Werner: Half of what AI says about Northern Colorado is wrong

Here’s an uncomfortable question for anyone who cares about this region: If a site selector, a talented engineer or a potential investor typed “Northern Colorado” into ChatGPT or Claude right now and asked whether it’s a good place to grow a business or a career,  how accurate would the answer be?

We decided to find out. And what we discovered was surprising.

51.2%. That’s how closely Northern Colorado’s online presence matches the brand story we want to tell. Roughly half of what AI is communicating about our region — to talent, to venture capital, to the companies we’re working to attract — doesn’t reflect who we actually are.

In my mind, that’s not a communications problem. That’s competitive vulnerability.

Northern Colorado is thriving by almost any measure. We’re one of the fastest-growing economies in the country, with more than 30 communities spanning mountains and plains, traditional energy and agriculture alongside medical-device manufacturing and clean tech. We have a workforce pipeline, a culture of collaboration and a quality of life that is hard to beat.

But none of that matters if the internet tells the world a different story. And the truth is, if you don’t define your region clearly and consistently in the places where perception is formed today — AI search, online platforms, digital media — someone else will define it for you. Old news fills the void. Outdated perceptions calcify. Competitor stories get amplified instead of yours.

And the data shows that investing in perception pays big dividends, even with what might sound like small improvements. A 2024 study showed that just a .01% increase in perception score (on a scale of 0-5) boosts capital investment 25%, talent attraction 31% and tourism receipts jump 22%.

That’s what motivated NoCo REDI — the Northern Colorado Regional Economic Development Initiative — to commission a  proprietary, innovative approach to place branding called  the Mirror Method. The name is intentional. A mirror shows you what’s actually there, not what you wish were there.

The Mirror Method, developed by Bird Global Advisory, combines two parallel streams of research. The first is human intelligence: the lived experience, values, pride, and tensions of the people who call Northern Colorado home. Over the past year, we conducted field research across the region — from anchor cities to small towns, mountains to plains — meeting with residents, business owners, educators, farmers, and community leaders. We commissioned the outreach expertise of INSTID (Institute for Identity) and showed up where people spend time: local breweries, farm stands, hockey practice, even a Napoleon Dynamite screening. More than 80+ individual representative voices were interviewed, as well as an online regional perception survey through multiple community groups. All with a unified love for NoCo.

The second stream is digital: A proprietary AI-aware brand audit that analyzed thousands of online signals utilizing Bird Global Advisory’s expertise and proprietary process. From media sentiment and keyword performance to how AI platforms summarize who we are to the outside world, we looked at how NoCo shows up online.

When you put those two pictures side by side, the gap is hard to ignore. And where the real work begins.

We’re now knee deep in the activation phase — translating what we heard into a unified regional brand built around a positioning concept that came directly from the communities themselves. 

The process has drawn attention beyond our region. In April I presented at the City Nation Place Americas conference in Vancouver — a gathering of place marketing leaders from across the Americas — sharing what we’ve learned about building a people-powered, AI-informed approach to regional identity. Following an initial presentation in London last fall, CNP’s recognition shows that what we’re doing in Northern Colorado isn’t just relevant locally. It’s a leading model for how regions globally everywhere can close the gap between who they are in real life and how the world sees them online.

Of course, I’ve been in economic development long enough to know that methodology alone doesn’t build trust — people do. What makes this work meaningful wasn’t the AI analysis. It was the mayor of Greeley and the mayor of Fort Collins aligning on the importance of this project. It was a third-generation farmer in Keenesburg and a tech founder in Fort Collins finding the same words to describe what they love about this place. It was a barbershop owner in Johnstown, a golf club manager in Timnath and a taffy proprietor in Estes Park helping us craft a story about what makes NoCo distinct.

That alignment extends across the region’s most trusted institutions — from the amazing network of Chambers of Commerce across Northern Colorado, Larimer and Weld counties, Xcel Energy, the NoCo Foundation, Weld Trust, Colorado State University, and municipalities large and small. When organizations like these find common ground, that’s not just coalition-building. That’s a signal.

We’re at a pivotal moment. The foundation is built. The coalition is growing. And the opportunity to launch a unified Northern Colorado brand — one that can hold its own in a world where AI shapes perception as much as any ad campaign — is within reach.

If you’re a business leader, a civic institution or a funder who believes in this region’s potential, I’d invite you to be part of what comes next.

Because the gap between the place we know and love — and the place the world thinks we are — is real. And closing it is work that only people can do.

Rich Werner is president & CEO of Upstate Colorado Economic Development and a steering committee leader for NoCo REDI, the Northern Colorado Regional Economic Development Initiative.

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