Global Georgia Campaign Wins Two Industry Awards

ATLANTA, November 17, 2010 – The state of Georgia's Global Georgia campaign, a global initiative to create jobs and promote investment in Georgia, was recognized twice at the annual awards ceremony held by the Georgia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in early November.  The campaign brought home two awards: one in Global Communications, and, for the third consecutive year, one in Reputation and Brand Management. The campaign was conducted by The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) in affiliation with its public relations firm-of-record, GolinHarris.

'We're happy to be honored again for an effort that's been so important to bringing jobs to Georgia,' said Heidi Green, Commissioner of Georgia Department of Economic Development.  'International facilities typically create more jobs per project than domestic companies when they locate in the U.S.'

The Global Georgia program resulted in 245 million targeted media impressions in eight countries from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, including Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea and the U.K.  The program increased visibility of the state as a potential location of business investment and tourism growth during a year when foreign direct investment represented 21 percent of the agency's total projects, up seven percent from the previous year. Those projects created 23 percent of the jobs and 19 percent of the total investment for the fiscal year.  International companies created 4,424 jobs in Georgia in 2009-2010, totaling more than $698 million in foreign investment.

The program also exceeded its goal of ensuring that at least 80 percent of the coverage focused on the state's strategic industries; in fact, 95 percent of media coverage focused on these industries, which include aerospace, advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, energy, logistics and life sciences.

'The Global Georgia program has worked because we've been able to tailor the state's key benefits and communicate them effectively in more than a dozen countries around the world,' explained Kathy Cosgrove, managing director of the Atlanta office of GolinHarris.  'Having people on the ground who understand both Georgia and local needs is invaluable.'

About GDEcD
The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) is the state's sales and marketing arm, the lead agency for attracting new business investment, encouraging the expansion of existing industry and small businesses, locating new markets for Georgia products, attracting tourists to Georgia, and promoting the state as a location for film, music and digital entertainment projects, as well as planning and mobilizing state resources for economic development. For more information, visit www.georgia.org.

About GolinHarris
Established in 1957, GolinHarris is a leading full-service public relations agency with 30 wholly owned offices located in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.  For more than 50 years, GolinHarris has created innovative and award-winning public relations programs that deliver results for clients such as Dow Chemical Company, Florida Department of Citrus, Kaiser Permanente, McDonald's, Nintendo of America Inc., Nokia, Orange, Texas Instruments, and Underwriters Laboratories.  GolinHarris was recognized as PRWeek's 2010 Large PR Agency of the Year, 2009 Asia Pacific PR Consultancy of Year and 2008 International Consultancy of the Year by the PRCA.  For more information, visit golinharris.com.

About PRSA Georgia
PRSA|GA (www.prsageorgia.org), the second-largest local chapter in the national society, consists of nearly 1,000 professionals throughout Georgia.  Its mission is to enhance the profession, provide continuing education and offer networking opportunities for its members.