Branding FAQs

Regional Research & Branding Task Force 

FAQs 

Where did this initiative come from?

This initiative originated from The Path to Regional Excellence meeting last fall (Nov. 3, 2009) at Kirkwood Community College that was hosted bv the Corridor Business Alliance (CBA) and Corridor2020. The meeting attracted over 350 community and business leaders and featured Michael Langley, a regional planning expert, who discussed the qualities of an effective region. It also featured a panel discussion which included Sally Mason, president of the University of Iowa, and Eliot Protsch, executive vice president, of Alliant Energy, and was moderated by Jack Evans, president of The Hall-Perrine Foundation.

The CBA felt the regional event was hugely successful and decided to use the momentum and success to continue its work. The CBA hired Michael Langley to return to the region and conduct a strategic planning session on December 18, 2009. More than 30 regional leaders participated in the session.

The strategic planning session resulted in three key strategic initiatives for the region that began in January 2010. The branding initiative is one of the three initiatives.

What are Corridor2020 and the Corridor Business Alliance (CBA)?

Corridor2020 is an informal vehicle to communicate and share information about building a stronger region. A website www.corridor2020.com was created for this purpose. The idea was a result of collaboration between Chuck Peters from Gazette Communications and John Lohman from the Corridor Business Journal. 

The Corridor Business Alliance (CBA) includes twelve organizations in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City area that were interested in discussing a regional approach to economic development. The work of these groups has evolved into the formation of the Corridor Business Alliance (CBA) and the following vision, purpose and goals to date. Members include Alliant Energy (Diane Ramsey), Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce (Shannon Meyer), Entrepreneurial Development Center (Curt Nelson), Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce (Nancy Quellhorst), Iowa City Area Development Group (Joe Raso), Kirkwood Community College (Dee Baird) , MidAmerican Energy (Greg Theis), Priority One (Mark Seckman), Kirkwood’s Small Business Development Center (Al Beach), The John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at the University of Iowa (David Hensley), University of Iowa Research Foundation (Pam York) and University of Iowa Small Business Development Center (Paul Heath).

The vision of the CBA is to create a vital regional economy through the creation and growth of business.

Who is on the Regional Research and Branding Task Force?

1. John Lohman
2. Curt Nelson                                        Ex Officio Members:
3. Pam York                                           Chuck Peters
4. Shannon Meyer                                  Dee Baird
5. Nancy Quellhorst                               Joe Raso
6. Josh Schamberger                              Mark Seckman
7. Marilee Fowler
8. Kelly Hayworth

Are there any paid staff on the task force?

No. It is strictly an organization made up of volunteers.

How is the task force organized and funded?

The initiative is chaired by John Lohman, president and publisher of the Corridor Business Journal with support from Curt Nelson, president and CEO of the Entrepreneurial Development Center and Pam York, the president of the University of Iowa Research Foundation.

The initiative is funded primarily through members of the CBA. Additional state and federal grant money may be sought to support this effort.

Why was North Star Destination Strategies selected as the branding firm and not a local firm?

North Star, based in Nashville, TN, is the only company to combine research, strategy, creativity and action in one program specifically for communities. They have worked with over 130 communities and regions in more than 30 states

 How much will this cost?

The cost to hire North Star Destination Strategies for this project is approximately $125,000.

How long will this process take?

The entire process will take 9-12 months. The initial research part will take 3-4 months.

What will be gained/learned from this initiative? Or what is the goal of this initiative?

A brand is not created; it is discovered within the spirit of a place. Using qualitative and quantitative research tools, North Star will help us achieve a focused snapshot of our region’s values, assets and priorities, which can then be articulated as our “brand.”

We will learn what are the strengths and weaknesses of our region. We will learn what we think of ourselves as well as what people outside the region think of us. We will get a better understand of which regions we compete with on a national and global stage.

Brands uncovered in this manner are endorsed and absorbed by their communities due to their fundamental truth. Because of this, they are exceedingly useful to community leaders in furthering the economic, political and social goals of the region. In other words, an honest, relevant, clearly and cleverly articulated brand can move our community from good to great.

Will individual communities lose their own identity in this process?

