Silva: It’s encouraging to see the private sector take the lead in marketing our region

MISSION, Texas – The meeting of 50-plus power brokers at La Fogata last week was the first time the private sector has taken the lead on shaping the region’s marketing strategy.

This is the view of Daniel Silva, president and CEO of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership. Silva was present at the meeting.

“It was good to get everybody together to start thinking along the same lines,” Silva said, as he gave a shoutout to the co-organizers of the meeting – the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force set up by Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez and one of its subgroups, the CEO Group led by industrial developer Joaquin Spamer.

The stakeholders present at the meeting included industrial developers, empresarios, business leaders, bankers, and economic development officials.

Asked if he had ever seen such a strong lineup of titans from the region’s private sector come together to address the marketing needs of the Valley and northern Tamaulipas, Silva said:

“So here in the Rio Grande Valley, it’s the first time that I’ve seen it. I think it’s a testament to their seeing the demand when they’re out trying to market this region. 

“They are out trying to sell this region, trying to recruit companies to their industrial parks. They’re seeing that there is an image issue and people, especially abroad, don’t necessarily know where we’re from. 

“So, to see this coming together of the private industry… I say it all the time, if we want to understand what the true issues are we need to go where the rubber meets the road. We need to go to the private industry that is actively out there trying to sell our region.”

Silva said he sees the government’s role as helping support the private sector. “The companies are the ones who are actively trying to grow the economy.”

One of the goals of the meeting at La Fogata was to come up with a name with which to market the region, which, everyone agreed, must encompass the Valley and northern Tamaulipas.

According to Judge Cortez, everyone at the meeting was in agreement that one name should be used to identify the region.

Every table at the meeting had a card printed by the Hidalgo County Property Task Force. On the card was a QR code. Participants were asked to scan the code with their smart phones. A Google Forms page then popped up titled Region 1 Metroplex. It had the logos of the Prosperity Task Force, COSTEP, and the Rio Grande Valley Partnership. 

The form asked for the participant’s name, company organization, and email address. It listed seven questions:

Do you consider it is important to have a unified identity for the entire region?

Do you believe that a regional branding would strengthen the region’s presence and competitiveness nationally and internationally?

What name would you suggest for a regional branding that represents both sides of the border?

What is your annual marketing budget for economic promotion?

Are you willing to align your marketing efforts with this regional initiative?

Are you willing to use the new branding proposal?

Would you be willing to use a regional calendar to enhance the coordination of marketing efforts for participation in events and trade missions?

The page also invited comments. 

Asked what he thought the name should be, RGVP’s Silva said:

“I think that when it comes to the name is something that we will settle on. I think Rio Grande Valley is something that we’ve had, that we’ve known, for a long time. The way I see it is, in Austin, there’s a river, that doesn’t mean that South Austin is not in Austin. So the Rio Grande river runs through our region. So the Rio Grande Valley Metroplex, I think, is a great name. Something that captures both the U.S. and Mexico side. But, working together is definitely going to take us in the right direction.”

Asked how exciting it is to see the private sector playing a key role, Silva said:

“It is exciting. When the Partnership started a year ago with our One Region, One Voice, campaign, we knew that we had to bring everybody together, that we needed unity. And this is a testament to that. Everybody’s seeing the momentum that’s taking place. The way I say it is, we are a locomotive and we’re attaching railcars. The railcars are all the things that we want to accomplish. Now we need the coal. We need the funding. We need the cities to come together and help us accomplish this goal.”

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