VIRGINIA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP (VEDP) RE-BRAND
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.
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