Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Oh Good Grief!

Wisconsin has a new slogan. Whoo Hoo! Just what we needed.

The new slogan says absolutely nothing whatsoever specific about WI. In fact, it says nothing whatsoever specific about anything in particular.

"Live Like You Mean It": boy that says a lot about..... um, well, nothing. Sure is an improvement over the old slogan, whatever it was, oh, yeah, "Life's So Good". Wow, that was an old, worn out, empty slogan. Sure needed replacing.

According to the AP: The Department of Tourism plans to use the new phrase in advertising campaigns and is encouraging other state agencies to follow suit.

"This is another tool we'll use to keep loyal visitors coming back, communicate why a business should relocate or expand here, and let talented employees know why they should choose Wisconsin," Doyle said.

Yup, good thing we've got that powerful tool for bringing in business. If I were a talented employee, or a tourist just looking for someplace to go, by golly that new slogan would have me jumping up in the air and shouting "I have to get my butt to Wisconsin, now!" And if I were a business looking to relocate, well, my stars, that would just have me throwing the office furniture onto the moving truck before you could say, "Ya, You Betcha!". Unless I were Bacardi, who, it seems, used the same slogan a few years back. So really, maybe the new slogan does mean something. Maybe it's Tavern League code for "Come to Wisconsin and get drunk as a skunk". They are the most powerful lobbying group in the state.

Really, I like Gov. Doyle, but this is just asinine.

I'm not howling about "taxpayer dollars being spent on a marketing plan", because we need tourists, and we need new businesses, so I think a reasonable investment in marketing is a good idea. I'm just a little miffed about taxpayer dollars being spent on a stupid slogan.

10 comments:

Molly Bee said...

I agree. I thought it was silly when I first heard it on the news. Not exactly a big draw for our Tourism Catch and Release season! I can live like I mean it anywhere!

junior_goddess said...

I haven't been to Wisconsin since I turned 21. That slogan isn't gonna do it.

Everytime I see those stupid California cows, I think about America's Dairyland. Wisconsin has a lot of natural wonders, but they don't bother to promote them.

I think they need to get a bacilli campaign-between the cheese and beer, there's a lot of spores.

Seriously, between the great outdoors and the potential for great food, why didn't they slant it to "The Real America" or something like that?

Cindy G said...

Oh, those California cows! They actually run the ads here, and my husband and I just scratch our heads every time they come on. I mean, is California just taunting us? Because it's not all that likely that Wisconsin residents are going to go looking for a "made with California milk" label, except maybe to avoid it.

On the other hand, I did buy some sour cream from a Texas company today, because for a wonder our little local grocery actually had an "all natural" product. I didn't even really need sour cream, I was just so happy to see something without Xantanin Gum (or whatever) in it.

Annie Pazoo said...

Sure, how about:
"Our cows aren't as happy, but ya sure, we like it here anyway"
"Home of The Dells, best darn surfing between the two coasts"
"Where the heck do ya think Lands End is, anyway?"
"Minnesota may have 10,000 but we have a lot of lakes, too"
"Soy sauce capital of the U.S."
"Wisconsin, where we're too darn nice"
"You crossed the state line to have your first drink here; why not come back and have another one?"

xoxo

Kitty Mommy said...

I think Iowa had "You make me smile" for at least part of the time we lived there. Same kind of WTF head-scratching thing going on...

Kathy said...

Washington state's slogan is "SayWA."
That says a lot! It replaced
"Experience Washington". Duh.

Anonymous said...

I had not heard about *our* new slogan (we tend to get 100% MN news here), but I kinda wonder about it, too. Sort of on the line of "Virginia is for lovers" -- that one made me scratch my head, too.

junior_goddess said...

THIS ad made me laugh.

http://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/content/soo-0

I swear, ya'll need better marketing. What kind of sour cream did you buy? Promised Land?

Cindy G said...

So now the Jr Goddess is taunting us with CA milk ads (though I admit that one is funny).

The sour cream is Daisy brand.

Anonymous said...

I like the variation they printed in Sunday's WI State Journal:

WISCONSIN
Tax Like You Mean It

http://www.madison.com/wsj/photo.php?image=/images/articles/wsj/2009/03/21/104192.JPG

Especially all the money falling out of the cartwheeler's pockets.