Early results of an initiative to improve the Baltimore region’s business and social reputation has found that U.S. business leaders who are familiar with Baltimore tend to rate it positively and describe it as “friendly,” “connected” and progressive-leaning.

But the city needs to overcome negative perceptions of safety and quality of life, according to a report by Ipsos, a market research firm working with two other consultants for the Greater Baltimore Committee, which released results Tuesday during a media event.

GBC says there’s a need to define a clear and consistent narrative that highlights the region’s strengths and civic progress, which will determine how the organization and its partners position the region to local, domestic and global audiences.

Consultants surveyed business leaders across the country and spoke with more than 100 local stakeholders in roundtables and interviews and compared perceived strengths and weaknesses to actual performance and views of business decision-makers.

They found, above all, that Baltimore can be its own worst enemy when it comes to selling the region to investors and said the region needs to promote itself by agreeing on a consistent narrative that sets it apart.

“There’s a really big contrast between the way we talk about Baltimore internally and the way business decision leaders across the country perceive Baltimore,” said Jeremie Feinblatt, vice president of strategy for Resonance Consultancy Ltd., the lead consultant and a place branding firm. “[Research shows a need to] stop defending our region, stop having a challenger attitude.”

For instance, 60% of business decision-makers had favorable impressions of Baltimore.

“[That was] more than our hypothesis coming into the research, more than we see amongst the general public when we look at comparable research,” said Jason McGrath, head of corporate reputation in the U.S. for Ipsos. “These business decision-makers are viewing us in high regard.”

Interest in joining the city is above average

Just over a quarter said they are interested in locating to, or investing in, a business in Baltimore in the next 10 years, but that’s above average when compared to a dozen other cities in the survey, McGrath said.

“So we’re not in nearly as bad a shape from a reputational perspective as some of us might think,” he said. “We’re right on par with places like Indianapolis and Houston” and performing better than others.

Respondents were most likely to invest in Austin, San Francisco, Atlanta and Houston and least likely to invest in Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh.

When looking across all perception attributes, such as quality of life and education, ease of doing business, safety and welcoming of innovation and new business, affordable and diversity, Baltimore places seventh of 13 and is on par with Houston, Nashville and Seattle, the survey found.

Consultants said a focus on promoting the strengths of Baltimore’s quality of life and ease of doing business will be most important in driving future investment.

The business advocacy group launched the initiative in May. It hopes to develop a brand strategy focused on business sectors and quality of life to attract business investment to the city and region.

Baltimore performed best on access to health care and diversity, trailing only San Francisco in those attributes, the Ipsos report found.

It’s seen as a logistics and manufacturing, life sciences and predictive technologies hub among business managers in those sectors, who said they believe the city is continuing to grow in importance in those areas.

Managers in the creative sector tended to be less positive about the city, rating it lower than those in other sectors and feeling less optimistic about its future as a hub in their own sector.

The Ipsos report surveyed 250 business decision makers, such as company directors, at companies across the U.S. with at least 500 employees in logistics, manufacturing, creative, life sciences and predictive technologies.

Baltimore’s data was compared to results found in peer cities, including Austin, Charlotte, Columbus, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis and Nashville and “aspirational” cities, including Atlanta, San Francisco and Seattle.

Baltimore is perceived as having access to quality health care, a diverse population and being easy to travel to and from, findings showed.

“Those who are more familiar with Baltimore tend to have higher levels of favorability,” the report said. “Continued efforts to build familiarity with who the city is and what it offers can further improve perceptions.”

“Leveraging more positive views of the city – like its revitalization and growth story, quality health care, and diversity – can help to boost perceptions around Baltimore’s weaker performing attributes,” it said.

How do decision-makers rate Baltimore?

Respondents were given a list of descriptions and asked to say which they associate with cities in the survey. Baltimore’s top positive associations included friendly, selected by nearly a quarter of respondents, as well as vibrant, beautiful, cosmopolitan and connected. But 22% of respondents described Baltimore as “declining” while 16% described it as “depressing.”

The next step will be to build consensus throughout the region to arrive at a message and narrative.

“We have a ready-made story that’s ready to go,” said GBC President and CEO Mark A. Thomas. “Every other market that we compete with has that.”

Once the strategy is finalized, “People are just going to see a very different Baltimore message all over the world.”

GBC launched the initiative in May, selecting Ipsos, Resonance and Baltimore-based Timbre Strategies, a communications firm, to develop business investment and civic-oriented messaging for the region. Funding is coming from all seven Baltimore-area jurisdictions.

The initiative was laid out as part of a 10-year strategic plan unveiled in May. The plan calls for a “sea change” in what it describes as a lack of urgency in attracting business and nurturing entrepreneurs. The plan was the first big project Thomas took on after taking on the role in December 2022.

The strategic plan sets priorities to guide private and public investment and regional collaborations that can spark transformational change over a decade.

The blueprint seeks to position the region’s people, businesses and amenities as a globally recognizable and competitive brand and stresses the need for Baltimore and six surrounding counties to collaborate to better compete.

Resonance has experience creating campaigns for cities such as Houston, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Columbus, Ohio; Christchurch, New Zealand; Calgary, Canada, and Brussels, Belgium.

Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com, 410-332-6672 and @lmirabella on X.