Excerpt from a report on secret code names used by the Department of Economic and Community Development from the Nashville Business Journal:
Spaghetti. Tango. Washington. Pearl. Buckeye. And let’s not forget Project Dark, named after the Bruce Springsteen music video, “Dancing in the Dark,” where Springsteen pulls Courtney Cox onto the stage.
The names — though rather innocuous on the surface — each represent what officials consider a critical piece to the economic development process: keeping the names of companies that might expand or relocate here secret.
Whether it’s 600 new jobs or the expansion of existing business, project code names are created to hide the identity of the company until a final announcement. Sometimes it’s to keep sleuthing reporters off the trail (as was the case when Mars Petcare decided to change their project name to Project Skylar from Project Beta after we printed a story about their plans).
But more often, it’s a measure economic development officials said protects employees from conjecturing about future company plans and ensures that landowners don’t gouge prices when they realize there is a powerhouse knocking on the door.
…”Obviously, it is best to select a code name that has no relationship to the company. Even the most sophisticated/clever project code names can reveal a company identity if there is some type of ‘tie in’ to the company,” said Jeff Hite, director of business recruitment for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce . “For example, several years ago Project Zeta was connected to the company. At the time of the project, Catherine Zeta-Jones was the spokesperson for T-Mobile and this project turned out to be a customer service center for T-Mobile.”…
…”We usually use a first name, a reminder of who the client reminds us of, a location, a fan favorite,” said Carlyle Carol, vice president of economic development for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce . “Yet never anything that would give the project away.”
Example? Dell Computer’s plans were nicknamed Project Farmer. The company first moved to the area in May 1999, opening a 260,000-square-foot plant in Lebanon to produce desktop computers. The code name’s alleged connection, Carol said, was to the lyrics from “The Farmer in the Dell.”