Valpo’s WeCreate nabs major project to rebrand state of Indiana’s outdated image
Wade Breitzke couldn’t help but overhear the exchange near his table while dining with his wife at Lincoln Flats in downtown Valparaiso.
A woman in her mid-20s was with her family, excited to have her back in town for too short of a return visit. In between hugs, a family member asked the woman, “How long are you home for?”
Breitzke quietly took mental notes while doing some unexpected “ear hustling,” as he calls it. He just heard what he’ll now be trying to capture in a branding bottle for the state of Indiana.
“That’s the vibe right there we’re looking for,” he said. “It’s the feeling you get when you come back home to Indiana.”
Breitzke, owner and CEO of WeCreate Media LLC, was recently awarded the contract to rebrand the Hoosier state for the Indiana Destination Development Corp., a quasi-government agency focused on making Indiana a fulfilling place to live, visit, learn and earn.
Elaine Bedel, who was appointed by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb to helm the agency in 2019, recently contacted Breitzke and his staff of 12 to share the good news. The ink was still wet on the contract when I spoke last week with Breitzke, 34, who launched WeCreate in 2013.
Once again, WeCreate has lived up to its brand by creating a winning response to the IDDC’s request for proposal. The firm’s concepts to land the major project are still confidential but I was allowed to review them.
It’s brilliant, smartly reflecting WeCreate’s skills, talents, and Hoosier-bred experiences.
The first part of the 16-page response says it all in just 16 words: “Indiana has given us our best life — we’re ready to share this feeling with the world.”
“This is a dream come true for us, especially how we came together as a firm during the pandemic,” said Breitzke, who last year created www.nwistrong. com, an online resource for small businesses in this region.
The Valpo-based firm didn’t
have to lay off any employees last year although
70% of its workload is in the decimated hospitality industry. WeCreate is known for building brands that have a deep appreciation for audacious ideas, authentic messaging and stellar creativity. (View its portfolio at https:// wecreate.one.)
“We’re in an industry of either home runs or strikeouts,” Breitzke said. “But I have a lot of very talented people on my team.”
One of his firm’s big hitters is business partner and lead photographer, Jeremy Bustos, who shot the exclusive photos for the July 3 wedding of music superstars Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton at their Oklahoma ranch. (View them on his Instagram page or by Googling his name.)
WeCreate’s pitch to the IDDC stated: “We share a common passion in investing in the incredible talent, businesses, and places in Indiana.”
The project’s key performance indicators: attracting visitors to Indiana with the goal of also converting them to become future residents; attracting top talent to the state to grown and advance Hoosier businesses; and to retain college graduates for the state’s workforce, countering the so-called brain drain that has plagued Indiana for decades.
“This rebranding effort is as much about developing talent as it is about attracting tourists,” Breitzke said. “We want people, especially in other Midwestern states, to see the quality of opportunity here.”
Indiana attracts more incoming college freshman than most every other state in the country, he said. But Indiana loses those students faster than most every other state. Historically, high school graduates are eager to leave for college, and college graduates are eager to leave for their career, too frequently in other states.
“We want them to graduate to a life here in Indiana,” Breitzke said.
Older generations of Hoosiers grew up with the state’s outdated marketing mantra, “Crossroads of America.” It’s more of an homage to passing through Indiana rather than staying, exploring and investing, according to WeCreate’s detailed pitch to the state.
This distinction between Indiana’s dust-covered past and its progressive future resonated with me as I reviewed the firm’s comprehensive campaign. I’m not allowed to reveal its primary concept, which has the promise of someday competing with the ubiquitous “Pure Michigan” campaign. That’s the industry standard with memorable commercials, radio ads, license plates and Tim Allen’s familiar voice-overs.
“We don’t have Tim Allen, but we have a concept we’re very proud of and we want to share it with the world,” Breitzke said.
His firm plans a soft launch this fall, followed by a major launch next spring. Its primary challenge is to rebrand the perception of Indiana, which ranked seventh in opportunity for residents in a 2019 study by U.S. News & World Report.
WeCreate’s pitch to the IDDC states: “Our marketing plan will reinvent Indiana’s perception under an umbrella campaign followed by a three-pronged marketing approach that further elevates your existing initiatives. We feel anything we suggest should be an evolution, not a revolution, of all you have built.”
Breitzke credits the culmination of previous campaigns that his firm launched in the Chicago metro region and throughout the country, from rural Wyoming to scenic San Diego to nearby Michigan City. His staff has a clever, creative way of rebranding lighthouses in need of a new beacon.
Indiana’s image needs such illumination to guide new ships into old ports, I say.
“We see an immense opportunity to reimagine Indiana,” Breitzke said.
This type of artistic attitude is exactly what’s needed for a state that has traditionally clung to the past, prided itself on backward thinking, and remained conservative by default. This national reputation has been mocked too many times in this column space, prompting me to be genuinely excited about WeCreate’s campaign objectives — to be charming, informative, alluring and inviting.
It’s also quite a coup for a firm from Northwest Indiana to land a statewide campaign that’s typically awarded to Indianapolis-based companies. Breitzke’s goal is to somehow bottle the message he felt in that Valpo restaurant.
“How long are you home for?”
“For the rest of my life.”