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Creating a Shared Regional Identity and Vision  September 2009
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Seven counties in the southeastern corner of Wisconsin engaged in an intentionalprocess to create a shared regional identity and vision that they named Milwaukee 7.Based on a review of documents and interviews with two persons who participated in theprocess, the following case study describes the context for the process, the processitself, some of the early outcomes attributed to the areas regional economicdevelopment activities and recommendations for replication.CONTEXT
Business leaders and regional planners insoutheastern Wisconsin recognized theinterdependence of the economy and the need tocollaborate since at least 1990, when industriesand promising college graduates were movingaway from the area. Southeastern Wisconsin hadtraditionally been, and remained, strong inmanufacturing even as traditional manufacturingcompanies struggled to compete in the globalmarketplace.Studies pointed out that college students wereleaving the region after graduation. Businessleaders identified the need to retain talent as amajor regional response. They established YoungProfessionals of Milwaukee and YoungProfessionals of Racine as strategies to retaintalent.A turning point in the process occurred when business leaders, regional specialists and electedofficials from Milwaukee took a bus to visitKenosha and Racine, the two cities next in size totheirs. They met with their counterparts andexpressed surprise and appreciation at the renewalof their downtown areas, presence of globalcompanies and the number of business start-ups.Leaders from these smaller communities wereimpressed by the good faith efforts of their Milwaukee visitors to understand both their needsand the assets they offered.Economic development, training and workforcedevelopment, however, remained independentactivities until the initiative to develop a regionalidentity that would retain or develop talent anddevelop or enhance industries. The goal was tolook for opportunities that would create newincome and sustained capital investment leadingto high quality jobs.The impetus for moving the regional initiativefrom a concept to an action plan came inSeptember 2003 when the State of Wisconsinawarded southeastern Wisconsin $150,000 to promote a regional approach to linking educationand workforce development to economicdevelopment efforts. The state defined regionsthat encompassed related economic developmentopportunities as part of its Growing RegionalOpportunity in Wisconsin (GROW) program.
PROCESS
In May 2005, about 40 regional developmentspecialists, business and elected leaders participated in an intense two-day work session,Region Quest, and emerged with a commitment todeveloping an integrated regional economicdevelopment, education and workforcedevelopment strategy. The group left the meetingwith a basic structure for working together as aregion. Subsequent activities focused onestablishing regional structures and programswhile a parallel effort focused on gaining the buy-in of regional stakeholders.
 
Creating a Shared Regional Identity and Vision  September 2009
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Formalizing the Regional Identity and Vision
As early as September 2005, the Regional Economic Development Council was formed withrepresentatives of all seven counties. Led by the Mayor of Milwaukee, the Chairman of the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC), and the Chair of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce,the Council committed to raising $5.25 million to promote regional activities to strengthen the economicdevelopment program and to attract and retain diverse talent.The Regional Economic Development Council sponsored a CEO Call program, asking business leadersto list their priorities for economic development. Results of the calls indicated that finding the right skillsmix in the labor force was the CEOs chief concernmore than taxation or health care.The Regional Economic Development Council initiated a regional website to attract business and provideresources, and began efforts to expand the work of the Young Professionals programs, and theseinitiatives continue under the title FUEL Milwaukee.The Council goals included closing the gap in minority business development and creating a climate of innovation to transfer technology into jobs in advanced manufacturing, information technology, biotechnology, etc.The Regional Economic Development Councils funding goal was met within five months (March 2006)through public and private contributions. Ultimately, the campaign yielded $6.1 million: 80% fromcorporate gifts, and 20% from state and local municipalities. The strategic planning effort began in April2006 with the goal of identifying the best economic development strategies considering nine assetcategories:1.
 
Human capital,2.
 
Infrastructure,3.
 
Economic patterns,4.
 
Corporate assets,5.
 
Social capital,6.
 
Cultural capital,7.
 
 Natural resources,8.
 
Education, and9.
 
