CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield County Economic Development Corp. (CCEDC), the organization responsible for economic development in Clearfield County, has changed its name to Clearly Ahead Development.
The organization has operated under the shorthand acronym CCEDC since its inception in 1999. It is often confused with other economic development entities while the old logo has been mixed up with another local business, leading to missed opportunities.
Rob Swales, chief executive officer, explained, “The change was necessary to better serve our goals and overall mission. The acronym proved to be very confusing for local businesses.
“It did not fairly represent the organization as a private entity that provides business services for business expansion and attraction.”
Adding to the complexity, he said that the acronym is synonymous with dozens of other economic development entities in Pennsylvania, aside from other U.S. states.
“This was not attractive to local companies unfamiliar with our services and out of area business prospects. This made it difficult to position the organization at the forefront of our target audience,” Swales continued.
Swales said that the rebranding initiative has been under research since early 2014 and Clearly Ahead expects its rebranding effort to yield quality results.
“Rebranding became a main priority to help distinguish our development organization from other entities, while creating a quality image among community members and area businesses,” he said.
“The initiative will establish a strong brand presence with prospects and clients while providing an immediate familiarity of our name to the product and services we continue to provide.”
He said that the tag line, “Proudly Serving the Community to Create Growth and Opportunity in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania” has been implemented to strengthen the brand identity.
Swales said Clearly Ahead’s new name was conceived internally, to play off the successful branding over the years of its Web site, clearlyahead.com. The organization partnered with locally based, Black Ink and Design, to create a new logo as part of the rebranding effort and Web site design by Protocol 80, Bradford.
Clearly Ahead recently launched a revamped Web site to highlight a stronger emphasis on its target market, such as site selection consultants, real estate agents and business decision makers (foreign and domestic) looking to expand operations in Pennsylvania, according to Swales.
He said that the most recent economic impact numbers reported to the Pennsylvania Economic Development Association (PEDA) for the year of 2013 and 2014 reflect compelling numbers for business activity in Clearfield County.
In 2013, he said that Clearly Ahead administered 16 private sector projects that created 238 jobs while retaining 562 jobs. The total project investment of these 16 projects in Clearfield County was in excess of $60,861,000 in 2013. He said that economic data for 2014 yielded 14 private sector projects managed with a capital investment of $29,507,000, 30 new jobs created and 700 jobs retained.
In addition to Clearly Ahead Development’s business services, Swales said that the organization owns and operates multi-tenant facilities and commercial/industrial land parcels within Clearfield County.
As of 2014, Swales said that Clearly Ahead owns 152,000 square feet of commercial/industrial space, with more than 190 jobs operating in the facilities. He said that Clearly Ahead Development owns 125 acres of land and manages 162 acres of land at the Commerce Park, located immediately off Interstate 80, Exit 120, in Clearfield.
Clearly Ahead Development is a private, non-profit, membership organization proudly serving the community to create growth and opportunity in Clearfield County.
