About

Job creators in Georgia engaged in global commerce who seek to bolster their operation and improve their bottom line need look no further than the Georgia Foreign-Trade Zone. By providing access, GFTZ has acted as the exclusive gateway for the majority of Georgia businesses to the federal U.S. Foreign-Trade Zone program for more than 40 years, providing access to tariff and duty reduction, deferral or elimination, streamlined movement of goods and lower processing fees.

More than 11,000 Georgians work in factories, warehouses and distribution centers that participate, and iconic employers like Eastman Kodak and Yamaha are proud member companies in the Peach State. With the support of GFTZ, Georgia-based businesses are able to better compete, helping to secure Georgia’s state and local economies.


Challenge

Competing in a global marketplace presents a unique challenge. Navigating the federal Harmonized Tariff Schedule can feel like trying to learn a new language, especially for smaller businesses. Improving compliance, reducing the financial burden of tariffs and fees and improving efficiencies through a federal program where operations are under U.S. Customs and Border Protection supervision is difficult to succinctly communicate.

PLUS was retained for a full rebrand to situate GFTZ as the established leader in the regional business-to-business space. We then undertook a dynamic website redesign and began an always-on digital advertising campaign to attract high-quality, business contacts who would be interested in working with GFTZ to save time and money.


Solution

Branding and Collateral

GFTZ’s new logo and branding package brings a fresh look and boosts consumer and business leaders’ familiarity with their efforts to provide relief from tariffs and fees.  The logo combines the peach shape, which connects to Georgia stage heritage as the “peach state,” and the movement of global imagery, using colors sourced from the iconic multi-colored shipping containers found at ports across the country.

 

Website

When visitors come to the new georgiaftz.com, they find a website that immediately sets the scene with warehouse imagery and quickly overviews ways GFTZ can assist their business’ create jobs and grow revenues.  Reflecting the global feel and shipping container color fusion throughout, we showcase the logos of prominent member companies upfront to increase first-touch legitimacy.

After gathering enough information to understand that their business can benefit from partnering with GFTZ, we finish the user experience on the homepage with a form that asks the direct question: ready to build your competitive edge?  With the complexities of GFTZ’s offerings, the site expands upon service areas and offerings on subsequent pages, allowing users of any knowledge level to interact appropriately.

Digital Marketing

Utilizing detailed demographic targeting and GFTZ’s specific industry verticals, we honed-in on our high-value targets on Facebook and LinkedIn to deliver impactful display ads where users spend much of their time online.  These placements brought in business executive leads at an affordable cost, and we continually optimize our placements to maximize the budget month-to-month.

Aside from social media, we created an echo chamber with display remarketing that serves across the web to a user who visits our website or interacts with our ad campaign, complemented by narrowly tailored Google Search ad placements to hit users when they first seek out related terms.


Results

We bolstered an under-the-radar issue and brought it to the forefront in the Georgia business community. Through appealing branding, compelling web design and targeted advertising, we gave GFTZ the tools to improve accessibility to an underutilized government program and incentivize a diverse set of companies to reduce their business expenses in Georgia, invest in new facilities and their workforce, and compete better in the 21st century global economy.