At Monday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting, the Economic Development Commission previewed a video promoting the commercial landscape of Wilton. Bearing the slogan, “It’s Working in Wilton,” the video highlights the town as a premier location for businesses to move to.
Chair of the EDC Vivian Lee-Shiue played the video for the selectmen, who gave her very positive feedback about how the project has turned out.
Lee-Shiue called the 5-minute video it the “penultimate version,” noting that there are a small handful of fixes and minor tweaks that need to be done and asked for the selectmen to release an additional $1,000 from the EDC budget to complete the video.
The original budget that the EDC had requested last spring to create the promotional video was $11,830, based on a proposal put together by Adam Pemberton of Echo Brand Group, a Wilton-based brand marketing company that produced the video. Because of several edits that were requested, either by town and EDC officials or by businesses featured in the video, the scope of the project changed slightly and the additional funds are required to complete it.
The businesses with executives who provide testimonials in on-camera interviews about Wilton as a business-friendly location are Tauck (Jennifer Tombaugh, president), Dorel Sports/Cannondale (Kevin Kane, R&D business manager), and ASML (Bill Amalfitano, general manager). There are also two commercial real estate agents–Sean McDonnell, a principal with Health Care Affinity Group, Avison Young (and also a Wilton resident) and Mark DePecol, a principal with Senior Living Development, LLC.
First selectman Lynne Vanderslice also appears in the video. Wilton resident David O’Brien donated his voiceover services.
Among the benefits about Wilton that are described in the video are elements including Wilton’s location between Boston and New York, access to transportation, town amenities and natural surroundings, access to an educated workforce, quality schools, and town officials who welcome businesses.
“We’re looking to grow here in Wilton and a key piece of that is recruiting–we recruit all over the world. With that comes a diverse set of requirements that the town offers that make it attractive to work here, whether you’re from Danbury or Denmark,” says Dorel Sports’ Kane.
Lee-Shiue said the video will be promoted via a blast on PR Newswire and in collaboration with state economic development organizations and other entities. It will also be featured on the EDC and town websites, in conjunction with a similar video that the EDC produced to target residential prospects, and other marketing materials being developed.
Once the edits are completed, Lee-Shiue estimates the video will be ready for release at the end of this week.