The Leeds company chosen to re-brand Bradford has picked up a multi-million pound contract to market Yorkshire to the outside world.

Communications agency Brahm, hired by Bradford Centre Regeneration, has been selected to deliver Yorkshire Forward's £2.5 million branding campaign over the next three years.

It is one of six companies from around the region selected by the Regional Development Agency to deliver more than £2 million worth of marketing, design and advertising services for the next three years.

The campaign's central theme to national business will be that the region is the best place to live, work and invest in the UK. Brahm, which won the contract in the face of stiff national competition, will be integrating strategies for individual cities like Bradford into the regional campaign. It will work with Yorkshire Forward's own team until 2008.

The existing brand: Yorkshire Alive With Opportunity will remain.

Theresa Lindsay, head of marketing communications at Yorkshire Forward, said: "We want to deliver a brand personality for Yorkshire that sets the region apart from our competitors. The market is getting increasingly cluttered, with advertisers nationally and globally tending to claim the same things.

"Our aim is to rise above this sea of sameness and create campaigns that connect with our core customers, create a sustainable competitive advantage and deliver results."

David Lavelle, of Brahm, said: "For a Yorkshire agency like ours, there are few more enjoyable and rewarding tasks than promoting the region nationally and internationally. As they say around these parts, we're like pigs in muck."

Among the other firms to win contracts with Yorkshire Forward were DS Emotion, HDM Total Communications, MediaVest Leeds, Thompson, Atlas, and Otley publishing house Words&Pictures.

All of the companies were chosen through a tendering process and proved strong records in areas including design, production, media planning, strategic campaigning and e-marketing.

Theresa Lindsay added: "The activities of regional development agencies can be difficult to communicate, the panel will enable us to bring consistency across the different delivery channels used by Yorkshire Forward to deliver its products and services."