By Teresa Esser
In a May 24 article titled “Miracle in the Midwest: How Madison, Wisconsin Became a Hotbed of Biocapitalism,” the publishers of Forbes magazine told the world what our state’s intellectuals have long known, but never discussed with outsiders. The secret is this: Wisconsin is filled with hardworking, well-educated thinkers, and they’re thriving. The unemployment rate in Madison is at 2 percent; statewide, it’s 5.5 percent.
Now that the news is out that Wisconsin is a great place to start a new high-tech business, perhaps the state will begin to get some of the recognition it deserves for being a great place to live and work.
Dream on. Although the Forbes article is a great start, it is only the beginning of the extensive public relations campaign Wisconsin needs to wage if it is going to lure startups away from public relations powerhouses like Massachusetts and California.
Blue-collar workers have always had reasons to be proud of Wisconsin. Plumbers and remodelers could point to Kohler and the Milwaukee Tool Corporation as examples of local firms that were able to attract international attention. Motorcycle riders have Harley-Davidson, beer drinkers have the Miller, football fans have the Green Bay Packers and music lovers have Summerfest.
But Wisconsin’s artists and intellectuals have often experienced difficulties in telling residents of New York, California, or Massachusetts why their state deserved attention.
The age of “Happy Days” and “Laverne and Shirley” is long past. Before Wisconsin can take advantage of its extensive intellectual capital, it needs to develop a plan for telling people who don’t live here that our state exists.
If Wisconsin has a motto right now, it is this: KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN AND KEEP WORKING FOR SOMEONE ELSE.
Unfortunately, keeping one’s head down is antithetical to the notion of standing up and starting a new high-tech company.
Madison’s humorists made an important contribution to the state’s image with the creation of The Onion, a print and online parody of traditional newspapers. But Wisconsin suffered a blow when The Onion moved its headquarters to New York City.
Milwaukee’s image as a hotbed of creativity and intellectualism was given a boost with the Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum and the redevelopment of the historic Third Ward. But if Wisconsin wants to convince native-born entrepreneurs to stay here instead of moving to greener pastures, it needs to let people know that THIS IS A GOOD PLACE TO LIVE AND WORK.
Here are some great things about Wisconsin:
*Wisconsin has excellent public schools, and its residents are willing to pay for them.
*The state’s excellent public schools produce highly educated and extremely innovative engineers, who cost less than their peers in other states.
*Milwaukee’s traffic is extremely manageable, compared to other major cities.
*High-quality housing and office space is affordable throughout Milwaukee and the rest of the state, unlike Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, and most other major cities.
Previous branding strategies have drawn attention to certain core industries, but as Wisconsin moves into the biotech century the old messages are becoming less relevant. The phrase “Escape to Wisconsin” helped to brand the state as a desirable place to take a vacation, but tourism is only a small part of the state’s economy. The phrase “America’s Dairyland” used to highlight Wisconsin’s pre-eminence in the world of milk production, but now that California has surpassed us the phrase appears dated.
Wisconsin needs to launch a public relations campaign to convince would-be entrepreneurs that this is a great place to live and work. If we don’t, we will continue to lose businesses to states with more powerful brands.
–Esser is the author of “The Venture Café: Secrets, Strategies, and Stories from America’s High-Tech Entrepreneurs.” Read a review of the book.
