Last month, the Jobs Now! partners unveiled to its investors and stakeholders a comprehensive program plan that outlines a new brand statement, strategies and work plan for 2005. Jobs Now!, a five year economic development initiative, combines the efforts of the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership, Oak Ridge Economic Partnership and the East Tennessee Economic Development Agency.

Barry Goss, Jobs Now! chairman and president of Pro2Serve Professional Project Services, says that comprehensive execution of the plan is critical to the program’s success.

“The Partners are moving forward with a five-year program to bring 35,000 new jobs and

$2.5 billion in new investment to the area,” said Goss. “Attaining these goals will require maximum effort with an efficient use of resources. This plan is the vehicle to get us there.”

“Economic development professionals in the Knoxville-Oak Ridge region are speaking with one voice that, in itself, sends a strong message to business decision makers,” said Rhonda Rice, executive vice president of the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership. “By working together we will experience a higher return on investment that benefits our workforce, area businesses and region.”

An important part of the program plan is the region’s new branding and marketing strategy. In developing the new brand, the Jobs Now! partners received the volunteer support of Scripps Networks and UT-Battelle, who led the effort in creating the new regional brand.

“We are selling a location, very much like a company sells a product,” said Cindy McConkey, vice president of Corporate Communications for Scripps Networks. “Like products, locations that develop a brand image are able to attract customers more effectively than locations with no brand familiarity.”

The purpose of defining the region’s brand was to capture the essence of the region in a concise, flexible and scalable trademark while communicating the region’s advantages: location, technology and quality of life. The result was a new regional identity: Knoxville-Oak Ridge/Innovation Valley with the supporting message of Resources, Opportunity and Imagination.

The new brand provides a geographic identifier of the region with a color treatment that brings to mind two of the area’s most well-known assets: the University of Tennessee and the Great Smoky Mountains. The use of “innovation” and “valley” reinforces the rich history of ingenuity in our region and builds on the use of “valley” as an identifier for our area.

“Brands are built through an aggressive communications effort,” said Mike Harvey, executive director of Jobs Now! “To ensure a successful campaign, we created a targeted marketing plan and supporting materials that will help make InnovationValley a recognized name throughout the country.”

For more information on Jobs Now! click here or visit www.knoxvilleoakridge.org.