The Made Possible in Lehigh Valley alliance was announced at the Historic Hotel Bethlehem on Feb 24.

An unprecedented new alliance has been announced by the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC), Discover Lehigh Valley, and the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, all three of which will work together to let the world know what is possible in our region.

This new alliance will be built around the new Made Possible in Lehigh Valley marketing initiative, which seeks to tell the positive stories of the people and businesses of Lehigh Valley, increase outside awareness of the region, and encourage others to visit, work, and live here.

The alliance will allow LVEDC, Discover Lehigh Valley, and the Chamber to combine their strengths and pool resources around common strategies to position the Lehigh Valley as an attractive and welcoming place for visitors, professionals, families, and companies while celebrating and enriching the quality of life in our region.

“The time has come that we tell a consistent message the same way about the quality of life, the attractiveness, and the unique place that is the Lehigh Valley,” said President & CEO Don Cunningham. “It’s a natural alignment, because we’re all here for the Lehigh Valley.”

The alliance was announced on Monday, Feb. 24, at the Historic Hotel Bethlehem, with staff members from all three organizations in attendance.

“We’ve had such tremendous success here in the Lehigh Valley that we know what’s made possible here,” said Chamber President & CEO Tony Iannelli. “All of you here today have helped make it possible, and now it’s time to start telling the rest of the world what is made possible in Lehigh Valley.”

The alliance was introduced by (respectively) Discover Lehigh Valley President & CEO Alex Michaels, LVEDC President & CEO Don Cunningham, and Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Tony Iannelli.

The Made Possible in Lehigh Valley campaign seeks to position the region as a diverse and desirable community to visit, work, learn, and live. It also seeks to enhance talent attraction and retention efforts for our region’s employers, and increase opportunities for professionals within the region to connect with others.

“When we look at tourism marketing, we look at storytelling, so this is a perfect fit for us,” said Alex Michaels, Discover Lehigh Valley President & CEO. “The more we tell the story, the more we spread the word about how incredible this Lehigh Valley is, we know we will get this story to a wider audience.”

The three organizations have combined to establish a roughly $500,000 budget for this alliance, and Michael Keller, the Marketing Manager for Made Possible in Lehigh Valley, will coordinate the efforts between the three organizations. Keller, who recently worked as LVEDC Director of Marketing, will be housed at LVEDC and work for the Alliance to execute and expand the Made Possible initiative.

Several Made Possible in Lehigh Valley marketing efforts have already been launched. Among them were “Home for the Holidays,” which reached holiday travelers visiting Lehigh Valley, and were “Stay for the Encore,” which targeted visitors to the region during Musikfest. Discover Lehigh Valley has also designed several advertisements and billboards for the campaign.

The marketing campaign has been sharing stories and testimonials from people, companies, and organizations in the region via the Made Possible website and Instagram account, using the hashtag #lvmadepossible. Those storytellers include everyone from natives to transplants, from CEOs to entrepreneurs, from students to professionals, from Fortune 500 companies to non-profit organizations.

The alliance will work to deliver consistent messaging about Lehigh Valley, program events with a Made Possible in Lehigh Valley theme, leverage affinity groups to focus on diversity and inclusion, and foster increased collaboration among alliance members on advertising and out-of-market messaging.