Utah beckons California companies

Consider Holly-wooed.

And San Francisco and Los Angeles, too.

Utah's been romancing West Coast residents with its "Life Elevated" ad campaign. Now the Governor's Office of Economic Development is going after businesses, hoping California companies looking for a place to grow or simply to go will come to the Beehive State.

GOED launched the first of a quarter-million-dollar, eight-ad series Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal's California edition. "Instead of Looking for Good News in the Financial Section, Try Looking in Utah," the ad advises.

"We're trying to brand Utah as a place to do business, to grow your bottom line," said Clark Caras, director of marketing for GOED.

Utah's youthful, well-educated and growing work force is front and center in the sales pitch, along with the state's quality of life, competitive tax incentives, location as the "crossroads" of the West and its balanced-budget policies that keep the state from drowning in debt.

As one ad states, Utah's ride through the recession has been smoother than some states': "From Up Here, You Can See the Economic Recovery."

Adds another, "You Know the Saying, 'When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going?' Here's Where They Go."

Richter7, a Salt Lake advertising agency, won the bid to design the campaign. It is working with the staff of Development Counselors International to measure how effectively the campaign reaches its target audience, who Caras called "high-level executives."

In the three months since GOED kicked off what it calls a "West Coast Initiative," 164 California companies have been identified that might be interested in a close business relationship with Utah. GOED hopes the campaign helps expand that list to 1,000.

The budget for such promotion is $1 million, including events, ad creation and related expenses, Caras said. Initially, the Legislature set aside twice that amount but drew half back when the recession pinched the state's overall budget.

It's not the state's first campaign targeting California businesses. A decade ago, then-Gov. Mike Leavitt announced a "Silicon Valley Alliance" to forge strong business ties between the two states.

e-mail: lois@desnews.com