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Capital Corridor to be rebranded [Ames Tribune, Iowa :: ](Ames Tribune (IA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) April 20--On Monday, central Iowa will get a new name, one that local and regional officials hope will put it on the map the same way Silicon Valley has in California and the Research Triangle has in North Carolina. It's all part of the Capital Corridor Initiative, which is aimed at branding central Iowa as the agricultural biosciences capital of the country. "It's not going to happen overnight," said Ames Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dan Culhane. "It could take a number of years. You think about Silicon Valley and the Research Triangle, it has taken years for those brands to stick." But Culhane said the brand that will be announced during a ceremony Monday at the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in downtown Des Moines, and the focus on ag bioscience technology, "is right in our wheelhouse." "With the agriculture and ag innovation we have in central Iowa and all of Iowa, it all fits together," he said. The next step, Culhane said, will be deployment of the brand and marketing strategy at biotech shows, events and trade magazines. The Capital Corridor initiative is a multi-faceted effort by business, education and government leaders from Ames, Des Moines and other area communities who have organized to begin the process of developing a plan to market the region that extends as far east as Grinnell to Winterset to the west, and from Story City to the north to Indianola to the south. The plan is to develop a cooperative effort between communities to attract companies, and jobs, to the region with a focus on a particular industry. Steve Zumbach, a Des Moines attorney who along with Iowa State University President Steven Leath has co-chaired the Capital Corridor Committee that worked to develop the brand, said the group worked with the central Iowa marketing firm of Flynn Wright in developing the brand that will be announced Monday. "There are national companies we could hire that did this kind of work for communities, but when we looked at them, the work product had a certain formulaic approach," Zumbach said. "We thought that if you truly wanted uniqueness and capture the essence of a region, you would go with a team that truly understood central Iowa." Zumbach said the decision to focus specifically on ag technology fits with the region's "natural strength." "With the great work being done by ISU and the great plant genetic companies and the great science and great research, we've got all the ingredients," Zumbach said. He said he's confident that the brand that will be announced will place it on par with the likes of Silicon Valley and the Research Triangle. "I think we've got it," Zumbach said. "I think we've created that unique identity, but there also must be substance behind it and we feel we have that." He said that the other leg of the effort is economic development and Zumbach said optimistic the branding and marketing efforts will grow the state's economy. "It's not only strength and substance in central Iowa but all of Iowa, " he said. "What we're doing here is not only something that enhances central Iowa but it enhances all of Iowa." Monday's ceremony is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Zumbach and Leath are both scheduled to speak, along with Gov. Terry Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Paul Schickler, president of DuPont Pioneer. ___ (c)2014 the Ames Tribune, Iowa Visit the Ames Tribune, Iowa at www.amestrib.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |