Bastrop EDC’s Gold Award

In January 2013, Business Finance Solutions’ own Francoise Luca was recruited to help Dave Quinn, CEcD, Executive Director Bastrop Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) with a quick turn-around video and promotional material project.

In October 2013, the Bastrop EDC (part of Team Texas) video was awarded the Gold Award for Promotional Video by the International Economic Development Council.

Though there were a number of people and organizations involved in producing Bastrop’s promotional video,

2013 International Economic Development Council Gold Award – Bastrop Economic Development Corporation (BEDC).

Francoise was the quarterback for the initial project. She wrote the script, scouted shooting sites, and worked with all parties to make sure the video was the highest quality it could be!

Bastrop EDC’s Project

Francoise was hired by Bastrop EDC to direct and produce a video that Bastrop EDC Executive Director Dave Quinn could use to promote Bastrop Texas as an ideal place for start-ups and the relocation of existing businesses. Community economic development (especially in Texas) has become very big business with large and small cities and communities competing against each other to attract relocation of businesses moving to Texas. In 2012 the Bastrop EDC developed a strategic plan to attract manufacturing, healthcare and bio-tech, information technology, and hospitality. The short three minute video highlighted how the Bastrop community and business climate was suited for these target industries. The video also needed to focus on the economic slogan of the Bastrop EDC’s campaign which is “Build it in Bastrop.”

Dave and Francoise determined that the video must be memorable, authentic, and fun for site selectors and business owners to view. Dave (a natural actor) agreed to be the primary actor in the video. In a light-hearted approach, the video showcases numerous local business and Dave as the model employee.  All the while, the video emphasizes Bastrop’s quality of life, pro-business environment and motivated workforce to prospective businesses.

Production Timeline

The project’s first challenge was its production timeline. The video needed to be shot, produced, and ready to present to a site selection meeting less than two weeks after the project began. This match-making meeting represented an important opportunity for economic development professionals and site selectors to network. They shared information on communities and potential businesses interested in relocating to Texas.  Despite the friendly and casual atmosphere of the meeting, the pressure to impress was high.  This motivated Dave and Francoise to develop a memorable and multifaceted “Build it in Bastrop” campaign.  Francoise and her team rose to the challenge and produced a series of trifold brochures to expound on the “Build it in Bastrop” theme.  By the meeting time, each site selector received a goodie bag with four trifold brochures emphasizing the four target markets, a copy of the video on a flash drive, as well as a sweet treat – a Texas praline from The Sugar Shack – a favorite local shop.

The video shoot was planned to take only a day, however it took two days to complete due to the unpredictable January weather. Francoise, Dave, and the video team rushed around Bastrop to get desired video without unnecessarily interrupting businesses. UpStart Bastrop provided a video crew led by Colin Guerra. Francoise, Colin, and his team worked many hours after shooting to get the raw video into a brief hard-hitting effective promotional tool. The first version of the video and other collateral material were rushed to Austin to reach Dave for his presentation mere hours before he was to show it at the site selectors meeting. Version one was well received by a blue ribbon panel of site selectors. After feedback from the site selectors Francoise, Dave, and Colin made a few tweaks to the final video and brought in professional voice talent for narration.

Bastrop Community Involvement

The video and “Build it in Bastrop” campaign involved many businesses and volunteers to make it successful. As with so many other projects, Bastrop citizens and trusted vendors have stepped up to the table to help the community grow responsibly.

Business Finance Solutions’ staff is proud of Francoise Luca for her contributions that has helped the Bastrop EDC earn such a prestigious award, and most importantly bring new business to this friendly town.

Bastrop EDC’s Final Award Winning Video

Here is the award-winning version of the promotional video:

Collateral Material

Francoise designed and produced four promotional brochures and a goody bag. G & C Printing of Bastrop printed the final brochures. Francoise also designed a hand-stamped leather tag for the flash drives that housed a copy of the video, electronic copies of the brochures, and other Bastrop community information.  The finishing touch and special treat was a handmade Texas praline from Bastrop’s favorite The Sugar Shack. This is a photo of the assembled package of material.

Brochures and campaign collateral material produced by Francoise Luca

At Business Finance Solutions we are used to seeing Francoise produce the highest quality content and marketing material, yet it is good to know she was a big part in Bastrop EDC’s success in earning the Gold Award by the International Economic Development Council.