Financing.Working with planning consultants, the Council devised anticipated outcomes and strategies to achievethem. Announced in May 2007, they included:1.
 
A region prepared to advance in the global economy,2.
 
Players and initiatives aligned toward a unified regional agenda,3.
 
Resources mobilized around key projects,4.
 
A compelling regional economic vision,5.
 
Regional opportunities based on unique assets,6.
 
An understanding of how individual counties contribute to the region, and7.
 
Tactical strategies, roles and responsibilities for implementation.The regional strategies were built from the base of manufacturing, the economic taproot of the region.They focused on the goal of developing specialized products requiring high technology and specializedskills. Seeing these industries as economic drivers, the region would attract and keep high payingmanufacturing jobs that would engender ancillary jobs in suppliers and service providers. The Councilestimated that every advanced manufacturing job would create another ancillary job.Planning for the regional branding process fell to the regional Marketing Council, constituted of localchambers of commerce and visitors and convention bureau staff. Implementing the marketing plan was
 
Creating a Shared Regional Identity and Vision  September 2009
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led by The Spirit of Milwaukee, a private, nonprofit membership venture devoted to promoting to localresidents and to global communities the advantages of living and working in the seven counties of southeastern Wisconsin. Fifty-five businesses and educational institutions provide financial and in-kinddues to support the organizations efforts to articulate an attractive and consistent message about theregion. In addition, Milwaukee 7 pays The Spirit of Milwaukee to assist with branding and advertizingactivities on its behalf.The Spirit of Milwaukee took a public relations approach to selling the region to internal stakeholders. Itsurveyed the 6,000 employers and took legislators on a tour of the region as mentioned earlier. It built adatabase at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee of facts about and photographs of the region--all tocreate a regional identity in the minds of local stakeholders. It moved quickly to establish a website anddevelop messages that clarified and sold the regional concept to potential investors and to local talenttempted to move away. These strategies led to relationships in support of regional collaboration andinterdependence--where the success occurring in one county was seen as a benefit to all.Using facts, data and stories of progress, the Spirit of Milwaukee employs aggressive guerilla tactics todevelop credible third-party endorsements of regional efforts. Put another way, it substitutes crediblereports of actual events and activities for paid advertising as a way to establish the regional brand. Iteschewed the use of a slogan, which would be attractive to some and despised by others.The regional brand had to be inclusive. Marketing did not just involve tourism; rather, it developed a broad base of regional stories, including coverage of education and less recognized businesses that wereflourishing. It also emphasized stories from the less well-known areas of the region.The rationale for guerilla marketing is its credibility. Four-color glossy brochures about a region that isemerging from an economic downturn could be dismissed as hiding the actual situation while newspaper reports and magazine articles by disinterested third parties were expected to carry a clearer message of  progress.The marketing approach also reflected decisions about where to invest resources. Milwaukee 7 leaders judged that advertising campaigns demanded large budgets when funds could be better spent elsewhere.A better approach, they reported, was to manage public relations aggressively to showcase real regionalopportunities and accomplishments.
Developing Ownership of the Shared Regional Identity and Vision
At every turn, the leaders of Milwaukee 7 tried to be inclusive of all stakeholders. For Region Quest, bothregional proponents and naysayers were invited. Those who opposed the regional effort were includedlest they continue to criticize and slow the momentum of the effort. Winning them over was a key tomoving the process forward.Organizers believed that they had to leave the Region Quest with agreement about the name of the regionas well as a basic structure for regional operations. Naming the region was a significant issue and wasseen at the time as so divisive that it could have stopped the whole regional organizing effort.The City of Milwaukee is the largest city in the region, but leaders from other cities resisted havingMilwaukee as the key identifier in the name of the region. They feared that they would be overshadowedin the emerging economic development activity. Proponents of using the name pointed out that the effortto name the region was for external audiences more than the internal audience. They argued that from the perspective of London or Tokyo, Milwaukee would provide some name recognition whereas the names of other counties or cities might not.
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