Amid a growing population and flourishing tourism and economy, the two leading marketing organizations for the Lehigh Valley are teaming up to promote the region’s high quality of life and livability.

Discover Lehigh Valley® and Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. (LVEDC) developed a series of new logos they will jointly use in their promotions. It is the first time the organizations have shared logos and branding. 

The joint marketing initiative, which could later include merchandising, was announced Aug 16 at a news conference at LVEDC’s offices in Bethlehem.

“The Lehigh Valley has arrived as one of the most desirable places in the United States to build, visit, and to locate a business,” said Don Cunningham, President and CEO of LVEDC. “It's important that we have a unified plan, a logo, and identity to promote the Lehigh Valley.”

“We wanted a logo that was going to give a unified brand identity for the community. We wanted to maximize our resources so that we can really share some of the expenses,” said Alex Michaels, President and CEO of Discover Lehigh Valley®.

The rebranding effort reflects the regionalism that has helped build the Lehigh Valley into a tourist destination where visitors spent $1.3 billion last year, and a vibrant community touting a thriving and balanced $47 billion economy.

Discover Lehigh Valley’s mission is to promote tourism and LVEDC’s mission is to promote business growth. Both visitors and businesses and their employees desire a high quality of life and a strong sense of place, and the organizations both market those attributes of the Lehigh Valley.

The logos were designed by Alisa Lopano, Director of Creative Services at Discover Lehigh Valley®.

She said the goal was to create a visually appealing, easily readable logo that would be practical for businesses and organizations to use in conjunction with their own product branding.

The logos come in multiple styles and colors. Styling on the lengths of select letters illustrates the highs and lows of the primary logo, “Lehigh Valley,” as well as the region’s growing urban landscape, Lopano said.

When the logo appears in a stacked arrangement, “Lehigh Valley” unites, reflecting the partnership between Discover Lehigh Valley® and LVEDC, as well as the partnership between Lehigh and Northampton counties.

Another variation is a “Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania” logo, for use when marketing to people who may not be familiar with where the region is located.

A special button logo promotes the region’s products: “Made in Lehigh Valley.” That could be placed on all sorts of products, Lopano said.

“We want this to be very easy for people to adopt,” she said. “This is a chance for people to show off that this was made in the Lehigh Valley.”

Variations of the logos with the Discover Lehigh Valley® and LVEDC names will be used by the organizations for their branding to targeted audiences in tourism and economic development.

Cunningham said the marketing of economic development opportunities has evolved. It once centered on points such as availability of real estate, cost of land, and speed to market. Now, the focus is on people - the talent that makes up the workforce.

“And talent really is about quality of place, and a big part of quality of place is visitation and attraction,” Cunningham said. “And this has aligned us very well with Discover Lehigh Valley® as the visitation and tourism marketing entity of the Lehigh Valley. “

Michaels said the collaboration of the organizations will enhance the region’s reputation as a premier destination.

Cunningham noted that “Lehigh Valley” doesn’t exist on a map, so it’s important for outsiders to know it is a place, and a place that’s worthy of visiting, relocating to, or opening a business.

Board members from both organizations lauded the collaborative effort.

“I think that this campaign is going to unify the efforts of Discover Lehigh Valley® and LVEDC and hopefully other businesses into a single voice and hopefully that voice, over time - and it is going to take time - it's going to build a brand of the Lehigh Valley, not only regionally but nationally and internationally as a really great place to live, work, do business, and visit,” said Jodie Stetz, Discover Lehigh Valley® Board Chair and Vice President of Human Resources at Lehigh Valley Restaurant Group.

“We do have an exciting destination here. And I think that this kind of consistent, dynamic messaging is going to help amplify the voice and the efforts that Discover Lehigh Valley® and LVEDC are doing,” she said.

Ed Dougherty, Board Chair at LVEDC, said the collaboration “really is an example of what it takes to grow the Lehigh Valley.”

He said people get their first impression of the Lehigh Valley from what they see online.

“By having these two organizations put that common look forward, that positions us well for growth over the long term. Because people look up and they say, ‘Oh, looks like these people are rowing in the same direction. I can live here.’ Those are all really important characteristics from a business development point of view,” said Dougherty, who is Senior Vice President and Chief Business Development Officer at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

“I think this initiative helps to pull the entire strength of the region together in a way that we hadn't seen before,” said Kassie Hilgert, President and CEO of ArtsQuest. She is a Board Member of Discover Lehigh Valley® and a previous Board Member of LVEDC.

She encouraged LVEDC and Discover Lehigh Valley® to stick with the plan. 

“I think it will pay off dividends for years to come,” she said.

Dougherty said the payoff won’t be instantaneous.

“This pays off over time when people see the coordination, when they come to understand what this community is. And they can see that the community is one that works together to grow the common good here. That's when you know how we've succeeded,” he said. 

Other board members who attended the Aug. 16 news conference to show their support were LVEDC Board Vice Chair Stephen Hoff (Crayola Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer); Discover Lehigh Valley® Board Member Lucinda Wright (Manager of Special Events, City of Allentown); LVEDC Board Member Sal Panto Jr. (Mayor of Easton); and Discover Lehigh Valley® Board Member Frank V. Facchiano (Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, Chief Operating Officer & EVP of Member Relations).

(Photos by Marco Calderon Photography)