Accelerating the Nashville brand

Students in the bootcamp-like summer Accelerator program at VU's Owen Graduate School of Management are tackling a half-dozen marketing and related assignments. (VU release is here.) Among them: Today, the students receive the groundrules for developing a new branding campaign that will leverage Nashville's 'Music City' identity, expanding the Nashville brand to convey the city's entrepreneurism. The resultant campaign may be used to lure technology and other high-growth companies, and is expected to be integrated into a new Virtual Entrepreneurship Center. Other Accelerator clients include Arlington Vineyards, Sony Music, Cisco, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee (the latter, a challenge to create a new social network for BCBST and its subsidiary, Gordian). Judges for the 'Music City' branding exercise include Janet Miller of the Chamber; Tod Fetherling of Nashville Technology Council; Butch Spyridon of the Convention and Visitors Bureau; entrepreneur Mike Shmerling; and, Mike Edwards of First Tennessee. Our story on the '08 Accelerator, here. The Chamber has been exploring and developing the Entrepreneurship Center since fall 2006. The virtual presence is likely to materialize along with a recoverying economy, in 2010. Noted: The CVB maintains a listing of companies that have integrated the existing Music City brand into their businesses.