Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development

Thinking

We were asked to convince the CEO’s, CMO’s. and COO’s that Mississippi was the perfect state for any company that “needs it all” — communications, transportation, infrastructure, relaxed regulatory requirements, affordable labor, low operating costs, and cooperative public officers.

Our job was to distill that into a brand campaign positioning Mississippi as a cost-effective location and the DECD would do whatever it takes to make them happy.

Selling Mississippi to America’s corporate decision makers was a tall order. But we took DECD’s words to heart – they would literally promise companies anything. For inspiration, we looked to the tallest orders our American vernacular could provide and the campaign just about wrote itself.

Results

• 23% increase in new job creation
• 15% increase in new business startups (versus 7% decline nationally)
• Won 6 of 20 awards given by the AECD at their national show for Economic Development Advertising
• Won 4 “Best of Class” and 1 “Superior” at the Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC) annual conference (more awards than any of the 16 other states competing)
• Won “Best Read Ad” in the December, year-end, double-issue investment guide of Fortune Magazine (Fortune’s biggest and best seller of the year); 52% of readers reported noticing the print ad and 39% of readers reported reading the entire print ad

Direct Mail Packaging

This direct mail package included foil stamp (outer box and cover), 3-ring binder with 64 die-cut pages with an inlaid holder for the DVD / CD-ROM and Audio files.

Direct Mail Packaging

This direct mail package included foil stamp (outer box and cover), 3-ring binder with 64 die-cut pages with an inlaid holder for the DVD / CD-ROM and Audio files.