Say What? Marketing by Committee in Washington
No, the other Washington. That state in the Pacific Northwest has come up with a new tourism slogan. And according to the Seattle Times, it was an arduous process:
The slogan, 18 months in development … was chosen with input from a 32-member “brand development task force,” that included Chamber of Commerce directors, tourism officials and business representatives from around the state.
The result? The old slogan, “Experience Washington,” has been replaced by: “SayWA.”
18 months. 32 people. SayWA?
Best line from the Times story —
“Thirty-five years ago I smoked dope and probably could have come up with something like that,” said Darrell Bryan, general manager of Victoria Clipper, the largest tour operator in the Northwest.
(Image from KOMO-TV)
Technorati tags: Branding, PR, Public Relations, Marketing
I dunno… I kind of like it. It isn’t exactly insulting anybodys intelligence or “in your face”. PLUS it is already getting US talking about THEM… they won.
Australia’s “Where the bloody hell are you?” campaign has worked much the same way.
As a native of Virginia Beach, I’m a little partial to “Virginia is for Lovers.”
Good post and another example of some confusing marketing vocabulary for an Iowa boy like me.
Is this really the result of a “brand development” initiative? Or just an attempt at some sort of advertising campaign?
Always good to catch your postings!
Keep creating, Mike
Yep, that was a good one too. A little “too sweet”, but one of those ones that I still remember… which means it worked.