HOT or Not?

I may be one of the biggest promoters of regionalism in the whole Triad area; but, on a recent trip to Scotland, I was surprised to find myself, never mentioning the Piedmont Triad. How could this be? And more importantly, what does this mean for the success at marketing the region? When I moved to the Piedmont Triad 17 years ago, it was named the Triad. For me, it was not High Point or Greensboro before the Triad, yet when describing my home I fall into the same habit as a life-long resident.

Would this be a common response for all of us? I guess our minds are trying to make it easy for others to recognize our home and naming a city comes easier than a new region. What a disadvantage this is for us when trying to promote our region.

One More Chance

RTP, over time, has earned enough recognition to energize the Triangle. If we move forward with HOT (Heart of Triad), we may also get some "Triad" reach. We should really use expert help when naming this effort permanently. HOT is catchy, but, hot what? It is an adjective. RTP is a noun. RTP describes a research park in the Triangle. What does HOT describe? If HOT materializes, and I hope it does, then a naming exercise by professionals should be employed early on. We cannot afford another faux-pa like, "Triad."

Since we live in the Bible Belt anyway, I like the name "Heaven." Who wouldn’t like to move their company to the place we all want to end up anyway? "Back in Heaven, we have economic incentives which are just out of this world!"