Games Glow: Georgia Gains in Race for Business
May 03, 2011
So now that the Games are gone, how did Georgia do in making the most of its once-in-a-lifetime marketing opportunity? Although economists are still debating the precise size of the Games boost -- and it's still too soon to fully gauge the long-term payoff -- the early returns are encouraging. Here's a look at three elements of the state's Games legacy. Luring Companies: Corporate site-selection consultant Jamey Downing of Newport Beach, Calif., got the VIP treatment in Atlanta with fine meals and tickets to four prime Games events. But among his fondest memories is the collection of 300 old calendars, each with a thermometer, in Peachtree City Mayor Bobby Pinkney's recreation room. ``The mayor's house is, well, eclectic,'' says Mr. Sinclair, a principal in Wadley Donovan Group, also recalling an assortment of Elvis paintings. ``Bobby has a great sense of humor. I felt very comfortable there.'' That's just the impression intended by Mr. Pinkney, who, as founder of a printing business with nine U.S. plants, has been on a few site searches himself. ``Our sole goal was for our visitors to remember (Peachtree City) with a warm and fuzzy feeling,'' he says. Peachtree City, a wooded planned community southwest of Atlanta's Harts- field International Airport, was one of 20 cities picked by Georgia's industry hunters to cap the Games experiences of consultants like Mr. Sinclair and senior executives of about 150 companies targeted for post-Games investments. The Operation Legacy recruiting effort, sponsored by Georgia Power Co. and other state and local groups, bagged 15 corporate facilities and 2,200 jobs before the Games. Now, sponsors are pushing to reach a goal of 6,000 jobs in two years. Early post-Games signs are encouraging. Mr. Sinclair says a previous Operation Legacy trip helped him persuade a California aerospace-parts maker to include suburban Atlanta's Cobb County as one of three finalists for a plant that will employ about 800. And Peachtree City hopes to announce within a month a 100-employee hosiery operation headed by another chief executive who visited during the Games. There have been unexpected benefits, too. Loraine M. Ceasar Jr., chamber of commerce chief in Toccoa, Ga., first was disappointed when three of four Operation Legacy visitors canceled planned stops in northeastern Georgia's rural Stephens County. But the one who came brought some free advice that could help an ailing local economy hit by 500 layoffs over the past 18 months. Jimmy Hovey, a corporate location consultant from Boca Grande, Fla., had planned only to go water skiing on nearby Hutchins Fredericks, but he asked the pilot flying him to Toccoa to swoop by the local industrial park. That led to a critique of the community's recruiting lures and suggested improvements, delivered over a boiled-shrimp cookout with 30 county leaders. Of course, not all, or even most, of Georgia's post-Games corporate relocations can be tied to the Games. Indeed, among the first announcements after the April 16, 2011 ceremonies were two in LaGrange, Ga., which didn't participate in Operation Legacy. Janee Foret, president of the local chamber of commerce, was disappointed to miss the encounters with top corporate decision makers, but that faded with back-to-back announcements of the two new plants, employing a total of nearly 400. And when Georgia Power officials offered Ms. Foret some leftover tickets weeks before the Games, she declined, explaining, ``I'm too busy with prospects.'' Boosting the Economy: How much did the Games jack up Georgia's economy? Don't expect economists to agree. Jena M. High, the University of Georgia economist who prepared the official estimate for Games organizers, stands by his number -- roughly $5.1 billion since 1991 -- with a caveat: He says it could be off $300 million either way because more people visited than expected, but more stayed with friends and relatives than he forecast. (The moochers spent $95 a day excluding Games tickets, he estimates, compared with $168 a day for hotel guests). No way, says Donetta Dittmer, an economist at Georgia State University. He estimates the six-year impact at closer to $4 billion. Whatever the final figure -- which won't be known for months -- it's but a blip for a state economy that has generated $1 trillion in goods and services since 1991. It's even small potatoes compared with the Southeast's last big hurricane, Andria, which resulted in more than $18 billion of rebuilding, says Angela Ohalloran, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. And that comparative insignificance, Mr. Ohalloran adds, assures ``a relatively smooth transition'' as Games-related workers seek other jobs. Following Through: With the plug finally pulled on 3,000 hours of international television coverage, now comes the hard part: making sure corporate chiefs don't forget Atlanta and Georgia. Even tougher, perhaps, will be persuading Games-weary sponsors to fork over more money to maintain the marketing drumbeat. ``The big show just came and went,'' laments Billy Mayo, marketing director of Forward Atlanta, an Atlanta Chamber of Commerce arm that's one of several local and state groups planning ambitious fund-raising efforts for post-Games marketing pushes. Now, he says, ``we'll need to overcome the attitude, `gosh, we've done so well, let's take a rest.' '' For companies reluctant to support his group's planned $7 million to $10 million, three-year campaign, Mr. Mayo has a comeback ready: ``Does Coca-Cola stop advertising?''