No. It is the Task Force’s hope that a unified regional brand will help make our region more globally competitive while preserving and celebrating the identities of local communities.

Will the new brand be “what we are” or “what we want to become?”

As mentioned in the answer to #9, a brand is not created; it is discovered within the spirit of a place. Using qualitative and quantitative research tools, North Star will help us achieve a focused snapshot of our region’s values, assets and priorities, which can then be articulated as our “brand.”

What can I do to help?

Continue to stay informed and provide your thoughts and input to John Lohman, the task force chair, or any of the Task Force members.

John Lohman can be reached at johnl@corridorbiznews.com or (319) 887-2251 ext. 310.

How do I stay informed about this initiative?

 The best way to stay informed is to keep coming back to www.corridor2020.com for updates.

CBA Strategic “Report Out” Meeting

The Corridor Business Alliance gathered Monday, May 17, 2010 for a strategic update “report out” meeting at Cedar Ridge Winery. Our host, Jeff Quint provided a wonderful atmosphere for the meeting of regional leaders.  Several photos are available here.

The event kicked off with updates from each of the three Task Force Groups. Highlights from each effort are summarized below:

1. Develop and Implement a Regional Brand—Chaired by John Lohman, Corridor Business Journal with support from Curt Nelson, Entrepreneurial Development Center and Pam York, University of Iowa Research Foundation. The task force has spent the last few months researching and reviewing firms that develop brands from across the country. A short list was developed of five national firms, the task force selected two to come to the area and present their proposals in person in April to the task force and a broader group of stakeholders. North Star Destination Strategies out of Nashville, TN was selected by the group as the successful firm. Don McEachern, CEO of North Star returned to the region and presented the process that will begin soon and took questions from the audience for the event.  Chuck Peters, CEO of Gazette Communications, and Nancy Quellhorst, President of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, previewed the slide show that will be used to describe the need for the “brand print” exercise.

2. Achieve Full Flood Recovery–Chaired by Chuck Peters  and Mayor Ron Corbett, City of Cedar Rapids. The task force met in January to share ideas and best practices. Organizations represented were from the City of Coralville, the University of Iowa and the City of Cedar Rapids. Efforts thus far have focused on maximizing funding, flood mitigation, project management and protection and prevention.

3. Develop and Implement a Regional Economic Development Plan—Chaired by Joe Raso and Scott Fisher with Iowa City Area Development Group and Mark Seckman and Barry Boyer with Priority One. The Task Force has focused their work on three areas of interest based on the needs of interstate commerce and are currently conducting SWOT analysis work in the following areas:

1. New Business Creation

2. Existing Industry Retention

3. Business Recruitment

Why do we need a regional brand?

Others will be explaining the kick off of the “brand print” exercise being facilitated by North Star Destination Strategies.

This slide show was used at the Corridor Business Alliance progress report meeting at Cedar Ridge Vineyards on May 17, 2010.

Need to Build Constituency

As many politicians have noted, there is no natural constituency for regional development.  While regional development benefits all, the focus of most individuals is on their immediately local concerns.  And, those concerns get the ear of the politicians who are elected by those voters.

A perfect example occurred this weekend.  In the first joint “City-County Citizen Meeting“, Monica Vernon, Cedar Rapids Mayor Pro Tem, and Lu Barron, Linn County Supervisor, answered over two hours of questions from over fifty participants.

When asked about regional economic promotion, they focused on existing activities, not what needs to be done:

In response to a question from this blogger, Chuck Peters, about how the City and County were working together on regional economic promotion, Barron noted the cooperation of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, East Central Iowa Council of Governments and political lobbying coordination.  Vernon noted that the appointment of Josh Schamberger of the Iowa City/Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau to the Eastern Iowa Airport Commission was a step in the right direction.  Vernon also said that what “Iowa City needs is a stronger Cedar Rapids.”

Both Monica and Lu are promoters of regional economic development, but they cannot focus on it with their constituents.  So, we have to develop that constituency.

