Las Vegas Sun NewsTourism officials searching for new Nevada catchphrase
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Tourists pose in front of the iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign Tuesday, March 6, 2012.
Thursday
14 June 2012
2 a.m.
Sun coverage
Representatives of the Nevada Commission on Tourism have started whittling a list of potential tag lines to attract visitors to the state.
Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, who chairs the commission, said the phrases reviewed at Wednesday’s marketing subcommittee meeting could evolve and that the process will continue through a testing phase before any decision is reached.
John Rubino of Seattle-based GreenRubino, the commission’s contracted brand development consultant, said some of the top tag lines would be reviewed by focus groups, tested and brought back to the commission within about three weeks for consideration.
Among the top ideas reviewed by the committee:
• "ReiNVent." Committee members discussed the emphasis of “NV” in the center of the word and noted that several other words with the imbedded NV letters could be used in marketing economic development as well as tourism, with words like “ReiNVest” and “ReiNVigorate.”
• "All in Nevada." The phrase plays off poker terminology. To go “all in” means wagering all remaining chips in a game. But it also connotes being fully engaged in the state and, in a different context, an image that there are a variety of things to see and do in Nevada. Committee members also considered a related phrase, Nevada All In.
• "Nevada is for Doers." Early in the process, research by Rubino’s team indicated that part of the state’s appeal is that there are so many things to see and do, and the phrase was born. Some committee members, however, were concerned that it sounded too much like Virginia’s highly successful “Virginia is for Lovers” tag line.
Rubino presented committee members with a list of 71 potential tag lines and included a short list of nine, including what his team considered the best. Several of those lines didn’t incorporate a specific connection to Nevada.
Rubino’s team started the project late last summer, finding initially that developing a brand for Nevada was a bigger challenge than anticipated because the state has so many diverse attractions.
When Rubino’s team tests the lines, they’ll be done without graphic imagery to focus primarily on the tags themselves.
The long list of tag lines included some with connections to the gaming industry and others with connection to mining.
Among the lines rejected: "Lots to NV," "NEVADAmazing," "Get In On the Action," "Dig Into It," "Discovery is in Our Veins," "State of Mine" and "The Gold Standard."
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Show a bunch of happy people getting on a plane. The captain announces over the PA system, 'We'd like to thank you for visiting the great state of Nevada.' Show the plane from above taxiing out from the terminal, then make a U-turn back to the gate. The captain announces over the PA, 'Welcome back to Nevada'. The passengers cheer. Voice over.......'Nevada.....you can't wait to get back.'
If the examples you show are the best this Seattle outfit can come up with... hiring them is your first mistake.
If you are looking for a good catch phrase for the state here you go:
Renew Yourself in Nevada!
You'll eNVy our Energy!
Done!
MJB-
Darthfrodo - That is seriously genius. The "Nevada, you can't wait to get back" campaign can be used in so many ways. You can have a guy dreaming at his desk singing karaoke with 3 elvis impersonators, water skiing at Lake Mead, drinking poolside with hot babes, winning big on a slot machine, yada yada, and then having him wake up and start buying a one way ticket to Nevada. Seriously great idea. Way better than what they have above. I hope the commission reads your comment.
How about that! Awesome use of our time. Let's work on the issues, not the catch phrase Lt. Gov!
Rather then hiring a company from out of state how about asking the people that experience this town each and every day?
If nothing else hire a group to walk the strip and talk to the folks that pay the bills, The Tourists that visit us!
Very poor planning on someones part with this job. Using our money to pay an out of state company instead of dealing with those that really know our great city.
@vegaslee if we're going to have regular people sell Las Vegas why not have some residents do it?
Here are some suggestions from people who can only find gainful employment on street corners or in parking lots panhandling:
"We're broke, anything helps"
"Can you spare any change for bus fare?"
"Will work for food"
or my personal favorite...
"Why lie, I need a beer"
Printing would be cheap, just take some cardboard boxes that are destined for the recycle bin and hire some of the homeless people to write on them, then get homeless people in other cities to distribute them....
Tell me again, exactly how much are tax payers paying for this nonsense?
BTW, nice commercial Darthfrodo. You are talented.
How about: "Nevada, we're broke, help us out!" or "Nevada, not as gross as you think" or "Nevada, girls direct to your room (in 20 minutes)" or "Forgot Northern Nevada, see what's left of Sothern Nevada".
I am with the Nevada Commission on Tourism and want to clear a few things up. This is NOT funded by residents/taxpayers. The tourism commission is entirely funded by lodging tax, paid for by visitors when they stay in a hotel. That said, the payoff is huge for residents when more visitors come to Nevada and spend their money here.
We hired some of the best agencies in the country to conduct research and to develop what will eventually become a statewide marketing brand. There will be lots of ideas for taglines, logos, etc., and it's premature to zero in on a couple of possible taglines as the be-all, end-all of this effort.
