Business Joaquin Spamer, Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez, make case for Rioplex

Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

MCALLEN, Texas - The CEO Group, which comprises business leaders, entrepreneurs and bankers from across the Rio Grande Valley and North Tamaulipas, has confirmed its brand name for the region - Rioplex.

The announcement was made at a meeting at McAllen Country Club on Wednesday, June 19, with white T-shirts bearing the brand being distributed to everyone present.

The marketing effort has the support of elected officials also, such as Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez, Brownsville Mayor John Cowen, and Congressmen Vicente Gonzalez.

The ad-hoc CEO Group, part of the Hidalgo County Property Task Force, may now rebrand itself as the Rioplex Alliance, to promote the region on marketing trips abroad.

The group hopes to get buy-in from cities and economic development organizations across the Valley. It already has the support of the leaders of the Council for South Texas Economic Progress and the Rio Grande Valley Partnership. Both Adam Gonzalez, of COSTEP, and Daniel Silva, of the RGVP, attended the meeting.

Joaquin Spamer, president of Commodities Integrated Logistics, leads the CEO Group. He made an impassioned plea for the new marketing effort at the meeting.

“We're trying to make sure that all of us entrepreneurs, bankers and businessman, that we help in the efforts to unite this region,” Spamer said.

Spamer said the Valley’s economic development organizations (EDOs) have been doing a good job sticking to their mandates. “They're trying to accomplish their goals. The problem is that they're doing it separately. We can accomplish a lot more by being united.”

Spamer then ran through the numbers on how much Valley’s EDOs combined spend on marketing. He said it topped $115 million a year. “If you put it all together, the amounts are huge.”

Spamer said that with a much smaller budget, Avocados of Mexico achieve a much bigger bang for their buck. Their $55 million gets them national commercials during the Super Bowl and name recognition across the world.

“So, what is our problem? The problem is that we are spending a lot of money. We have a lot of people involved in economic development. We are not working synchronized. Everybody is working differently from each other. And that's what we're trying to accomplish today.”

Helping Spamer with his marketing pitch was Sergio Gracia Badiola, president of Mexico Industry. In a powerpoint presentation, Badiola showed a map of the Rioplex region.

“What we're going to do with Sergio is basically define our region because we have an identity problem. The Valley works like a 15-year-old with an identity crisis. We don't even know who we are,” Spamer said.
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