DCI

The Challenge

Flanders, Belgium, is virtually the geographic center of Western Europe. As such, the Flanders Foreign Investment Office aimed to show U.S. companies considering entry and investment in the European Union that Flanders was the logical entry point to this market. To mount a successful campaign, this storyline had to be told cost effectively to the constituencies of each of FFIO’s four U.S. regional offices.

The DCI Roadmap

• Provide a detailed Marketing Blueprint action program for FFIO, including who does what, when and where, so the client could execute this campaign in a straightforward manner;

• Mount a marketing and sales program, including four regional sub-programs within the United States to help Flanders tell its "European Union entry opportunity" story to a targeted audience;

• Implement a series of special events in the United States, including an investment mission to the country by the minister-president (the highest regional official), involving group and individual investor meetings in Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., key markets for FFIO's message.

The Results

• The Marketing Blueprint that DCI developed became the region’s marketing "master plan" over a two-year period.

• DCI also developed Flanders' logo and themeline for this program: "Your Fastest Link to the European Union."

• During the minister-president’s U.S. tour, DCI arranged more than 40 face-to-face meetings with potential U.S. investors and their closest advisors.

• DCI developed the Flanders Investment Seminar, a one-day briefing on how to use the region as a European “starting point” for foreign businesses. This format is still the model for the event today.