New $1.5 million NC branding campaign to launch soon

by Richard Brannon, Greensboro News-Record, May 1, 2014.

If you’ve heard a great state slogan, you don’t forget it.

Michigan — a cold, economically depressed place to many folks in North Carolina — has done a pretty good job of jazzing up its image to tourists with “Pure Michigan.”

“Virginia is for Lovers” remains timeless.

But who remembers “Variety Vacationland”?

Anybody?

Well, a slogan is a pretty big deal — enough to make it onto Wednesday’s agenda of the N.C. Economic Development Board, a part of the N.C. Department of Commerce.

Starting in the 1930s, that little slogan represented the state’s first ad campaign aimed at tourists. It brought in millions of dollars.

Today, the state doesn’t really have much of an identity to people across the nation, according to the Department of Commerce. North Carolina needs “branding,” David Rhoades, the department’s director of marketing, told the Economic Development Board on Wednesday.

The branding effort is only one part of a sweeping makeover that’s not just cosmetic — it’s a fundamental change in the way North Carolina recruits jobs and industry.

The Economic Development Board, long dormant, will oversee that change, which begins with a private, nonprofit corporation that will take over the state’s business marketing and recruiting from the public agency.

The board reports to Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker, who is working with Gov. Pat McCrory and the General Assembly to write legislative rules for the new structure , which will be worked out during the short session beginning May 14.

Still, Wednesday’s agenda left plenty of time to talk about the branding campaign, which is far more complex and expensive than it may seem.

“Our competitor states have recognized this is an important exercise,” Rhoades said.

New York certainly did. It has spent $50 million in the past two years promoting its “New York Open for Business” campaign.

North Carolina is starting small with a $1.5 million budget. But before a state can mount a good marketing campaign, it must determine its “core values” and attributes, Rhoades said.

For Rhoades, a first step was to get the best ideas from the people who live in North Carolina.

The Department of Commerce held a “What N.C. Stands For” contest. More than 250 entries included poems, videos, photos and even songs.

Sara Cowell of Greenville won first place for her video titled “Mountain Style,” according to the project’s website.

In another competition, student groups were asked to build a business plan around a theme that would attract tourists and businesses to the state.

A team from N.C. State won the competition with “North Carolina: Chart Your Own Course” as the theme.

Whatever the new slogan will be, it won’t be a quick rollout, but Decker said it might pop up at the 2014 U.S. Open golf tournament, which begins June 12 in Pinehurst.

http://www.news-record.com/business/article_eb24d470-d0e0-11e3-8b50-0017a43b2370.html