The Nevada Development Authority has a new brand identity and logo — and it got a fantastic deal on the artwork.
It was free.
WALLS 360 Inc., which recently relocated its corporate headquarters and wall graphics production facility from San Francisco to Las Vegas, designed the NDA’s new “Yes Vegas” mark as a thank-you for encouraging the three founders of the company to move to Southern Nevada.
The NDA, which recruits companies here and assists them in finding property or building leases while leading them through government permitting and state tax incentives, will use the “Yes Vegas” logo for advertising campaigns and billboards.
Authority CEO Somer Hollingsworth said he was at his desk when the logo was delivered to his office.
“I said, ‘Wow, we’ve got to have that!’ and I later found out that WALLS 360 gave it to us," Hollingsworth said. "It’s very exciting that this creative idea came from a business owner we assisted.”
The “Yes Vegas” design was unveiled in a press conference at which the NDA also posted the organization’s first-quarter results for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
From July through September, eight businesses relocated or expanded in Southern Nevada, including WALLS 360, BabyAge.com, TH Foods Inc. and Management Data Systems International. NDA analysts calculated the five-year economic impact of the moves on Southern Nevada would be $315 million. Those companies purchased more than $84 million in equipment, have a total annual payroll of $6.9 million and will pay $8 million in local taxes and $3.3 million in state taxes over five years.
NDA officials said it was the best quarterly performance in three years.
Representatives of three companies were present for the “Yes Vegas” kickoff, including two of the founders of WALLS 360, Tavia Campbell and John Doffing. The third founder, the designer of the logo, Yiying Lu, appeared via Skype from Australia.
Lu, who has done work for Twitter.com, entertainer Conan O’Brien and PepsiCo, said she was appreciative of the opportunity to give back after selecting Las Vegas from several potential locations. Partner Doffing was the last holdout on the decision to move to Nevada, which the founders agreed had to be a unanimous choice.
“We looked at Kentucky and Tennessee, Wisconsin, Illinois and Silicon Valley because we are a tech company,” Doffing said. “We did six months of research, we really like the tax and business environment and the easy permitting process and the lower costs of real estate. We really like the fact that we can have a dinner meeting at 4 in the morning and have a choice between several Thai restaurants. You just can’t do that anywhere else.”
But Doffing said what finally sold him on Las Vegas was something not heard widely in economic diversification circles — an opportunity to have an impact on the city’s growing arts community.
“We went to First Friday when we arrived here, and we were just blown away by some of the people and the art that is here,” he said.
He said the company leaders hope to get involved in the community in the months ahead, and they admire the sponsorship work that already done by Zappos.com .
Unified Development (Unidev), a software and technology consulting company, and Beyond the Rack, an online apparel company, also were represented at the event. Together, the three companies are expected to provide more than 200 jobs. Unidev is operating in Henderson and Montreal-based Beyond the Rack is developing a distribution center in North Las Vegas.