A national ad campaign touting the “new New York” highlights the state’s role in expanding the Fage yogurt presence in Fulton County.
In the midst of a busy legislative day on Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo gathered the legislative leaders to announce “The New New York Works for Business” campaign, which will consist of six television advertisements and a website. The effort is part of a $50 million marketing campaign that includes a revitalized “I [Love] NY” television presence.
Cuomo said highlighting the stories of businesses succeeding in the state will attract more businesses.
“By sending the message that New York is the place for businesses to come and thrive, we can deliver on our number one priority: creating jobs, jobs, jobs,” he said in a news release. “We are competing against many other states that have been working for years to entice businesses but it is time for the business community to realize that our state is the place for them to succeed and prosper.”
The 30-second Fage ad, which was designed and produced by the ad agency BBDO and the Empire State Development Corporation, features shots of the factory and of dairy farms.
The ad includes Robert Shea, CFO of Fage, as he explains how the state made it easy for the company to grow in Johnstown, where it recently announced a $100 million expansion to the facility opened in 2008. The planned expansion got a boost when the governor called the mayors of Johnstown and Gloversville, urging them to settle a land dispute that would make the expansion possible.
“New York state has greatly cut down on the bureaucratic red tape and all the layers of bureaucracies that they had in the past,” Shea said in the ad.
The state also contributed an incentive package worth more than $1.5 million, which will allow Fage to add 130 jobs over the next three years. The location already employs 160 people.
Toward the end of the commercial, Shea adds, “I’m not sure that any other state could have done what New York state has done for us.”
This remark is then followed by the voice of actor Robert DeNiro, who says, “The new New York works for business. Find out how it can work for yours at [www.thenewny.com].”
According to the governor’s office, the Fage expansion is an 80,000-square-foot production facility that will be adjacent to the existing plant. The existing plant is in the Johnstown Industrial Park and had a $200 million price tag.
There is another ad that features the state’s development of nanotechnology, including the state’s $400 million investment in the SUNY College for Nanoscale and Science Engineering in Albany.
Categories: Business
