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How to Brand
a Region?
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Michitson co-authored article
on seeking an identity for the Merrimack Valley.... Innovation
Valley |
The Merrimack Valley Looks
for its Identity
By John Michitson and Seth J. Itzkan
 [ Download PDF version
of this story as it appeared in February, 2008 issue of The
Valley Patriot.]
Adobe® PDF File Format
Like simmering water before the
boil, recent events in the Merrimack Valley illustrate escalating
interest for the region to cast off its tired trappings and find
a new identity that it can leverage for the future. Increasingly
it is clear that this identity needs to be focused around innovation
– an innovation that is broad and robust and that can fuel
sustainable economic development. One particular vision emerging
to meet this objective is that of making the region a nexus for
green technologies – from nontoxic chemicals, to self-powered
homes, to solar cells and turbine controllers. It is a growing
industry that this region is well equipped to pounce on. Whatever
happens, it’s obvious that a sultry stew is brewing. In
this column we will look at what’s going on locally, what
is exemplary outside of the region, what we believe are smart
steps forward.
What’s Happening Locally?
MetroFuture is an initiative of the Metropolitan
Area Planning Council (MAPC) to engage citizens in establishing
a vision for the Boston region through the year 2030. They host
workshop-like meetings in large halls with upwards of 500 people
at a time. At a recent meeting, they created a massive simulation
exercise. Each table of about 10 people had a team leader with
a laptop and spreadsheet with all their tracked variables, from
housing density to traffic, to tax rates, to open space. After
a directed discussion on priorities, each table could then adjust
the worksheet data of their choice and see the outcomes. It was
a crude simulation, but it worked, and it was a brilliant way
to make regional planers of 500 citizens. Each group then reported
on the variables they changed and the outcomes. As the tools
for simulation advance, this type of exercise can only become
more meaningful. Of course, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council
cannot pull off these exercises independently. It takes the generous
support of The Boston Foundation, The Boston College Citizen
Seminars, and the University of Massachusetts at Boston. The
lesson to the Merrimack Valley is that strong regional planning
requires a coordinated effort of academia, philanthropy, citizens,
planning councils and industry. Neither alone is sufficient.
If MetroFuture is exemplary of
citizen engaged regional planning, then equally impressive is
the Genetown
branding campaign for Boston and surrounding area, embarked upon
by The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and Biospace.com.
The Genetown campaign, first initiated in 1993, is a collaborative
branding effort to promote the regional biotech industries and
investment opportunities. The campaign is part of a larger effort
organized by Biospace.com to help brand “Hotbed”
regions in the U.S. and Canada where biotech industries are
strong. Other Hotbed regions include Biotech Bay, centered in
San Francisco; BioCapital, centered in Washington D.C.; and BioForest,
that includes Seattle and Southwest Canada. As explained on the
Biospace website:
"As regions compete for
resources, these marketing and branding campaigns help to attract
capital, talent and other resources to specific geographic areas".
Each Hotbed branding campaign
has extensive industry support and, through dedicated pages on
Biospace.com, a wealth of regularly updated information and resources.
For starters, there is of course the list of Hotbed Participants.
In Genetown this includes Abbot Bioresearch Center, Bristol-Myers
Squibb, Computer Life Sciences, Pfizer Research Technology, and
about 40 others. Additionally, there is the Hotbed News, and
the Hotbed Events. In short, everything pertaining to the biotech
industry and companies around Boston is all in one place. And,
for added flair, there is a stylized map of the region with logos
of represented companies. This map is the visual brand for the
region. What can the Merrimack Valley learn from this? That regional
branding requires collaboration around a theme, free information
sharing of news and events, and, we might add, a strong web presence
that is able to compile and disseminate pertinent and timely
information.
What’s Next?
Moving forward, we have several
suggestions.
- First, we are happy to nominate
"Innovation Valley" as a theme for the regional branding
campaign. We believe this captures the spirit of the region,
its legacy, and its hopeful future. We operate the ivalley.org
website to help capture and promote the innovative potential.
Additionally, we are trying to create the Merrimack
Valley Regional Innovation Network (MVRIN). This could be
its own entity, or an outgrowth of ivalley.org. In its simplest
form, it would be similar to a Biospace Hotbed site, but in a
fuller fashion, it would integrate the Open Innovation "online
marketplace for ideas" model exemplified by local companies
like Innocentive and Yet2.com, so that the region will have greater
facility for startups and investment. This is exactly what the
MVPC Economic Vision calls for.
- Second, we recommend the creation
of large-scale planning exercises in the spirit of what is happening
at the city level, such as with Team Haverhill and the Lawrence
Reviviendo efforts, and modeled, in part, on the example of the
MetroFuture projects. This will allow all Merrimack Valley citizens
to be engaged as planners for the region's future.
- And third, we recommend a breakdown
of the "silo" behavior of many regional stakeholder
agencies and adoption of greater information and resource sharing
practices. As an example, the regional chambers could subscribe
to feeds or each other's events and announcements. Similarly,
online forums for regional discussion could be jointly managed
and promoted.
Last October we hosted the Green Chemistry
Business Summit and needed to take multiple approaches to
get it adequately promoted. What if one publication to a trusted
source, such as a regional chamber, was enough to automatically
get the message to all the others? When there is collaboration
to make the region innovative, that type of information sharing
will happen naturally. Our suggestions are meant to start the
conversation – do you have an idea for a theme to help brand
our region? The question to ask is, what does it look like to
be exemplary?
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