Region hopes to 'Thrive' under brand name

The organization formerly known as REDE - the Regional Economic Development Entity - has a new name: Thrive.

The name, regional brand and regional point-of-entry Web site were formally launched at a recent Collaboration Council meeting, the semiannual forum for discussion on regional stewardship involving regional leaders across business, nonprofit groups, education and government.

Curious, innovative, creative

The regional brand, researched and implemented by Lindsay, Stone & Briggs, was developed over the past few years, building an understanding of first how we inside the region see ourselves: as intellectually curious, innovative and creative.

Next, national CEOs familiar with the Madison region were asked what they value, the answer was a tidy dovetail: intellectual curiosity, innovation and creativity.

A perfect fit, and our brand was clear: We are a region of intellectual curiosity and innovative, creative energy.

Having a brand is important, because it's something we can all unite our individual efforts under. It's a way of defining ourselves for our own purposes, before someone else defines us. It's a statement that points to our goals, our beliefs, our purpose and the ultimate benefit of our brand.

So, what is the ultimate benefit of being intellectually curious, innovative and creative? To thrive. The name, then, carries with it the brand benefit, and yet is flexible enough to be a tool for our regional partners to use in their own efforts.

For example, Sauk County is a vanguard of stewardship, and so our efforts work together to produce materials that carry the message and the benefit: Stewardship Thrives... Sauk County. Thrive. Or the Madison Community Foundation, noted for their philanthropy: Philanthropy Thrives … Madison Community Foundation. Thrive.

This is critical to us not only because we are adopting a viral marketing approach to promote the region both internally and externally, but because we are a strong regional collaborative, working to enhance our partners' efforts.

As we move forward into our day-to-day work in 2008, we anticipate this approach will offer amazing new ways to partner, co-brand and ultimately, market the region and the assets and opportunities within the region.

For more examples of the work we're doing and viral (or, word of mouth) marketing opportunities see our Web site, thrivehere.org.

Name is unique

Thrive is a unique name - a creative, innovative name - and we believe it fits our vision of growing the region's economy in ways that preserve and enhance the quality of life.

One question we've had, however, is: How does anyone know where Thrive is? This is where our "tagline" comes in, and where the words "Madison region" enter the picture.

Remember those CEOs surveyed? Only 14 percent of 923 surveyed knew where Madison, Wis., was. Thus, our tagline was made clear for us: Madison region, a geographical locator for those outside the region, especially important in search engine functionality; and economic development enterprise, our category of work (also important for search engines).

This tagline is a small line that rides along the bottom of every page of our Web site to help search engines correctly locate and place us, and this is also why we use the term "Madison region" instead of the more commonly used "Capital Region" - especially important when you consider there are 49 other "Capital Regions" in the nation.

I'm thrilled to report that in our first year of operation we have met the goals laid out for us in our strategic plan, and we're poised to move into the new year with a vision for the future, a strong plan, and a good map to get us there - and a name to market it all under. We're ready to Thrive.

Jennifer Alexander is president of Thrive.