"The Elevation Effect" is what makes Denver special, business leaders say
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The Denver skyline in 2016. Photo: Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images
For two years, Denver-area economic development leaders studied a simple yet ethereal question: What makes Denver, Denver?
The answer they landed on is the name of a new branding campaign the Metro Denver Economic Development Commission officially debuts this morning: "The Elevation Effect."
Why it matters: The slogan is designed to help Denver differentiate its business spirit from other cities when wooing employers to the region — a competitive space that is increasingly important in the pandemic-era economic landscape.
Between the lines: The golden-ticket contest in 2017 for Amazon's second headquarters sparked the discussion.
- Economic development leaders conceded a lack of cohesion hampered their HQ2 pitch.
- And like other cities, some of the existing marketing materials tried to be all things to all people, muddling the message.
State of play: The soul-searching began with quantifying what company executives who had relocated to the area often told the new Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce CEO, J.J. Ament:
"There's just something about Colorado — there's just something about Denver."
What they did: The data points that informed the city’s fresh brand came from an audit of 16 competitor cities and a study of the workforce's perceptions of the area.
- In addition, researchers pulled together focus groups with communities of color and low-wage workers about how social unrest and the pandemic affected attitudes toward Denver.
- The commission received data from aggregated psychological assessments conducted by Myers Briggs to identify traits and attributes of the local workforce.
What they're saying: The final product helps "explain this special sauce of metro Denver," Ament told Axios Denver ahead of the launch.
- "This is something that we want everybody to latch on to when they are describing business in our region," he added.