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Background
Mayor Reed's Public Information Officer began working with the City Manager and the Redevelopment Agency Executive Director in 2008 to evaluate all current marketing efforts being made on behalf of the City of San José. This effort sought to identify opportunities to improve collaboration and use resources most effectively, and included evaluation of:
- Global Fluency's contract for national and international public relations.
- Redevelopment Agency campaigns to market home ownership in the downtown
- Advertising campaigns by the Agency or the Office of Economic Development
- Funding to Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Association, Convention and Visitors Bureau and other organizations
Following this evaluation, Mayor Reed decided that the city needed a "Coordinated Marketing Effort" to promote the city's economic development goals. In his March 2009 Budget Message, Mayor Reed gave the following direction which led to the formation of the Communications Working Group (CWG):
In these tough times, San José must spend its existing marketing resources more efficiently. Over the next year, I recommend that the City Manager and Redevelopment Agency Executive Director continue to work in partnership with the Mayor's Public Information Officer to bring these disparate efforts together and coordinate marketing activities. This effort will measure the return on our investments, and pursue opportunities and new ideas to spur new investment and grow San José's identity as an innovator in emerging technologies, create vibrancy Downtown, encourage retail spending, and bring new business to the Airport. This effort should include regular reports to the Community and Economic Development Committee.
Since then, the CWG has worked collaboratively to peer-review marketing plans/budgets, develop performance measures, address common marketing challenges and coordinate efforts to best position San José during these tough economic times.
The Communications Working Group is chaired by the Mayor’s Public Information Office and currently includes representatives from the Redevelopment Agency, the City Manager’s Office, the Airport, the Office of Economic Development, the San José Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, the San José Downtown Association, and Team San Jose. The Chair of the Community and Economic Development committee also has non-voting representation at the meetings.
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