It’s official! We are now Ohio Southeast!
The APEG organization, along with over 450 stakeholders completed a regional strategic planning process in 2019 that culminated into the SE Ohio Regional Prosperity Plan. We learned many important things throughout this planning process; perhaps most importantly, we explored and discussed the advantages of repositioning the region for business development and attraction purposes.
Engaging a nationally recognized economic development branding company in mid-2019, they led us through a discovery process that ultimately resulted in the new brand name Ohio Southeast (abbreviated to OhioSE). They also helped us identify a brand story that clearly communicates our geographic location within Ohio and accurately reflects the economic development advantages inherent in our 25 counties. Our goal is to more effectively connect to prospects and existing stakeholders, and to set the region apart from the competition in a rapidly changing marketplace.
You will notice in the new branding that we’ve retained our original shield which highlights both southern and eastern Ohio (we cover more than southeastern), and links us back to our original brand, the Prosperity Plan and sister organizations, Appalachian Partnership Inc. (API) and Appalachian Growth Capital (AGC), the region’s new CDFI. Our hope is that the refreshed brand, OhioSE, will allow us to play off Ohio’s already-strong, widely known reputation and plant a flag on the fact that our region is about 30% of Ohio’s geography.
Our new website is in development, expected to be revealed in mid-April. The new URL will be OhioSE.com which you can bookmark now. It will direct to APEG.com until the new website is launched.
We are excited to build upon the momentum we’ve begun over the last few years as well as the combined work with our partners and stakeholders through the Regional Economic Prosperity Plan. It’s a great time to be a SE Ohioan!