Why are we not using our talented agencies in town? Or surveying the general population? Major missed opportunity, Las Vegas. Disappointing.
Could these be any worse? Ugh. Never mind, don't answer that.
How about:
- Nevada / We're Not Seattle!
- Nevada / We don't need no stinkin' Space Needle
As a branding consultant who creates names and taglines for a living, and who's done so for 25 years, I say confidently that not only are the taglines pathetic, and contrary to every principle of good branding (e.g., the phonology is terrible -- when you actually speak these taglines, they don't flow trippingly off the tongue; they harken back to the "old" Nevada of gambling; they're not memorable; etc.).
If I asked you to write an article, would you give me 71 different articles? How ludicrous. That would be passing the buck, failing to apply your wisdom and understanding of branding and to devise just a few brilliant tags.
These 71 taglines remind me of the amateurs who want to name their company, only to produce a computer-generated list of over 100. And if the committee asked for 71 names, then it's the agency's job to tell the committee the approach is wrong-headed.
What's the right way to do this job? Start by asking the question: What do you want the tagline to EVOKE about Nevada in the minds of the audience that sees or hears it? Until you have clearly defined the result you want from the tagline, you cannot possibly try to create the tagline. It is a**-backwards. Then consider taglines that evoke the attributes you've defined and agreed upon. Weigh those taglines against the standards of phonology, spelling, salience, distinctiveness, memorability, humor (perhaps).
ReiNVent uses the pathetic pun of the state's abbreviation whilst employing Gen Y upper/lower case so as to confuse most people. ReiNVent what? What's the result? What's the purpose? What does this have to do with Nevada? If anyone had proposed this tagline to me, I'd have fired him on the spot. It's that bad.
All In Nevada: I happen to love poker and I don't consider it gambling, but this tagline evokes in most people one thing: gambling your money or perhaps your entire life. Better than ReiNVent in the same way that Mussolini was "better" than Hitler.
Nevada Is For Doers: God-awful. Doers of what? The phonology where the "r" in "for" runs into the "doo" in "doers" is terrible. Is this supposed to be some outre-take on Virginia is for lovers? If so, it fails. The "r" running into the "l" in "lovers" is much easier to say -- something that the branding agency clearly doesn't understand and something that the committee didn't even consider, which is what happens branding poseurs present to people who lack the requisite understanding of branding, linguistics, phonology and semantics.
As for the rejected taglines: are you kidding me. NEVADAmazing -- really? A 3-year-old could do better than that. "The Gold Standard" -- for The Silver State?!!!
This utter claptrap is what we pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for? The blind leading the blind.
I would have enjoyed being in the meeting where the company that came up with the lines presented them while pronouncing our state's name as Nev-ahh-duh.
why hire a company out of state when there are plenty in state capable of doing this type of work?
How bout "Nevada - what happens here stays here, except for creative jobs - screw them guys"
bdrysdale - Check out DarthFrodo's idea. Most accurate tagline for me. I currently live in California, and I used to live in Las Vegas. Best time of my life with the possibility of best life of the times (2006-2008). I went back to LV for a month ago for 5 days, and man, do I miss the place. My parents live in the northern part and I love that too. Everybody is so nice up there.
Yes DarthFrodo may have it - I go on a trip about once a month to various places and each time I start making plans, I think about going to Vegas first; I come down about four times a year. Can't wait to get back!
Why not take a phrase from our state song?
1. "Home Means Nevada to Me"
2."Right in the Heart of the Golden West, Home Means Nevada to Me"
3".Follow the Ole Kit Carson Trail....It's a Place of a Thousand Thrills"
Why reinvent when there is heart in soul found in the words from our state song? You also have more people than you realize who are native Nevadans, keep it real & meaningful for us natives !
Wow! I cannot believe Nevada spent so much money for three lame choices! They're all awful! It should have been a scholarship contest, or a contest benefitting a citizen of the state! You want a slogan? "Let Your Chips Fall Here!" not for a Seattle based company!
Ladybullard, I appreciate your thoughtful suggestions, but what Nevadans need to remember is that we are not tasked with coming up with a state motto, we already have that. The task here is to come up with a wide-reaching brand and accompanying tagline that will be used in advertisements and commercials out of state to attract visitors to Nevada. "Home means Nevada to me" will do nothing to get a Texan to visit Ely, Nevada. This isn't about being real and meaningful for native Nevadans, it's something to pique the interest of tourists and make them choose Nevada over Utah or California or Arizona for their next vacation.
Darthfrodo's idea -- Nevada.....you can't wait to get back.' -- is about 1,000,000% better than the agency's. It could be alliterated a bit more with: Nevada ... you can't wait to come back. I have a few ideas in mind, too. The point is to present a few great tags, among which I would include Darth's.
I graciously thank everyone for their generous comments. Thank you.