In Chair Betsy Johnson’s absence, Brand Oregon director Debby Kennedy called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m. Board and staff members present were Betty Tamm, Chip Jenkins, Michelle Liberty, Nick Furman, Alana Audette, Rick Gustafson, Carol York and Barry Bushue and deputy director Julie Curtis. Audience members introduced themselves.

Approval of Meeting Minutes
The minutes of the August 5, 2004, advisory board meeting were approved unanimously.

Staff Reports
Seafood Recap: Julie reported on the early seafood economic returns: salmon prices were up 77%; shrimp was up 60%; and tuna was up 22% during the campaign timeframe. Both Zupan's in Portland and Roth's in Salem are reporting their seafood sales have been up significantly, with Roth's saying their sales nearly doubled. The campaign continues with Dungeness crab and sole in December and January. Debby reported that the Department of Agriculture presented an Ag Progress Award to Seafood Oregon for the Oregon Wild Seafood campaign. Both Nick Furman and Debby accepted the award on behalf of the Brand Oregon/Seafood Oregon partnership.

Oregon Bounty: Debby explained the details of the campaign which features pears, wine, hazelnuts and cheese promotions during the month of November. Key partners are the Tourism Commission; the Oregon Department of Agriculture; the four commodity commissions; and Brand Oregon. Monaco Coach of Eugene is donating the use of the Governor's RV which will be wrapped in Oregon Bounty graphics and used during the five-city press tour at the beginning of the month (Portland, Salem, Eugene, Ashland and Bend). The ad campaign features radio and newspaper ads from Seattle to Sacramento, as well as a four-page insert in Gourmet featuring the "Oregon Vintner" tourism ad.

Business Development/Recruitment Presentation: Ron Fox and Victoria Pruett, Oregon Economic and Community Development Department (OECDD), provided an update on business development activities:

• Ron reported that the $150,000 match has been secured for the business recruitment ad campaign. The campaign, a partnership among Brand Oregon, OECDD and the Oregon Economic Development Association (OEDA) will launch in California business publications in February, as well as in a few national publications.
• Victoria gave a Power Point presentation on business lead development, tracking and fulfillment, and talked about how leads are generated (advertising and public relations; sales missions; trade shows; referrals; and through direct inquiries received by OECDD through websites or other means). Donna Greene in the department handles email, the oregon4biz website and OECDD website inquiries.
• Victoria also showed collateral material being developed by OECDD, using Brand Oregon graphic standards.

There was discussion about how OECDD follows up on cluster-specific inquiries. Ron commented that the department staff and OEDA members attend industry-specific trade shows to target the clusters that are promising for Oregon; the state also has a strategy of recruiting suppliers for existing Oregon companies. Carol York asked how Oregon compares on key business cost issues, and Ron said we have very low workers comp rates, competitive power costs, and generally low taxes and unemployment insurance costs. Barry Bushue asked how we balance recruitment efforts with expansion of existing businesses. Ron responded that the bulk of OECDD's efforts are focused on existing Oregon businesses despite the fact that recruitment gets most of the media attention. The many loan and grant programs are designed to serve existing businesses' expansion needs.

Roger Lee of the Central Oregon economic development group discussed local business development efforts.

Debby reminded everyone about the Oregon Business Summit at the Oregon Convention Center on December 6. The format has changed somewhat since the August Brand Oregon meeting—there will not be separate workshop/breakout sessions, as originally envisioned. Therefore, Brand Oregon's participation may be somewhat reduced.

New Partnerships
Thriftway Promotion: Debby reported on a potential new partnership with Lamb's Thriftway stores involving setting up a website where Oregon farmers could post their available produce online. Bob Lamb is excited about the idea of making it easier for grocers to connect directly with agricultural producers.

Providence Heart Healthy Guide: Debby reported that Brand Oregon is partnering with Providence Heart and Vascular Institute on the 2005 edition of their Heart-Healthy Living guide. We are assisting with identifying Brand Oregon menu items, including agricultural commodity commissions in the resource section of the guide and helping with their February 5 kick-off event at the Oregon Zoo.

2005-07 Budget
Julie handed out Brand Oregon's budget document requesting $2 million and an additional FTE for the 2005-07 biennium. She discussed the substantial leveraging of state funds that Brand Oregon has accomplished over the past year, and also the return on investment. The budget document will be submitted as part of OECDD's Program Option Packages that go to the Governor's Office for review. The Governor will release his budget on December 1, 2004. Barry Bushue made a motion for the Brand Oregon Advisory Board to submit a letter of support for the 2005-07 budget request to Gov. Kulongoski. Motion passed unanimously. Alana Audette agreed to draft the letter on behalf of the board.

Brand Plan Presentation
Julie presented an overview of the Brand Plan work to date; Michelle Liberty also provided background information as a member of the plan subcommittee. To date, the subcommittee has produced the following:

Mission Statement: To build Oregon's economic health by applying unified branding practices to Oregon products, people and places.

Brand Values: Genuine, Visionary, Stewardship

Brand Drivers: Tourism, Agriculture, Business Recruitment (focusing on key clusters)

Brand Selection Criteria (for partnership development):

1. The product or service must be consistent with Oregon's brand values.
2. The product or service must have a compelling story which somehow exemplifies "applied idealism."
3. The product or service must be differentiated from other commodity products.
4. The product or service must have available marketing funds.

Levels of "buy-in" from partners:

1. Buy-in at the "label" level—an Oregon identifier within our label system.
2. Buy-in to graphic standards (style guide) and messages—publications, etc.
3. Buy in to a larger marketing campaign, requiring funds—such as the commodity campaigns or ad campaigns.

Next steps include:

1. Further discussion of label system and state agency tie-ins.
2. Firm up Selection Criteria and process.
3. Complete plan—we need ideas for people who represent the Visionary and Genuine values.

New Business
The board decided to change the December 8 meeting to before December 1, as the Business Summit is on December 6.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m.

Minutes submitted by:
Julie Curtis
Brand Oregon