HOLYOKE -- Now leaving the Pioneer Valley.

Now entering West Mass.

The Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts unveiled their new branding identity -- West Mass -- Tuesday night at an event at Open Square in Holyoke.

The EDC and the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau spent $80,000 on the effort, money collected from member businesses. The visitors bureau receives state grant money as well.

"We have jobs that go unfilled. We have a lower cost of living than some of our competitors. We who live here know that this region has a lot going for it," said Richard K. Sullivan, president and CEO of the EDC. "It's time we stand up and say it."

The mission was to replace Pioneer Valley, a nickname long hated by some in the area's business community who said it made them think of covered wagons and "Little House on the Prairie."

The name Pioneer Valley comes from travel writers of the 1920s and 1930s who used it as they wrote guidebooks for motorists venturing out in their new automobiles from New York City and Boston. It stuck, and now is part of the formal name of businesses and institutions up and down the valley.

But the name Pioneer Valley meant little outside the region, said Mary Kay Wydra, president of the Visitors Bureau. Most locals, when asked where they are from, will say "Massachusetts." Then specify "Western Massachusetts" if someone assumes that means Boston.

"West Mass is just a new, shorter, catchier way of saying that," Wydra said.

The groups hired Cubic Creative, an Oklahoma-based re-branding agency, which hosted meetings and roundtables with area businesses, governments and residents.

Steve Porter, a Holyoke-based DJ and video producer, made a 2-minute video for the campaign featuring scenes from around the valley and sound bytes of folks telling what they love. He used the phrase "You never know what you'll see in the 413," a reference to the region's area code.

To prep for the campaign, there was a public survey with more than 300 respondents.

Work on the new branding effort took 11 months.

West Mass was the result.

The branding campaign includes logos, tourism promotion and economic development along with graphics and language. Language for the campaign comes from local literary luminaries Emily Dickinson and Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Geisel.

The phrase "Maverick" comes up a lot as a newer, edgier way of saying "pioneer", Wydra said.

"A maverick is someone who is pushing out there to do something first. The city of firsts," Wydra said. "This campaign is about firsts. Your first visit. Your first time shooting a basket at center court in the Hall of Fame. Your first job. Your new company's first office at Open Square."

Sullivan said the campaign is designed broadly enough to apply to Hampden, Hampshire or Franklin county. It's open enough to be used in material wooing a new business here to take advantage of the talent at UMass or the green power in Holyoke.

Last year, the the EDC and the visitors bureau said the plan was to have one brand for both economic development and tourism. The "Pure Michigan" campaign, which features the voice of comedian Tim Allen in some of its commercials, is an example of how that would work.

If an ad has the Pure Michigan logo in green, that's an ad aimed at economic development. Ads with a blue logo are aimed at tourism. But the themes are consistent in both efforts.

James Woolsey, superintendent of the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, said the campaign will help him draw more attention, and people to the National Park Service museum and work with neighboring attractions.

"I think it would be great if all these sites and attractions had a common identity up and down the Connecticut valley."