County adopts marketing plan
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

The Santa Rosa County Commission has accepted a long-range economic development marketing and branding plan to direct residential and economic growth in coming years. Although the plan, developed by Gulf Breeze marketing firm idgroup, does not include any specific financial arrangements, it does include specific recommendations to guide the county’s impending growth.

“I think it’s something that should be implemented,” said County Commissioner John Broxson. “This gives us an opportunity to go outside the county and bring in high paying jobs. We’re going to have growth. The question is what kind of growth is it going to be?”

The plan recommends development of a Santa Rosa County branding campaign, which includes the use of a new logo, assorted print and billboard advertisements, a quarterly magazine, brand ambassadors and media liaisons.

Mona Amodeo with idgroup explained the significance of plan’s tagline, “Life by Design.”

“In Santa Rosa County you can live a life and work the way you want to,” she said.

County commissioners must now decide which recommendations to peruse and negotiate contracts to enact each element. TEAM Santa Rosa, the county’s economic development council, will pay for the plan out of their marketing budget. That amount is yet to be determined.

“There is no plan to commit funding at this point. We adopted it as a long range plan, but we haven’t put the meat on the bones yet,” Broxson said. “If we do plan to do it, the funding will come out of next year’s budget unless TEAM Santa Rosa come up with a grant.”

Amodeo said the campaign will be rolled out nationally beginning Jan. 1.

“It’s an incremental plan that will evolve over the next couple of years,” she said.

In 2005, the United States Department of Defense awarded Santa Rosa County funding to conduct a one-year research study to determine ways to diversify the economic base of the county. Specifically, the funding aimed to help military -dependent communities become less dependent on the military as a primary economic driver. While military bases

will remain the central pillar of Santa Rosa’s economy, the goal is to find new sources to balance their relative impact.

Over a 12 month period, idgroup conducted primary and secondary research aimed at understanding what those who live and work in Santa Rosa County value, as well as their hopes for the future development of the county.

The research results and plans were presented by idgroup, and the board of county commissioners accepted the plan at their regular meeting Nov. 9. Idgroup was selected through a request for proposal bid process to facilitate a countywide study and develop a marketing and brand development plan that will produce long-term, reproducible, and sustainable economic growth and diversification.