater collaboration: The campaign was developed and will be overseen by a new economic development board, within the RCGA, called Greater St. Louis Inc., with 18 representatives from the private and public sectors across the region. Members include representatives of such companies as Boeing Integrated Defense Systems and Monsanto as well as public entities such as the City of St. Louis, St. Louis and St. Charles counties, Madison and St. Clair counties, and the Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois.
• Foundation in research: The campaign is based on more than 700 interviews with external and internal business executives and consultants that revealed their priorities in making business location decisions and their perceptions of the St. Louis region’s assets and strengths.
• Rigorous measurements: The new campaign will be measured according to several metrics related both to “process,” such as the number of additional business opportunities for which the area is invited to bid, and results, such as new jobs and investment for the region.

“This is the campaign where we put it all together,” said Richard H. McClure, chairman of Greater St. Louis Inc. and president and chief operating officer of UniGroup, Inc. “We have the right governance and organization, competitive resources, excellent, research-based marketing materials, and a rigorous set of performance measures.”

The regional marketing materials that will be used in the campaign include a new RCGA economic development web site, with the URL www.gotostlouis.org. The new site goes live today. Research showed that online communications such as web sites have become the key initial screening device used by national site selection consultants and real estate executives in considering communities for business expansion and relocation opportunities. The region’s new marketing resources materials also include other online communications tools, a 12-page sales and marketing piece, a 20-page executive summary highlighting the best of the region, and profiles detailing the area’s assets in five industries that have been specifically targeted for growth: plant and medical sciences, advanced manufacturing, transportation and distribution, information technology, and financial services.

Also key to the communications aspect of the campaign will be one-on-one, peer-to-peer outreach by St. Louis executives. Research shows that economic development campaigns achieve far more success when they adopt an “inside-out” strategy in which the region’s own business people and residents serve as ambassadors for their community. For that reason, area business people will be recruited to help tell the region’s story. Their testimonials and success stories will be featured in the new communications materials, and they will be asked to join the campaign by reaching out to their peers, meeting prospects here and in other cities, providing links to www.gotostlouis.org on their own companies’ web sites, and other activities.

“We really need to engage St. Louisans themselves, and especially our business leaders, in getting the story out about this region,” said Scott C. Schnuck, the RCGA’s chairman and Schnuck Markets, Inc.'s president and chief operating officer. “We’re optimistic that we can do that, because we know St. Louisans have a deep pride in their region, and because the timing for this newest campaign is so good.”

In recent years, Schnuck noted, the area has made outstanding progress in several areas, ranging from the revitalization of downtown St. Louis to the development of Metro East as a transportation/distribution hub to the emergence of the BioBelt plant and medical sciences industry.

The research used to develop the new logo and tagline also led to the development of three key themes that will serve as the foundations of the broader array of communications materials. The three themes are:

• Outstanding quality of life – The St. Louis area offers a unique blend of business, cultural, and recreational assets found in a big city with the affordability, convenience, access, and sense of community found in a smaller one.
• A broadly and highly productive work force – The St. Louis area offers a broadly skilled and highly productive work force – reflecting its experience with a highly diverse local economy and the benefit of the area’s excellent colleges, universities and other educational institutions.
• Central location – The St. Louis area’s central location offers fast, convenient reach into a vast portion of the country through all modes of transportation, as well as the economic diversity of a presence in two states.

The research also identified a fourth area – favorable business environment – that is important to decision-makers and in which St. Louis shows increasing strength. The campaign therefore will also feature discussion of the area’snationally recognized business incubators, available venture financing, and a competitive structure of incentives and taxes to assist companies from start-up through every succeeding phase of development.

The external research involved 300 in-depth interviews conducted nationally by Wilson Research Associates, of Oklahoma City; more than 400 internal interviews were conducted by Fleishman-Hillard Research, of St. Louis. Both inquiries showed that the area’s distinctive quality of life attributes offer the single biggest opportunities for the region in stimulating business growth and investment.

The new marketing effort will support invigorated economic development efforts by the RCGA and its economic development partners in three basic categories:

• Retention and Expansion – retaining the businesses that are already here, and encouraging them to expand here. The campaign will feature a systematic industry call program with the area’s top employers to ensure that their needs are being met and explore expansion opportunities.
• Recruitment – encouraging businesses from outside the region to establish locations here. The campaign will feature a variety of outreach efforts, especially toward the five industry clusters.
• Entrepreneurial development – encouraging the formation of new businesses here by fostering an environment in which more business start-ups take place and thrive. The campaign will feature continued emphasis on development of incubators, seed capital, venture capital, technology transfer, and other methods for stimulating new business start-ups and development.