THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 6, 1997 TAG: 9702060408
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 50 lines
Forbes magazine is spotlighting Hampton Roads - again.
The national business publication will feature the region in an economic development advertising supplement later this year, espousing the benefits of doing business in Hampton Roads. Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, will appear in Virginia Beach today to promote the section at a luncheon with local businesspeople.
This latest endeavor comes almost three years after the Norfolk area was featured in a Forbes supplement. But that doesn't mean the honor comes easily. Only seven to 10 communities appear in a national economic development supplement each year, said Peter Malloy, director of economic development at the biweekly magazine.
The project is a joint venture backed by Forward Hampton Roads, the Virginia Peninsula Economic Development Council, local corporate sponsors and Forbes.
``The goal is to attract companies to relocate in the area or invest in the region,'' Malloy said. According to the Publishers Information Bureau, Forbes leads the country's other two top business magazines in the quantity of economic development information it publishes, he said.
Local companies or institutions willing to ``sponsor'' the supplement will pay $20,300 for one-third of a page. That space entitles the company to a photograph of the company's CEO, 100 to 125 words on the organization and its logo, essentially their own advertisement, Malloy said. The supplement is scheduled for release in the Aug. 25 issue, which will also include the publication's annual mutual funds survey. But thousands of section reprints will be distributed to the area's two regional economic development groups for marketing purposes.
``This is all part of our initiative to market Hampton Roads to the world, to interest the corporate community in other parts of the country or world to locate, expand or relocate their businesses in the Hampton Roads area,'' said Hans Gant, president of Forward Hampton Roads, the economic development arm of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
It also marks Forward Hampton Roads' first major marketing project with the Virginia Peninsula Economic Development Council, a public-private economic development agency on the Peninsula. The two agencies will jointly produce the text for the regional supplement.
Prospective sponsors will have until June 16 to sign up for space in the supplement. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Steve Forbes will be in Virginia Beach today to promote the section.