Entrepreneurs
Association
examines
'New Economy
in
Real Cleveland'

On Tuesday, January 21, the Association will hold another breakfast meeting (7:30-10 a.m.), in the Lombardo Student Center Conference Room at JCU, dealing with "Best Practices in Marketing Management" and featuring Lorraine Rojek of the Rojek Cutcher Group.

More on "The new Economy in The Real Cleveland" including audio streaming>>>

Audio Streaming
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John Polk (4 min.)
Denise Fugo (11:30)
David Gilbert (15:20)
Chris Carmody (15 min)

"The new Economy in The Real Cleveland."

Denise Fugo opened the discussion by describing the creation of Sammy's 20 years ago and how, although it is now exclusively a catering business, its mission remains the same: "To bring world class food, customer service, ambiance and leadership to Cleveland."

One of only two women to ever head the National Restaurant Association, she observed how the convention business had changed since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "Before, people would fly in from Chicago or Detroit for dinner," she said. "Now, even I have long discussions with my 10-year old daughter every time I get on a plane."

Convention business, Fugo said, is no longer a "shoo-in," requiring a shift in focus.

"We have to make (Cleveland) a really great little place to visit, because it's going to be the individual traveler.

David Gilbert picked up on Denise Fugo's comments in describing the business of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission.

"We are bringing people to town for reasons other than conventions," he said. "Our mission is to make Cleveland a national capital for amateur sports." With the Commission's event schedule at 41 (one-third having already taken place, including the Gravity Games and the U.S. gymnastics and figure skating championships), Gilbert estimated the economic impact at $160-162 million.

Without the capital to pay a $200,000 bid fee for a typical event, the non-profit Commission won the figure skating championships, for example, by paying only part of the bid fee but taking responsibility for hospitality, transportation, arena rental and other aspects off the shoulders of the event organizers.

With creative tactics such as this, and the support of "our partners," Gilbert said "we're beating the pants off other locations."

Chris Carmody agreed that "we need to be entrepreneurial in our thinking, whether we're business, government or nonprofit." He spends much of his time in New York, Los Angeles and London trying to woe production of movies, major TV series and high end commercials to northeast Ohio. The Commission also is beginning to cultivate editing, animation and other parts of the post-production side of the business.

Movies and major TV series alone represent a $41 billion annual market, Carmody said, with a growth rate of 9 percent. Production of a single movie can pump $2.5 million to $10 million into the local economy, and a national commercial can bring in $250,000 a day.

"Forty percent of that amount will be for blue collar payroll," he noted. "Electricians, carpenters, painters, laborers, truck drivers."

The hotel industry, of course, also benefits. Carmody said the movie, "Welcome to Collinwood," was worth "3,000 bed-nights."

The major challenge, he stressed, is to change the perception of Cleveland and Ohio from that of a "fly-over zone" (for travelers en route to somewhere else) to a place that can attract talented people and keep them there.

"People (from elsewhere) will ask me three things," Carmody said. "First, 'are you anywhere near a body of water?' Then, after I tell them about Lake Erie, 'can you see across the lake to Toronto?' And, finally, 'if I bring Tom Hanks there for eight months, is he going to be bored out of his mind?'"

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