‘Mega Plans, Mega Site’

West Memphis rolls out plan to market industry-ready acreage

By JOHN RECH

news@theeveningtimes.com

Last fall, the City of West Memphis and Entergy Arkansas partnered to launch a marketing campaign “Mega Plans, Mega Site” to promote the shovel-ready green field. The 1,800-acre spread north of Interstate 40 and east of Highway 147 in the city is largest certified industrial site in the State of Arkansas.

The marketing campaign included a new website, WestMemphisMegasite. com, dedicated to the industrial site including relevant documents validating the tract’s readiness for prospective companies.

The city of West Memphis and Entergy Arkansas combined forces to produce the $37,000 marketing plan. Mayor Marco McClendon touted the logistic advantages of rail, river and road transportation in the city at the Interstate Highway interchange of I-40 and I-55.

“The industrial site we have in Crittenden County is unique for our state and region,” said McClendon, “and presents a great opportunity for companies looking to serve North American markets from the center of the United States.”

Two newly produced videos featuring the site attributes, community assets, and the region that includes nearby Memphis, Tennessee, showcase the attractiveness of the site and region. Collateral mailers, targeted outreach, magazine advertisements, and social media were planned to promote the website.

Along with providing reliable and affordable power with rates among the lowest in the country, Entergy Arkansas works closely with the communities it serves to attract new business and encourage business expansions that result in new jobs, investments and economic growth. The utility’s Select Site program has a 50-point list of criteria necessary to satisfy before a site can be certified.

“Through the Entergy Arkansas certified Select Site initiative, West Memphis is positioned with significant readiness and competitive advantages,” said Danny Games, director of business and economic development for Entergy Arkansas, “and now this marketing campaign helps to tell the story. Utilizing strong digital tools has never been more important than today to meet the needs of prospective companies and site consultants.”

West Memphis Economic Development Department took some help from Entergy Arkansas and hired a consulting firm to market the mega-site. Global Location Strategies was set to evaluate the presentation and promotion of the industrial site along the Interstate and Highway 147 in the city and compare how the site here measures up to other locations in a benchmark styled study.

City Economic Development Executive Director Phillip Sorrell delivered justification for the expense to city council saying Entergy funded support for the project.

“We’ve Worked with GLS over and over again with site locations,” said Sorrell. “They represent large businesses and industries that are looking into relocation or expansion.”

Sorrell said the consulting package came in two parts. The city required GLS to develop a virtual site visit presentation to give prospective industries an opportunity for a preliminary walk through of the mega site.

“You can appreciate tin the COIVID environment people are not comfortable coming and being in close proximity,” said Sorrell. “This will offer a virtual tour to present the site via Zoom or other platforms.”

The second part of the GLS work assesses the work force in the area and compares it to other parts of the country. Prospective industries want to see a an adequate number of workers equipped with related training or experience before making a commitment to a location. The threshold for useful workforce was called a benchmark.

“The second element is a workforce bench marking assessment,” said Sorrell. “Can we meet the needs of an industry coming here? They will evaluate the sensibility of our workforce for various industries. GLS will also help us re-evaluate our target industries to validate us or tell us if there are other industries we should be going after. They will use that to provide an industry list we should stick to. so it is a two part study.”

The study will rank a half dozen competitive sites to the West Memphis location and its workforce. GLS will produce a two to three hour virtual presentation of the mega site.

Entergy had agreed to provide power at the mega-site. The needs of a big industry like a vehicle manufacturer exceed the capacity the West Memphis Utilizes could support. The city previously ceded the electrical power supply at the mega site to Entergy. Entergy also agreed to help fund the GLS study.

“The total cost of the study is $27,500, Entergy agreed to pay half of it,” said Sorrell. The good news is our half is $13,500. We are always looking for an opportunity to leverage our assets and expenditures with partners and this we feel is a good opportunity.”

GLS Principal John Longshore cited the long time working relationship with the city and thanked city council for the new opportunity.

“As with all of our economic development site services, we leverage our decades of location advisory experience and model our work after the site selection process to provide pertinent feedback on your site, community and marketing material,” wrote Longshore in a letter to the city.

Sorrell picked up on the feedback about the community.

“This presentation will give us material useful for any of our sites and has a broad application across the other sites we a marketing through the Economic Development Department,” said Sorrell.

The flat green fields near Interstate 40 and Lehi Crossing were set for study as West Memphis City council granted permission for a joint marketing assessment of the city’s megasite in conjunction with Entergy. The city half of the analysis costed $13,500. Both Entergy and the city hope to attract a major business or industry to the 1800 acre shovel ready megasite on the west side of the city.

Image courtesy of City of West Memphis