Award Level: Merit

Celebrating the quality of life we enjoy in East St. Tammany Parish is what our 2009-2010 Business Connection Membership Directory and Buyer’s Guide expresses throughout its 85 pages. Taking a new adventure of producing our directory in-house this year was just that, an adventure. With 5,000 copies in print, our Business Connections have served as recruiting tools, relocation guides, member-to-member support, cultural economy awareness, celebration of chamber
events and awards, and an economic development tool in support of the Louisiana City Ready Program. The East St. Tammany Chamber is connecting businesses with the community.

The St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association produces a monthly publication, St. Louis Commerce Magazine, promoting the region and attracting business to St. Louis.

In November 2007, the Building St. Louis/ 2007 Construction Issue was created to address the importance of regional construction and development projects underway and recently completed. The construction industry is celebrated for providing the region with multi-billions of dollars of economic impact each year.

In December 2007, the Greater St. Louis Top 50 Awards Issue recognized the rich cross-section of entrepreneurs, mid-cap companies, long-established headquarter companies and civic institutions that provide the backbone to St. Louis’ economy and enhance the region’s quality of life.

2010 ACE: Silver

The weekend before Memorial Day, the start of our traditional summer visitor season, the Chamber published “The Power of Tourism,” as an ‘unofficial’ kick-off to the busy tourism season.

Part of our mission as an organization is to educate our residents and the business community on the important role that tourism plays for all of us. At the culmination of National Travel and Tourism Week, May 8-16, and just prior to the big Memorial Day travel weekend, we published a tabloid feature in Sunday’s Hilton Head Island edition of the Island Packet entitled, “The Power of Tourism.”

“The Power of Tourism” tabloid provided a great overview of just who our visitors are, where they come from, many of the ways we reach them through our marketing efforts, and most importantly, what tourism means to our community.

Annually the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA) produces a membership directory published by St. Louis Commerce Magazine. The directory is used to promote the region and attract business with useful data, including information that highlights key players in business and economic development; regional facts and rankings; an overview of the region’s legislative priorities for the year; along with interesting articles and a membership roster.

The 2008 Annual Who’s Who, What’s What in St. Louis is a 336-page comprehensive guide to the St. Louis region. Every RCGA member receives a copy as part of his or her membership.

2007 ACE Awards: Honorable Mention

St. Pete Young Professionals (SPYP) was created and developed by The St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce to retain young professionals in a growing region that is home to several top corporate companies such as Tech Data Corporation, Valpak Manufacturing Center and Raymond James Financial. SPYP’s mission is to create excitement about opportunities to live, work, and play in the St. Petersburg area.

St. Pete Young Professionals was created to focus on those 22 to 40 years of age to groom future leadership and provide access to seasoned professionals who could help support and shape their paths in business, industry, and community service. While the program has several components, its primary focus is professional and personal development.

2010 ACE: Silver

Launched in 2007, Partnership Gwinnett is Gwinnett’s economic and community development initiative. Led by the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and a host of public and private partners, the initiative targets the retention and expansion of existing Gwinnett businesses in addition to the development of new business in five key market segments: Healthcare; Advanced Communications; Information Technology; Trade & Distribution; and Regional/Corporate Headquarters. The ultimate goal is to promote economic wealth & diversification, increase education and workforce excellence, improve quality of life and heighten visibility through marketing and outreach programs for the entire Gwinnett community. By the end of 2010, the award-winning economic development initiative expanded or relocated more than 200 companies – representing over 9,400 jobs – in Gwinnett. An annual report was created to communicate the goals of Partnership Gwinnett and report to investors the results of the community and economic development initiative in an effort to obtain further support from investors and local community members.

2007 ACE Awards: Award of Merit

To make elected officials aware of the Red Light Running (RLR) crisis and to take action to reduce tragedies / deaths due to intersection crashes the STOP Red Light Running Coalition of Florida, created by the Manatee Chamber of Commerce, produced an 11-minute DVD advocating for legislative support and action allowing the use of automated enforcement systems on state roads.

In today’s world of change, strategic plans often become adaptive plans in that the needs of members and community change on a frequent, almost constant basis. The Strategic Plan of the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce was designed with flexibility in a world of change.

This Strategic Plan (2008-2010) was created in response to the stated needs and opinions of members of the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce. Those needs and opinions were proactively sought.

Team Fox Cities is a special Economic Development outreach effort that targets firms with operations in the Fox Cities, but whose headquarters are located elsewhere. Components of the second year of the three-year campaign include developing a targeted prospect list of 100 firms plus up to 25 national site selection firms; engaging creative and design services from a member marketing firm to assist in devising a direct mail strategy; building a database of local business decision makers; promoting the team concept within the community. This initiative, including the Direct Mail campaign detailed here, was without a doubt the most comprehensive, well developed, broadest and most far-reaching effort launched by this Chamber is the past 25 years!

Objectives for the direct mail campaign were to create a high-quality medium that would ensure that recipients would actually view the materials, provide pertinent information relevant to business leaders about the merits of doing business in the Fox Cities, and finally open the door for the Chamber Economic Development staff and volunteers to meet with these prospects.

The basis of the campaign was a “vintage view” of the marketplace through a ViewMaster viewer, and a higher-tech view projected on a digital photo frame.

The direct mail materials were one component of the ongoing Team Fox Cities effort that reached out to the entire business community
to be ambassadors for the place they live and work.

TEAM FOX CITIES is an initiative launched in 2006-07 by the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce and Industry to enhance the economy of our region. It seeks to retain jobs and expand our opportunities for new growth and development. Most importantly, it is premised upon securing active participation on the part of business and community leaders in taking a more active role in selling the region. These business leaders served on an Economic Futures Work Group that researched the need, the resources and the overall components for the program.

The area’s strategic location, strong workforce, high quality of life, and competitive business climate are things we can sell. The initiative focuses resources, both human and financial, on how we can leverage our strengths to succeed. Over at least a three-year period, the campaign centers around our most important business prospects — the companies who are already doing business in our area, for these companies are expected to create more than 80 percent of the new jobs in our region.

In its first two fiscal years, the campaign has exceeded expectations, created a recognizable brand for Economic Development in an 18-county region where brands are happening faster than the development they tout. We have successfully created high-quality materials to establish the brand, engage community leaders’ and investors’ support, and achieve both significant business retention and outreach to next-tier decision makers that will keep our marketplace on their radar when current economic conditions rebound.