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An orange tie is the new mascot of Florida business.

Enterprise Florida unveiled the new logo and the state’s first ever business marketing campaign today in Tallahassee. The campaign’s aim is to attract more businesses to the Sunshine State to create jobs, but so far the only jobs the campaign is creating are in Tennessee. I asked Enterprise Florida President Gray Swoope why he and board members paid 200-thousand dollars to an out-of-state company to research Florida’s business brand.

Reporter: Are you saying there weren’t any Florida companies that could have done this research?
Swoope: No, absolutely not. Again we went through a process of who was the best at doing our research that had a track record of doing that and doing it for companies that know how we operate.

“Florida has many qualified public relation, marketing and advertising firms right here in our state but unfortunately Enterprise Florida did not use the state’s official procurement system and instead signed a contract with a Tennessee based firm that was even the high bidder,” said Krassner.

Swoope says even though the initial contract was with a Tennessee based firm, Enterprise Florida will spend millions with PR companies in Florida to promote the new business brand.