The Charleston Area Alliance has enlisted the powers of two new superheroes, Bruce Bright and Mia Mendez, in its ongoing quest to attract new jobs and investments to the Kanawha Valley and tout the benefits of living and working in the region. 

Bruce and Mia are the fictional stars of a groundbreaking new economic development campaign – Adventures of the Super Site Selectors: The Search for the Perfect Location – which was unveiled this evening during the Charleston Area Alliance’s Annual Meeting. 

The centerpiece of the campaign is an action-packed, comic-book-style publication that follows the adventures of Bruce and Mia, who transform themselves from mild-mannered executives into super heroes who will stop at nothing to find their clients the ideal location for business relocation or expansion. Harnessing their extraordinary powers – as well the hard, cold facts – they conclude that the Kanawha Valley is the perfect site for businesses to locate and grow. 

Alliance President & CEO Matt Ballard unveils the "Adventures of the Super Site Selectors."

During their capers, they discover such truths as: 

• Industrial electric rates in West Virginia are consistently 25 percent lower than the national average; 
• Charleston’s cost of living is 8 percent below the national average;
• West Virginia had the nation’s sixth highest growth rate in domestic product and the nation’s second best improvement in economic growth in 2008; 
• Charleston is within overnight trucking of more than 50 percent of the U.S. population;
•  Thanks to business-centric reforms, major state business taxes will be drastically reduced or eliminated over the next few years; and
• West Virginia exports have increased at a rate four times faster than the national average.

Bruce and Mia are wowed by amenities such as The Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences-

Annual Meeting guests check out the comic.

West Virginia, Capitol Market, Mountain Stage, Appalachian Power Park, Tamarack and FestivALL. The dynamic duo is also impressed by the area’s top-flight medical facilities, variety of higher educational opportunities and transportation options.

Summarizing his recommendation that his client locate to Charleston, Bruce tells his boss that “the facts are all there…I was surprised to uncover a strategic location of interstates, river, rail and air with a highly-skilled workforce that is competitive in comparison to other areas even triple its size!  My expansion site location has to be Charleston, West Virginia!”

Meanwhile, Mia is working on a separate assignment.  She reports her research is “going to blow some minds. Everything was impressive… from metropolitan sophistication to snow skiing, rafting, loads of outdoor adventures and recreation.”  “So, your expansion site recommendation is Charleston, West Virginia?” her boss concludes.

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