A coalition of government and business officials hope their partnership and an
aggressive $270,000 marketing campaign brings a "new wave" of businesses
to the South Coast region of Massachusetts.
Started in September, the officials are beginning to get inquiries from businesses
that are being attracted to the area by the campaign, the result of two years
of market research by the SouthCoast Development Partnership. The partnership
includes chief executive officers, mayors, educational leaders, business owners
and economic development professionals from communities along the Route 195
corridor, from Seekonk to Wareham.
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Paul Vigeant, executive director of the SouthCoast Economic Partnership, and
assistant chancellor for economic development at the University of Massachusetts
at Dartmouth, said the goals of the initiative include putting the SouthCoast
community on the map and changing perceptions about the region.
"We really think we have the combination of national assets that are attractive
to businesses," he said. "We started to zone in certain industries
that are really part of this new economy, such as marine science, telecommunications,
software, back-office operations of the financial service industry, and value-added
agriculture, which is food processing. We think we match up with other areas
in these industries."
Ken Fiola, executive vice president of the Fall River Economic Development Office
explained how this was part of the group’s two-year research.
"We’ve done an assessment," he said, "and identified those business
sectors that may be attractive to the area, the educational attainment, the
projected growth of different types of sectors. As part of this assessment we’re
able to highlight the different market sectors that may be suitable for growth
in the South Coast region."
Fiola said that even though it has only been two months since "The Next
Wave," as the campaign has been titled, kicked off, the response has been
positive.
"We’re starting to see some results already," he said. "We have
received what I would consider close to a dozen bona fide leads, representing
a cross section of market sectors."
The toll-free number emblazoned on all promotional materials is a UMass Dartmouth
telephone number, which according to Vigeant, rings frequently.
"I don’t think a day has gone by where we haven’t received some inquiry,"
he said.
Despite the positive initial response, Fiola is not calling the initiative a
success yet.
"Until you get the first deal done, there is no actual quantification of
success for the program," he said, "but I am optimistic that over
the next nine to 12 months we will be able to point to businesses that have
moved to the South Coast as a result of this marketing effort."
John Zakian, Fiola’s counterpart in New Bedford, is pleased with the amount
of teamwork taking place as part of "The Next Wave" initiative.
"There are several forces coming together that have caused this,"
he said. "You have the mayors of Fall River and New Bedford, who have taken
to some extent a political risk in promoting a regional approach, rather than
just staying within a city. And added to that are the business communities that
have taken a stand and promoted regionalism. The third piece is Governor Celluci
and his executive office, supported by the region’s Legislative Delegation,
which offered a quarter of a million dollars, and have given a second-year appropriation
of $200,000."
Fiola also credits the mayors of Fall River and New Bedford for initiating the
regional concept.
"As a result of their foresight this partnership group was established
and we’ve gone about the business of increasing awareness through public relations,"
he said.
New Bedford Mayor Frederick Kalisz said the seeds were planted on election night
in 1997 on the Reed Road Bridge, between Fall River and New Bedford, when he
and Fall River Mayor Ed Lambert met and made a pact.
"We stood on the bridge together, shook hands and committed to bring our
communities together," he said.
Lambert explained that the mayors both had discussions with the governor, and
the director of Economic Development for the state of Massachusetts, David Tibbets,
and then utilized existing channels such as CEO groups, and went to the state
with the initial plan for the funding.
"While our communities had been rivals for a long time, we had lots of
similarities, and one of those similarities was that we both wanted to reshape
our economies," he said.
Fiola said the funding, like the advertising, had been a long time coming.
"I think it goes back a period of years," he said. "If you look
at the last recession, the South Coast region was probably the first region
to start feeling the effects, and the last area to come out of the recession,
so it seemed to linger longer."
"The fact that both Fall River and New Bedford are part of the Commonwealth,
we thought the State had a responsibility to pay attention to this area,"
he said. "And use both financial resources and infrastructure resources
of this area to improve the image and marketability, as far as growing new businesses
and expanding existing ones."