Corridor Business Alliance Update

The following organizations formed an alliance called the Corridor Business Alliance.  The formation of the CBA group began in December 2008 and has evolved into the following vision, purpose and goals.   Members include Alliant Energy, Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, Entrepreneurial Development Center, Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, Iowa City Area Development Group, Kirkwood Community College, MidAmerican Energy, Priority One, Kirkwood’s Small Business Development Center, The John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at the University of Iowa, University of Iowa Research Foundation and University of Iowa Small Business Development Center.

Vision: To create a vital regional economy through the creation and growth of business.

Purpose: To improve and strengthen strategic collaboration among member organizations to achieve our collective vision.

Strategic Position Statement: To harness and leverage corridor resources to achieve our vision as well as to recruit and keep talent in the region.

In December 2009, the CBA hired Mike Langley, former CEO of the Allegheny Conference in Pittsburg to facilitate a strategic planning session.  The result of the session was three strategic imperatives for the region with assigned leaders and a timeline.

1. Develop and implement a regional brand led by John Lohman with support from Curt Nelson and Pam York.

2. Achieve full flood recovery led by Chuck Peters and Mayor Ron Corbett.

3. Develop and implement a regional economic development strategy led by Barry Boyer, Mark Seckman, Scott Fisher and Joe Raso.

On May 17th,  the CBA along with other important stakeholders will hold a “report out” meeting on the progress of the initiatives.

International Consensus on Regional Development

Nearly two years ago, I was in many meetings with the leadership of the United States Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Administration.  They clearly articulated that they now had research that proved that the only real economic engine was the region and that they wanted to help us achieve a true regional plan, and effective actions.

This new report, Past Silos and Smokestacks: Transforming the Rural Economy in the Midwest, by Mark Drabenstott is a very concise explanation of the research supporting the critical nature of regional economic development.

I have highlighted some of the key points of the summary, and pointed toward the research findings, in this synopsis.

I can’t help but highlight some of the statements from the summary:

The rural Midwest could have an economic future as bright as

its vibrant past. But it is basing its twenty-first-century future on a

twentieth-century playbook. This is not a recipe for success. Towns

and counties compete with neighboring towns and counties for jobs

and investments. Industrial recruitment—“smokestack chasing”—is

the norm. Economic development agencies spend millions on infrastructure

and tax breaks to lure companies from afar instead of creating

new jobs at home. Boosters sell the rural Midwest as a cheap

place to make things, ignoring the region’s many other economic

assets—its natural resources, its hard-working people, its central

location, its schools and universities, and its scientific base, among

others —that could all be leveraged into a competitive new economy.

The path to stronger economies in the rural Midwest is plain.

Partnering regionally to compete globally is what’s needed. This pathway

will lead to scores of multicounty, self-defined regions across

the Midwest. Only by combining their forces to create new businesses

and good jobs at home will the towns and counties of the

rural Midwest compete and thrive in a global economy where this

sort of collaboration is fast becoming the norm.

The rural Midwest needs a bold new development strategy to

transform its economy. The strategy developed in this report stands

on four legs:

• Help rural communities and counties think regionally to compete

globally.

• Focus public investments on transforming economic opportunities

rooted in distinct economic strengths, not on

smokestack chasing.

• Spur innovation and entrepreneurship, turning ideas and innovations

into economic progress.

• Create a world-class entrepreneurial climate and innovation

culture to grow a landscape of new companies, in the process

recycling the region’s considerable wealth.

This is a brand new game plan—a bold game plan.

At the local level, county economic development boards and local chambers of commerce

dominate, preserving the lines in the sand that hinder regional action…

…These examples point to what is needed to embark on a new path

of Midwestern rural development—a more regional approach. To

succeed, regional leaders will need a neutral “safe space” where new

partnerships can be forged. They will also need “coaches” that can

effectively bring local players out of their traditional silos and combine

their strengths on a new economic team. A critical challenge is

that both the safe spaces and the coaches are in very short supply.

The time is now for significant progress in our initiatives for regional development.

What do you think?

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Input Requested

As we said in the November 3rd event, The Path to Regional Excellence, there are many aspects to regional development:  economic, infrastructure, educational, cultural, marketing, political, human service, etc.  The Corridor Business Alliance is focusing on the economic development aspects for the region in Eastern Iowa surrounding Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

As we try to organize the best system for regional development, your answers to a few questions will be helpful.

