Between 30 and 40 people attended the second stakeholder meeting Wednesday night for the Warren Worx initiative. The meeting was held at the Hampton Inn in North Warren.

The general idea behind Warren Worx — to be administered by the Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry — is the need to develop a central facilitating entity for initiatives and projects in the county. Warren Worx’ first major assignment would be the development of a county brand that can be used by existing organizations to enhance outreach efforts.

That branding process was a key focus during Wednesday’s meeting.

The executive committee — made up of representatives largely from the city, county and chamber – has selected Rochester-based Truth Collective as the firm to execute the branding piece.

Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton Bob Bailey, founder and managing partner with Truth Collective, the branding firm selected to work with Warren Worx, speaks with stakeholders during Wednesday’s meeting at the Hampton Inn in North Warren.

John Papalia, senior vice president of the WCCBI, said the committee reviewed proposals and heard presentations from a number of firms.

“They have a core focus on brand identity (and) brand activation,” he said of Truth Collective. “We’re really excited to work with them.”

Three of the firm’s founders — Bob Bailey, Jeremy Schwartz and John Roberts — addressed the group on Wednesday.

“It was really interesting to me immediately,” Bailey said of the Warren Worx concept.

He said he grew up in a similar community — Olean, NY — and said he “thought or even wished that people would get together there and demonstrate why business should be interested in a county like that and why residents should flourish in a place like that.”

“It’s a really unique assignment,” he added. “We’re thrilled to be a part of that team.”

He outlined the role the stakeholders would have as part of that team.

“You as Warren Worx are officially brand marketers,” he said. We believe that marketers have a duty to build a grant that builds business. It has to be grounded in a real objective and has to build business.

“There is no great strategy without first a great human strategy. We believe that bravery is fundamental.”

But what exactly is a brand?

Roberts said it will be a “mixture of tangible and intangible.

“There’s a number of different forms we can talk about,” he said. “The simplest way … a brand is a promise delivered. Our job is to find … what is really core to Warren County and our promise and how we can start to execute that.”

And what about next steps?

“Right now we’re in sort of document transfer mode,” Bailey said.

There will be additional in-person sessions together throughout the process.

“If we’re going to be developing a brand together, we need to spend time together,” he said. “We want to get some quick traction (that) can translate into momentum.”

What the brand will not be is an extension of destination marketing. Bailey said it will have to be more than that to catch attention.

A marketing director will then be one of the key individuals to drive that brand forward.

Papalia said that the executive committee has selected Jenny Phillips, a Warren native who most recently worked at Northwest for 16 years, for that role.

“(I’m) super excited to take on this initiative,” she said.

Papalia said that the executive committee meetings for Warren Worx will be public starting in September.

“Anything we do here at Warren Worx,” he said, “(we’re) trying to keep everyone aware of the situation.”

The remainder of the session was spent in breakout groups focusing on some of the priorities identified by participants at the last meeting – supporting existing business, quality of life, building disrepair issues and marketing.

Papalia said those smaller groups will form the basis will ideally meet throughout the month in between stakeholder meetings as the process of identifying specific projects unfolds.