Spamer: CEO Group settles on likely new name to rebrand the region: Rioplex

MCALLEN, Texas – The CEO Group, an offshoot of Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez’s Prosperity Task Force, has come up with a new name to rebrand the Rio Grande Valley-Northern Tamaulipas region – Rioplex.

The name looks set to be adopted at an upcoming meeting of the group, which comprises more than 15 regional business leaders and empresarios.

Logistics specialist Joaquin Spamer leads the CEO Group, and he unveiled the new name in a podcast with the Rio Grande Guardian.

“So, the Prosperity Task Force, in order to help the different EDOs (economic development organizations) in the Valley, came up with a project of rebranding the region,” Spamer explained.

“And we had a lot of focus groups, a lot of people from STC, UTRGV, (Texas) A&M, different EDCs, COSTEP, Adam has been leading the initiative, Daniel Silva with the RGV Partnership, everybody has done their small part in order to accomplish this solution.

“And they came up with five names. Out of the five names we found one that is easy, easy to hear. It means the same in English. It means the same in Spanish. It is a good brand: Rioplex. Rioplex emulates Borderplex. It brings it down to the Valley. We think it is a great brand name for the region.”

The Borderplex Alliance is the trade group that promotes the El Paso, Las Cruces and Ciudad Juarez region. COSTEP is the Council for South Texas Economic Progress.

Spamer said the CEO Group is supportive of the Valley’s EDCs and what they do for their individual municipalities.

“We see ourselves as a group of private individuals coming together to help the EDOs (economic development organizations) accomplish their goals,” Spamer said. “I wouldn’t want to tell them what to do.”

But, he said, promoting an individual city when going on a trade mission abroad just won’t cut it. Spamer noted that if one was to put all the EDCs in Valley together there would be a combined budget of $115 million. He questioned whether the region was getting enough of a bang for its buck from a budget of that size.

“It’s not easy. But let me tell you what the problem is. Once you understand the problem, then you’re going to understand why we’re working on a solution,” Spamer said.

“You have a big region. You have cities from Roma to Brownsville, from Miguel Aleman to Matamoras. When you put it all together, you have close to 3.5 million people. That’s great. You have 14 international bridges. You have seven international airports. You have four ocean ports. There is no region in the US that has all of these advantages.

“The problem is that everybody is working their own little city or their own area. And when you go to India, or China or Japan or wherever you’re going, trying to promote your city, it doesn’t make sense for the investors. I hate to say but if you are any city in the Valley, and you go to any country in the world, and you’re talking about your city, I’m sorry, you are too small for them to care.”

Rio Grande Guardian anchor Mark Hanna interviews CEO Group leader Joaquin Spamer.

Spamer says time is of the essence when a Valley representative on a trade mission abroad is in front of a potential investor.

“It’s difficult to explain to all these investors who you are representing. Because when you say, well, we are part of McAllen, but Harlingen is also involved; we have Brownsville, but Reynosa is part of that group. And it takes 30 minutes, 45 minutes, just to get them to understand who we are,” Spamer said.

“And that’s before you started explaining about all the advantages just being in the region. So that’s the problem. The problem is that when you market Reynosa or Harlingen or any city, independently, it is not attractive. But when you market that region as a whole, then it becomes really attractive. So that’s the problem.”

Spamer then explained what the solution is.

“The solution is the same solution that Borderplex found for Ciudad Juarez, El Paso and Las Cruces. They did it. We are not reinventing the wheel. It has been done before and did they a great job. Now, wherever you go, when you talk about the Borderplex, they know exactly where the region is located. We need to do the same.”

Spamer said Judge Cortez, who initiated the discussions on rebranding the region, describes it very well.

“He says you invite people to the mall. The mall being the region. And once the people come to the mall, let’s try to make sure that they buy something in your store. Nobody’s going to buy something in your store if they don’t come to the mall. So, we all need to chip in, promote the region, promote Rioplex, bring investors, bring companies, bring industry to the Valley or what I like to call the Rio Grande Industrial Revolution. Bring people to the Valley. And once they’re here, make sure that they do something useful.”

Spamer reiterated that the CEO Group is not trying to interfere with the work of an individual EDC.

“I’m not trying to come into your city or to your economic development corporation and tell you what to do. We’re not asking for money. The only thing that we want is for everybody to work with one another, to participate to bring more business to the area. That’s what we’re looking for.”

As for the $115 million the Valley’s EDCs have to spend, more funding could be added to that total, Spamer noted.

“(You have) the Mexican side, all the budgets that they use for economic development. And then you have the private sector, you have the banks that are spending money every year on economic development. You have companies like mine, like Transcasa, all of the companies… my company, we spend about $700,000 a year on economic development. When you put it all together, the private, the U.S. side, the Mexican side, you’re probably looking at $140 million a year. The numbers are huge,” Spamer said.

“I don’t say that that money is not well spent. But I’m saying it can be spent better. And let me give you another good comparison. Avocados from Mexico, their annual budget is $55 million. And with $55 million, they put ads in the SuperBowl. And they have placed the brand all over the world. They’re doing it and it works. They have been extremely successful. If you go to Dubai, if you’re in Singapore, and you talk about about avocados from Mexico, they know what you’re talking about. So why don’t we put all of our efforts together on one brand name. We may be able to accomplish more than Avocados from Mexico is accomplishing every year.”

Asked why northern Tamaulipas has to be included when marketing the region, Spamer said: “We have no choice. Otherwise, we are not attractive. If you only consider the U.S. side, then you’re competing with Georgia, you’re competing with Tennessee, you’re competing with any other region in the U.S. What makes us different is that we have the Mexican side with a very good manufacturing base.”

Spamer added: “We just need to better organize ourselves. And the position of the Prosperity Taskforce, the position of the Judge Richard Cortez, the position of the CEO group is to help everybody work better together. That’s all we want to do. I want to tell you we’re not going to spend your money. That’s not what I’m here for. What I’m trying to say is that your money in addition to all the EDOs that are spending money for this region, if you work together, I think we’re going to accomplish a lot more.”

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