Chattanooga’s international profile is growing as global companies such as Volkswagen, Alstom and SIAG Aerisyn ratchet up their businesses here and the Scenic City gains more foreign press.
“We’re building a reputation among media outlets worldwide,” said J.Ed. Marston, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce’s vice president of marketing.
Mr. Marston said that in addition to recruiting companies nationally, the business group is conducting an aggressive international campaign to draw attention to the city.
The effort is two-pronged, he said.
One foray involves having popular press report about the city and Volkswagen, Mr. Marston said. VW is building a $1 billion auto assembly plant in Chattanooga.
At the same time, the city is branding itself as a hub for power generation, he said. Mr. Marston cited TVA’s nuclear efforts, a big expansion by Paris-based Alstom in Chattanooga, and Japanese-owned Westinghouse’s new training center here.
Also, he said, Germany-based SIAG Aerisyn is investing in wind power in Chattanooga as it builds towers for that industry.
WORLD PRESSSome outlets that have covered Chattanooga in the past year and story subjects:* Le Monde, 371,000-circulation French daily: Why VW chose Chattanooga.* Tokyo Shimbun, 800,000 circulation newspaper in Japan: The nuclear renaissance in Chattanooga and the U.S.* Handelsblatt, a 145,000-circulation German national daily: VW’s investment and how it will use the plant as a springboard into the U.S. market.* La Tribune, the second largest French financial daily: Nuclear renaissance in Chattanooga and the U.S.* Agence France Presse, the largest French news agency: VW’s investment in the city.Source: Chamber
Mr. Marston said the city hosted nearly a dozen international media members late last year, including representatives of French, German, United Kingdom, Chinese and Japanese outlets.
“As a follow up to that, we got a call from a German TV station saying ‘We hear Chattanooga is the place to go to talk about the nuclear renaissance,'” Mr. Marston said. “They flew down a camera crew.”
In addition, there’s a German company filming a long-term documentary on the construction of the VW plant, which is slated to begin production early next year.
United Visions, the German TV and film production company, is producing “They Had to Come Here,” showing not just construction but some of the people behind the VW project and the thoughts of Chattanoogans.
John Lionel Bandmann, the Berlin-based company’s president, said the aim is to depict not just the end result but the process.
He said the documentary is to air in Germany, and he’s hopeful it will run in the United States as well.