Sunday, March 19, 2006

Our New Attempt At Getting You To Visit Washington State: SayWA?

Washington State has a lot to offer. The mountains, the sea, the cities, the culture, the coffee...but our friends at the Department of Trade and Economic Development feel that we need to stand out somehow and attract some tourist dollars. What better way than an ad campaign, right?

And the winner is... "SayWA".

Say whaaa?

According to the Department, "WA" is the sound of jaws dropping when an emotional experience is had. Of course, WA is also the postal abbreviation for the state. When I've heard it pronounced, however, on the radio and television, I've heard it in the interrogative, as in "Say what?"

Turns out we're spending $442,000 for ads in various magazines (Sunset, Travel and Leisure, Smithsonian), click ads on the Internet, and TV ads.

Is this really the best slogan we could come up with? What about:
- "Washington: It's not all Birk-wearing granola-eating hippies anymore"
- "Come to Washington: we have live volcanoes!"
- "Washington State: bringing you endless coffee options"
- "Discover Washington wines. Just as good as Napa, without the stuck-up people"

Or hey, how about something already on the Experience Washington tourism web site: Endless Discoveries? That sounds much better to me.

1 comment:

Dave Quick said...

Hey man - I have >5 photos that are part of that campaign - I could care less what it's called... they sent me a check. :-)