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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 7008
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 5208
Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
Introduced by:
(CE)
AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF T HE
WORKING GROUP ON A P UBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP TO
RECRUIT BUSINESSES T O CONNECTICUT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) Not later than January 1, 2020, 1
and within available appropriations, the Commissioner of Economic 2
and Community Development shall develop and implement a state 3
marketing strategy that includes the following components: (1) 4
Outreach to start-up businesses, entrepreneurs and other business 5
owners encouraging them to include positive portrayals of the state as 6
a good place to do business in video testimonials and social media 7
posts; (2) a social media photo competition highlighting the strengths 8
and beauty of the state, which may include the establishment of "I 9
Heart Connecticut" Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages and the 10
use of the hashtag "#iheartconnecticut" or a variation of such hashtag; 11
(3) highlighting of the institutions of higher education in the state; and 12
(4) a media engagement campaign that includes, but need not be 13
limited to, engagement with newspaper editorial boards and other 14
print, television and social media networks to showcase positive 15
stories of businesses that are growing within and moving into the 16 Committee Bill No. 7008
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state. The commissioner shall consult the business community and the 17
Connecticut Economic Resource Center in the process of developing 18
such marketing strategy. 19
(b) The commissioner shall examine the feasibility of including the 20
following components in the marketing strategy described in 21
subsection (a) of this section: (1) A "Connecticut Comeback" campaign 22
targeting former residents between the ages of thirty and forty-five 23
and encouraging such former residents to move back to Connecticut 24
through the use of personal testimonials, nostalgia and updates on 25
new initiatives and opportunities in the state; (2) improvement and 26
promotion of print marketing materials at airport lounges; (3) an 27
increase in the number of state officials that attend trade shows in 28
order to compete with the large presence of business recruiters from 29
other states; (4) an update to the state's "Still Revolutionary" logo or the 30
design of a new logo, including by engaging middle school students in 31
the state in an annual logo design competition; and (5) the 32
establishment of a "Made in Connecticut" day. Any such component 33
the commissioner concludes to be feasible shall be included in the 34
marketing strategy described in subsection (a) of this section. 35
(c) Prior to implementing the marketing strategy described in 36
subsection (a) of this section, the commissioner shall: (1) Review the 37
state's current marketing efforts and analyze the return on investment 38
from such marketing efforts, including, but not limited to, how much 39
of the state's new business and jobs and economic growth is 40
attributable to each other state and country in which the state currently 41
advertises; and (2) depending on the findings of such review, consider 42
implementing such marketing strategy in a more narrow, focused 43
approach centered on a smaller number of states and countries. 44
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Committee Bill No. 7008
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CE Joint Favorable