Creative Mailings to Our Valued Partners and Potential Clients

For years, SEDA has opted to think outside of traditional holiday communications and create custom greetings to stand out from the rest. In 2015 we continued this effort for both Thanksgiving and St. Patrick’s Day. We developed mailers that were uniquely Savannah, driving top-of-mind awareness for clients, consultants and allies while also expressing sincere appreciation for the support and interest SEDA receives year after year.

St. Patrick’s Day 2015

Once again SEDA partnered with a local, Savannah-based business in order to send a written greeting accompanied by a creative gift in celebration of the city’s signature Irish celebration. Verdant Kitchen, a specialty gourmet food and wellness brand known for its Georgia-grown ginger, gourmet foods and beverages, was the ideal match for this year’s mailing.

The overall message was one of “Everything You Need Is All Right Here” and conveyed the fact that businesses of any shape, size or specialty (even ginger grown in Georgia!) can thrive in the region thanks to Savannah’s infrastructure, workforce, available opportunities and more. Much like Verdant Kitchen’s ginger products, success just comes naturally to those who do business here.

Our St. Patricks’ day nod came in the form of recipe cards, which helped the recipient put a celebratory spin on the ginger pecans for snacking and ginger syrup for cocktail mixing.

Thanksgiving 2015

The theme for this year’s Thanksgiving mailer was “The many reasons for SEDA to give thanks continue to unfold.” This wording not only served as the text for the cover art to this year’s card but also the way in which the card was made – so that it continuously unfolded, one panel at a time, with each panel revealing a new client testimonial, published accolade or proven attribute for economic vitality. Not only do SEDA’s reasons to give thanks to its many partners continue to unfold – but the reasons to do business in the Savannah region do as well.

SEDA Receives the 2015 IEDC Bronze Award for Website Redesign

SEDA Director of Marketing, Angela Hendrix at IEDC.

In October during the 2015 International Economic Development Council Conference in Anchorage, Alaska, SEDA was awarded the IEDC’s Bronze Award for Website Redesign for the recent relaunch of SEDA.org.

IEDC’s awards program recognizes the world’s best economic development programs and partnerships, marketing materials, and the year’s most influential leaders across 34 categories. The awards honor organizations and individuals for their efforts in creating positive change in their communities.

Specifically, the judging criteria for the SEDA.org site included the following:

  • Goal/Mission
  • Quantifiable Results related to goal
  • Data Type & Quality
  • Interactivity
  • Timeliness of Information
  • Quality of Content
  • Organization, Visual Appeal and Navigability
  • Accessibility
  • Overall value for economic development efforts

The SEDA.org website redesign was implemented in order to align with new rebranding efforts and to create a site that assists in the process of attracting jobs and investment to the Savannah area. The new website was built to include striking imagery, along with design that provided easy functionality and strategic use of infographics.

NYC Media Trip and Producers’ Dinner

SEDA President and CEO Trip Tollison interviews with Bloomberg Radio.

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, SEDA partnered with Visit Savannah and the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport to host a media event at a loft in SoHo with more than 90 editors and writers in business and travel.

Guests enjoyed Savannah fare prepared by Libbie Summers along with special treats provided by several local businesses.

Just one-day prior, on Oct. 13 at the SEDA board meeting in Georgia, the SEDA Board of Directors unanimously voted to approve the authorization of the Savannah Entertainment Production Incentives. Immediately following that announcement, Savannah Entertainment Industry Liaison Ralph Singleton, along with members of SEDA and Savannah Film Factory executives, flew to New York City to host a private dinner meeting with film and television production industry leadership, including the president of NBC/Universal.

Savannah Hosts SEDC Annual Conference

For three days in July, Savannah was host to the SEDC Annual conference with a theme Bridges to Success.

Held at the Hyatt Regency, with keynote speaker, Allison Levine, the New York Times best selling author of On the Edge: Leadership Lessons from Mount Everest and Other Extreme Environments, the conference focused on job creation through technology, trade and talent. Guests were able to not only learn about job creation but to also experience the best of the Savannah lifestyle.

Also during the SEDC conference, SEDA won the following awards:

Electronic/Multimedia
SEDA Video, Award of Excellence, Large Division

Branding Package (logo, tagline, colors, etc.)
SEDA, Award of Excellence, Large Division

Thinking Outside the Box
SEDA, St. Patrick’s Day mailer 2014, Award of Superior, Large Division

SOAR Conference

SEDA Business Development Coordinator Molly Olson at the SOAR Conference.

On Tuesday, Sept. 15, The Georgia Center of Innovation for Aerospace along with SEDA and support from other industry partners, hosted the SOAR (Supplier Opportunities & Aerospace Resources) Conference in Savannah.

The event served to help expand business opportunities for Georgia aerospace suppliers and provided them with connections to major OEMs like Gulfstream, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Meggitt. The SOAR Conference also featured Fast Pitch sessions for the opportunity to hold one-on-one meetings between OEM’s and select suppliers.

90th Anniversary

The year 2015 marked the 90th Anniversary of SEDA as an organization. To celebrate, SEDA created a video that presented a historical look back at the past 90 years and unveiled it to attendees during the SEDA Annual Meeting on January 8, 2016. You can also view the video by searching “SEDA 90th Anniversary” on YouTube.com.