December 01, 2003
(Updated) Governor Kulongoski On 'Brand Oregon'
Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.
This afternoon's luncheon keynote was delivered by Governor Ted Kulongoski (actually, it's still being delivered as I post this), and included some remarks about the Brand Oregon campaign.
"As you are seeing today," the Governor said, "Dan [Wieden] has come forward with a major contribution -- one that is really unprecedented for our state." Kulongoski cut to the chase: "Brand Oregon is not about public policy. Let's be clear: It's about making money and creating jobs for Oregonians."
Saying that "Oregon is a special place in part because we aspire to be a special place," Kulongoski described the campaign as saying, "We dare to dream and we embrace people who dream."
"Ads and branding are helpful and important," Kulongoski said, "but fundamentally, a brand is a promise about the quality of the product we have to offer in Oregon -- and it is a promise we must deliver on."
Which is all well and good, as far as it goes. It could all also be said about many other places, and we'll see later today just how they execute this "We Love Dreamers" brand in actual advertisements targeting specific groups.
But even Debby Kennedy appears to acknowledge that the slogan the effort has come up with is, well, less than stellar.
""It would be very disappointing," Kennedy said in today's Oregonian, "for people to go away from this thinking that this is about the tagline."
Problem is, the tagline is what people will remember, both here in Oregon and elsewhere out in the rest of the country. If the Brand Oregon people themselves seem underwhelmed by what Wieden created, and if the Governor can't seem to talk about it in anything other than generic pablum, why should anyone else feel excited about it?
Update
Kulongoski quoted an email from Dan Wieden: "Oregonians want to see what is really possible, not just probable. ... This level of expectation we carry around with us, can make us pretty self-critical sometimes, but it powers a will to succeed."
Too bad, I can't help but think, that he didn't put a little of that self-criticism into re-thinking his slogan for Brand Oregon.
Update
Thanks to this transcript, I can present here the full text of Kulongoski's remarks reharding Brand Oregon:
The Oregon Equation is about preserving the past - our quality of life; building the present - our economy; and securing the future - our children. Oregon is a special place. I think that is reflected in The Oregon Equation. It is also, in a slightly different way, reflected in one of the most exciting economic initiatives I have been working on. That is, the one we call "Brand Oregon."
You know, CEOs around the globe long to get time with Dan Wieden and his creative team. I had reached the point in my career where I figured I'd never be CEO of a major footwear company and have the opportunity to work closely with Dan, but I was half-wrong. As you are seeing today, Dan has come forward with a major contribution - one that is really unprecedented for a state.
Brand Oregon is not about public policy - let's be clear: it is about making money and creating jobs for Oregonians. It is a business strategy. But the underpinning, in many respects, is the same idealism that underpins the Oregon Equation. Oregon is a special place in part because we aspire to be a special place. We dare to dream and we embrace people who dare to dream.
As Bobby Kennedy used to say, quoting Aeschylus, "some men see things that are and ask why; I dream things that never were and ask "why not?" In many respects that sums up Oregon and the branding campaign. It is about idealism and the dream of a better future for our families, our friends, our employees and our state.
I said that Brand Oregon is about making money. Dan and Debby Kennedy will tell you much more, but let me give you a preview of why this is so innovative It is not just that we have world class talent pitching in. Other states can try to match that. What is different is that we are leveraging efforts across the state in a coordinated campaign that serves multiple economic goals.
Many states have tourism campaigns. Oregon has long had one - and by the way, we're now in a much better position because we put together a new tourism promotion fund with the aid of the lodging industry and local governments.
Brand Oregon is intended in part to create a new effort that will indeed promote tourism and fill restaurants and hotels with paying customers. But the creative work is also designed in a way that it can be used to promote Oregon products and enhance business recruitment.
A great example is the seafood industry, which can use its own money - not state government funds - to tap into Dan's creative work to enhance sales of an Oregon commodity.
At the same time, the money spent by seafood industry, because it uses the same team and creative work, will reinforce the branding that is intended to draw tourists to Oregon.
Brand Oregon is Oregon style innovation. It is about leveraging the dollars already spent so that they go farther and create more opportunity.
Rest assured, though, that Brand Oregon is but one tool in the toolbox. Ads and branding are helpful and important, but fundamentally, a brand is a promise about the product we in Oregon have to offer, and it is a promise we must deliver on.