Excellence in Innovation Entries

City of Dublin ThankView Engagement

After extensive research the City of Dublin’s Economic Development team discovered an e-marketing tool with a multimedia and video procurement technology to allow Dublin companies to record and share directly why THEY LOVE doing business in Dublin; why they love creating jobs in Dublin. Their own #WhyDublin story, and so our Business Appreciation Day video “theme” was created, #WhyDublin.

The ThankView platform allowed for the ability to personalize content, build better relationships through creative videos during a time where in-person gatherings in our state of Ohio were on pause due to a global pandemic; promote our special events; and thank those who matter the most during a time when the rules around gatherings have changed, but the desire and ability to say “thank you” hadn’t.

In addition, this innovative approach gave our team the opportunity to hear from our companies and workforce directly. Utilizing the platform’s video procurement tool, more than 75 employees from companies recorded their #WhyDublin stories, sharing candid and authentic reasons why they love working, living and being in the City of Dublin. These were recorded in one simple step from the employee’s computer or mobile device utilizing the ThankView platform. Some of their quotes are as follows: “Thanks to the City of Dublin for making my job easier…with the amazing work that continues to be done in the Bridge Park and Historic Dublin areas, being able to showcase these with our potential new hires has truly served as a great recruiting tool for us,” Coley O’Brien, Chief People Officer, The Wendy’s Company. “We’ve been growing significantly over the years and our location inside of the City of Dublin has played a direct role in our ability to attract top-talent from around the country,” Jeff Dulaney, CEO and Founder, LSP Technologies. We’ve built a community which reminds me of back home, people working alongside each other, local businesses, we all know each other and frequent each other’s businesses…a real sense of security and that’s what Dublin has built here,” Ian Montgomery, Managing Partner, Fado Pub and Kitchen.

Our team has embraced and utilized video to stay personally connected to our employees and companies during COVID. ThankView has replaced a hand written thank you, with a personal ThankView from Economic Development Administrators. Please see the enclosed example of how our Economic Development Administrators are utilizing video interactions to say “Thank You” with a ThankView! We also hope you will visit https://www.econdev.dublinohiousa.gov/whydublin to see how we utilized video from ThanView to engage our workforce audience and transform our company outreach during COVID. Ian Montgomery’s video from Fado Irish Pub is a treat!

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City of Tiffin and Seneca County/Tiffin CARES Small Business Relief Program and Seneca County CARES Small Business Relief Program

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In September 2020, The City of Tiffin announced and opened applications for the Tiffin CARES Small Business Relief Program, and Seneca County started its program, Seneca County CARES Small Business Relief Program, in late October. The programs made up to $10,000 in grant funding available to for-profit businesses and non-profit organizations in Tiffin and rural Seneca County and had the goal of providing financial relief from loss of revenue caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Altogether, The City of Tiffin; Seneca County; the villages of Bettsville and Green Springs; and Bloom, Clinton, Eden, Hopewell, and Pleasant and townships contributed $1.2 million in CARES Act funding to 186 businesses by the end of 2020. Tiffin-Seneca Economic Partnership administered the programs on behalf of the City of Tiffin and Seneca County Board of Commissioners. The Fostoria Economic Development Corporation had an additional program for Fostoria businesses funded by Seneca County, and Tiffin-Seneca United Way and Great Lakes Community Action Partnership also helped get the word out to businesses about the program. TSEP reported that of the businesses that received funding, 81 businesses are in Tiffin and 105 are in rural Seneca County. Participating businesses reported an average of 45 percent decline in revenue when comparing a three-month or longer period from 2019 to 2020. Significantly, more than 700 people are employed at these small businesses.