Attention deficit disorder. Texting while driving. Sound bite mission statements. Fortune cookie wisdom. Call it what you want, our society now wants it boiled down, shortened up and in a vertical presentation.
So is it any wonder the Marin Convention and Visitors Bureau places so much value on its new tag line, “Marin: Just a little out there”?
The MCVB (boiled down for your convenience) was looking for something to replace the previous slogan, “Marin County: Where wonders never cease.” The convention-al wisdom of the 20-member board was that something fresh was needed. Ad aces and Marin residents David Swope of Swope Creative in Sausalito and Jason Headley of Headley for Freelance were hired to write something snappy. And the board voted 17-3 that “Marin: Just a little out there” would put heads in hotel beds, butts in restaurant seats and dollars in the cash registers of Sausalito t-shirt shops.
So far, the slogan attracts flack the way Illinois governors attract the FBI. Some Marin residents feel the line is demeaning, that it conjures images rich with BMWs, New Age gurus and heartfelt discussions of organic produce. The Marin Independent Journal’s editorial page had some fun with the slogan. Denizens of this wealthy little county have complained as well, saying the turn of phrase trades on a tired stereotype that Marin is filled with hot tubs, hedonists, tree huggers and pluckers of peacock plumage (not to mention the birds themselves).
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve lived in Marin for several years and have never seen a peacock nor owned a hot tub. I do know several hedonists. Tree huggers? Due to zoning ordinances, locals are required to embrace the environment. Indeed, Mom Nature gets more love here than Elliot Spitzer with a brand new credit card.
But Marin residents tend to be a bit scratchy when it comes to the county’s image. I’m sure if you sat with a therapist for some quality time—as do a surprising number of my readers—you’d find this animal-sanctuary-spiritual-free-fire-zone-and-venture capital clubhouse produces residents who believe the county is an extension of themselves the same way some middle-aged men feel a Corvette elongates them.
And so they don’t like the travel slogan…no, not even a little.
This comes as no great shock to Mark Essman, MCVB head honcho. Essman has been on the job since 2004 and knows only too well that residents look at Marin and themselves with a reverence normally reserved for a religious experience. “We know locals are important. I mean, 30 percent of our service is connected to them.”
Indeed, when the visitors bureau was created, there was much wrestling, high-minded debate and naysaying about who it would serve, how it would serve and whether a body designed to encourage outsiders to visit our little corner of the world was a good idea. Turns out it was, at least if locals wanted visitors to mail their cash here in exchange for post cards of Mount Tam and Muir Woods and a cup of coffee from Toby’s Feed Barn in Point Reyes. “I remember it all, and we’re very cognizant that we can’t say, ‘Come one, come all 24-7,’” says Essman, who knows something about being diplomatic.
And as for the latest branding effort pissing off the locals? “We aren’t going to please everybody on everything. On the other hand, whether people like it or not, tourism is an economic engine here in Marin,” he says.
He’s right about tourism being an economic driver—to the tune of about $650 million a year—so the pitch that Marin makes to the outside world is kind of a big deal. And how much did this pitch cost? Essman declined to share how much Swope and Headley put in their pockets. He’s also playing it close to the vest when it comes to what other slogans the pair offered the board. “These slogans don’t last forever,” he says, like a golfer who knows how many balls are in his bag in case a tee shot hooks and he needs to take a mulligan.
It’s hard to say just how important a travel slogan is. Take “I love NY.” It’s not a bad bet that the Big Apple was going to be huge draw without the slogan, but it sure didn’t hurt. And what about “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas?” At one point in the not-too-distant past, the conventional wisdom was that Lost Wages was going to become a family tourist mecca. But at some point, the folks who know all the words to “Danke Schöen” by Wayne Newton remembered that legalized gambling worked pretty good, too. They just needed a new hook that told the country Vegas had all kinds of pursuits that were available and nobody back home would be the wiser…at least until the credit card bill showed up. The rest, as they say, is history.
Not all slogans work out. Take for instance, “Simply Wonderful.” That’s the travel slogan for Kansas, but chances are very good you didn’t know it. It’s better than “Come visit the place where Dorothy and Toto used to live,” but not by much. Or “Pure. Natural. Unspoiled. Iceland. The way life should be.” Way too much punctuation going on here.
The locals may not like the MCVB choice, but branding statements aren’t that easy to put together. You want poetry, relevance, imagery and a dozen other qualities, and you want it in a few scant words. I mean, “Marin: Pass the tofu” is quick and pithy but says nothing about organic dairy or beef. “Marin County: Sure we’re whack jobs, but we’re organic whack jobs,” tackles the organic issue nicely, but may not present the rock solid image some businesses might hope for. “Marin: It isn’t about the money, but it helps” may be a little too on the button.
Seems “Marin: Find your Zen here” works a little. And Herb Caen’s original “Only in Marin” (you bet I pilfered it for this column’s handle) is pretty good—except San Francisco beat us to the punch by using “Only in San Francisco.” Someplace Herb is having a double shot of Vitamin V.
In the end, I found it much easier to coin slogans for countries. How about “Columbia: So much more than cocaine and murder”? Or “France: More cheese, yippy dogs and cigarettes than you can imagine.”
But my favorite has to be, “Iraq: Come see what George and the boys have done to the place!”
Bill Meagher is a regular contributor to NorthBay biz. He lives in Marin with his wife Cindy and their cat Miles under the federal witness protection program, so don’t get any ideas about coming after him regarding any of the above slogans.
