Governor Gilmore Announces New Economic Development Marketing Campaign

Virginia First State to Partner with FORTUNE and CNN in Integrated Media Package

Richmond - Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore announced today a new campaign to showcase Virginia's business climate. In addition, Virginia will become the first state to partner with Time Warner Inc., a global media company, for economic development advertising with the company's media properties of CNN and FORTUNE magazine. 

"Virginia's partnership with the world's leading media powerhouse is the next logical step to continuing our economic development success," Governor Gilmore said. "Virginia has experienced record-setting economic development growth in the latter half of the past decade. In the last two years, over 800 companies have announced more than $5.5 billion in new and expanding capital investments in Virginia, creating nearly 88,000 new jobs for Virginians. This unique partnership with Time Warner media properties, FORTUNE and CNN will show the world that Virginia is indeed a great place to do business.

" Under the terms of the partnership, Virginia will run print, broadcast and Internet advertising on Time Warner media properties, including CNN, CNN International, CNN.com, FORTUNE and fortune.com, as well as in economic development trade publications and target industry publications. Virginia will receive twice as many advertising impressions for the same amount of dollars spent in past years. Advertisements will begin appearing January 24 and will run through June 30, 2000. Richmond-based Barber Martin & Associates developed the advertising concepts and media strategy. 

"As the world's leading business magazine, FORTUNE recognizes that economic development is as competitive as any global industry out there," said Michael Federle, publisher of FORTUNE. "We chose Virginia as our first state partner in an integrated media package because of its solid track record of economic development success. And, Virginia's a great place to live and do business!"

"We're delighted to have been selected as the exclusive broadcast partner for the state of Virginia's return to television," said Scott Weller, senior vice president and national sales manager of CNN sales. "As the world's news leader, no one is better positioned to help Virginia reach an affluent, global audience with its new advertising message than CNN. Coupled with our sister Time Inc. publication, FORTUNE, we're providing a complete, integrated multimedia advertising platform." 

The new branding campaign includes a new tagline, "Virginia Is for Business," which will appear in all advertising and marketing materials by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), Virginia's state level economic development arm. 

"Despite our success in attracting world-class companies such as Siemens, Toshiba, Gateway, and Intel to the Commonwealth, many business decision-makers only know Virginia for its wonderful tourism, history and natural resources," said Barry E. DuVal, Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade. "With this new media partnership and tagline, we want to show the world that not only is Virginia for tourism - it's for business, too." 

Virginia has received top recognition in recent years for its business climate and overall quality of life, including: 

Last May, two of Virginia's economic development projects in 1998 were ranked among the nation's Top 10 deals by Site Selection, a widely-read economic development trade magazine. The Virginia projects, GEICO's new $45 million regional service center and MCI WorldCom's $200 million campus, were listed as two of the top 10 deals based on the number of projected new jobs. 
VEDP was named Top Development Group, in the same issue, based on new capital investment and new jobs, plus per-capita capital investment and per-capita jobs. 
In 1999, Virginia's economic development web site ranked #8 in the world by Corporate Location magazine. 
In 1998, five Virginia cities received top ranking in Money magazine's "Best Places to Live" issue. 
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership was created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1995 to encourage, stimulate, and support the development and expansion of the economy of the Commonwealth. The Partnership is a state authority, which is governed by a 15-member Board of Directors appointed by the Governor. To accomplish its objectives of promoting economic expansion within the Commonwealth, the Partnership focuses its efforts on business development and international trade. 

The CNN News Group is one of the largest and most profitable news and information companies in the world. The hub of the CNN News Group is CNN/U.S., the U.S. news network and flagship of the Group. Altogether, the CNN News Group comprises six cable networks (CNN/U.S., CNN Headline News, CNN International, CNNfn, CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN en Español), three private, out-of-home place-based networks, two radio networks, 10 Web sites and CNN Newsource, the world's most extensively syndicated news service. 

FORTUNE, a biweekly business magazine, is known for its unrivaled access to industry leaders and decision-makers. With a circulation of 775,000, and a worldwide readership of more than five million, FORTUNE reaches a wide and influential audience every two weeks. 

######