The questions are:

1. What are our region’s three greatest strengths?
2. What are our three greatest challenges facing us in the next five years?
3.  What are the three actions that we could take, together, that would unite all areas of the region toward a more effective and productive approach to economic development?

Thanks for your comments!

Introduction

Welcome to Corridor2020, our entry point for those interested in the development of the area in Eastern Iowa surrounding Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.   If you are interesting in expanded networking with those interested in this topic, click on this NETWORKING LINK, and scroll down to the lower left of that homepage to sign up.

The concepts of regional development are well known, and we have been sporadically pursuing them for the last 25 years.  After the floods last year, our local municipalities and counties and economic development organizations turned inward, and understandably so.  The Corridor Business Alliance, comprised of the economic development organizations listed to the right, decided that more coordination was necessary. Gazette Communications and The Corridor Business Journal decided that a spotlight needed to shine on the regional development issues, and worked with the Corridor Business Alliance to create a Path to Regional Excellence event on November 3rd.  You can see the slides and the video from that event by clicking on the appropriate link.  Both The Gazette and the Corridor Business Journal commented on the event, and the need to get started on a more focused effort of regional development.

The concepts of regional development are very simple, but will take an agreed upon common purpose and significant work to implement:

1.  We are competing in a global economy.

2. The actors on this global stage  (individuals, companies, non-profits, etc.) do not really care about parochial political interests.  They care about easy access to talent, materials, transportation, culture, recreational opportunities, etc.

3. To stand out on this global stage, we need to have a critical mass of people and economic activity.  The natural boundaries of that critical mass in our area roughly align with the Kirkwood Community College service area and the Grant Wood AEA service area, as those areas, which are almost identical, define the labor shed and shopping patterns in our area.

For that critical mass of social and economic activity to stand out on that global stage, we need to have:

1.  An identity and brand that can easily differentiate us in the world, that is substantive and authentic, and that is internalized and articulated by those in the region.

2.  An infrastructure of information flow and decision making that reduces, if not eliminates, the friction of parochial interests.

3.  Powerful workforce development and education.

4.  An open and constructive entrepreneurial culture and support for innovative activities.

5. Diversity and inclusiveness.

Pat Baird, CEO of AEGON USA, outlined the necessity of this effort before the November 3rd event.  The Corridor Business Alliance continues to work to create the common purpose and action plan for the economic development aspects of regional development.  We need similar alliances of governmental leaders to work with the CBA on developing the infrastructure aspects of regional development, educators  and business leaders to develop the workforce aspects, and many of us to work on the culture, diversity and inclusiveness action plans.  The time to start is now.

What do you think?

Video of Path to Regional Excellence

For those of you who missed, or want to repeat, the Path to Regional Excellence event, you can now view the video of the event, thanks to Kirkwood Community College.

Editorial Support

Both The Gazette newspaper and the Corridor Business Journal have long been supporters of regional development.  It was still nice to see their perspectives on Michael Langley’s presentation and the Path to Regional Excellence event last week.

The Corridor Business Journal’s latest editorial started with:

Nearly 350 business and community leaders came out last week to attend The Path to Regional Excellence breakfast at Kirkwood Community College. The keynote speaker, Michael Langley, congratulated the audience for taking the first step by coming together to learn more about what a strong economic region looks like, but emphasized that there is no easy or quick path and that it will take strong leadership to make it happen here.

On this page, we have been very critical of the lack of progress that the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor has made over the past several years and highlighted specific steps that can be made to get the ball rolling again.

We did want to take time to celebrate a step in the right direction, specifically the collaboration created by the Corridor Business Alliance — a coalition of a dozen organizations with an economic development focus ranging from the Small Business Development Centers to the chambers of commerce to several of the higher education institutions.

The Gazette’s editorial ended with:

Our region’s leaders must agree how to work together and create a unified strategy and a brand image. A regional approach is inclusive of small and rural businesses, not just the core. It identifies the region’s “jewels” large and small, and broadens opportunities to meet new people who can do business together.

It also can foster public-private initiatives that provide regional solutions to transportation and infrastructure needs.

Langley provides guidelines on how to accomplish regional excellence. The specifics are up to us. Let’s get at it.