December 01, 2003
Slogan For 'Brand Oregon' Fails To Do Justice To The Depth Of The Campaign Itself
As I stated in an update to the item itself, the previous entry whose headline referred to the "tepid campaign" of the Brand Oregon effort should, in fact, have read "tepid slogan" -- since at the time I posted that item I had not yet seen any of the campaign itself.
That changed this afternoon, during the Leadership Summit 2003 breakout session on Brand Oregon. And in many ways, I'm even more disappointed in the slogan itself -- or perhaps disappointed in a different way -- because of just how strong are the other elements of the campaign.
This is, in some sense summed up by one Bill Thorndike, as quoted by OPB: "I think if you just look at that one phrase, it might be a bit ethereal. But looking at some of the other back up materials and themes that are woven into that I think it works."
As Dan Wieden said at the start of his presentation, "There's a lot of people that care very, very deeply that was get this right." Comparing their approach towards creating a "Brand Oregon" campaign to what we find compelling about travelling to other countries, Wieden said, "You somehow have to understand that culture ... at such a deep level that you can identify some of the principles that govern that culture."
"This from the very beginning," he said of Oregon, "has been a place where a lot of damn freedom has been given to people. ... That basic freedom, that sense of idealism that has pervaded this culture is probably our biggest and best hope."
Introducing a series of mock ads (although the copy itself, he said, was real, but may still "go through the thresher"), Wieden said they were fascinated with the fact that so many Oregonians "have had dreams and had visions, and worked towards bringing those things into being."
All of the above is what was meant to inform the campaign itself, regardless of how well the simplified "We Love Dreamers" slogan works on its own.
It's very difficult to adequately communicate the spirit and content of the ad copy without being able to simply pass it along. More than anything else, I wish I had the full text of the "manifesto" ad which sums up the intent, and the feel, of the campaign.
That manifesto ad concludes, in part: "In a country where okay is too often okay, Oregon is that pain-in-the-ass in back who keeps piping up and challenging the status quo." It goes on to speak of how Oregonians believe that if how they see the world could affect just two people, and those two people could affect just two more people, Oregon could "change the world."
This was what sold me on the campaign, despite my reservations about the overarching slogan. The manifesto ad is brash and audacious in how it asserts Oregon, and what it asserts about Oregon -- almost, but not quite, to the point of arrogance.
While the intent of any "Brand Oregon" campaign, as Wieden and others said, is of course to "make money and create jobs for Oregonians," it says something important that what the team created was a campaign that strives, indeed, to (in a sense) sell the culture and identity of Oregon itself.
Other sample ads shown today demonstrated possible campaigns centered around specific aspects of Oregon, such as tourism, agriculture, and economic development.
(In some ways, the campaign is rather Cluetrain in how strongly it tries to give Oregon's "brand" a voice entirely distinct from the ways in which other states promote themselves.)
As the "Brand Oregon" effort tries to raise the money required to actually mount such an ad campaign, they are also attempting another unique approach to the marketing of a state.
Since the campaign is structured as if each ad is another part of the "Oregon Story," its creators are asking for Oregon individuals and businesses to write their own Oregon Story for their own websites, which will then link back to the eventual "Brand Oregon" website -- essentially distributing part of the responsibility for spreading the state's brand identity out to the people of Oregon themselves.
Having only just introduced the campaign today, no real details for this aspect are yet available, but there's something potentially powerful about making this part of promoting "Brand Oregon" (although I confess that I wonder how they'd react if, say, owners of Portland's thriving adult entertainment industry participated).
In the end, the weakness of the "We Love Dreamers" slogan is the weakness of all slogans: They simply cannot communicate any real depth or passion about what they are intended to promote.
But, in many ways, it's all the worse in this case because the underlying campaign -- for all of how much it, of course, is meant to "make money and create jobs" -- actually manages to convey a real belief in what makes Oregon, well, Oregon.
Ad campaigns out of this "Brand Oregon" effort are expected to roll out starting in the Spring of 2004, and will initially target consumers, travellers, and businesses in California.
Comments (1)
Dave Lister on 02 Dec 2003
"We love dreamers". They say that W & K was paid 450 thousand for this uninspired bit of tripe. That's good work if you can get it.
Our state leaders claim we are in a budgetary crisis. The tax increase will likely go to the voters in February and polls indicate that it will likely be defeated. Can we really justify spending a half million on this stupidity?
Supposedly, the campaign will be financed by the lodging taxes that were increased to promote tourism. That's a great idea in itself. Our leaders think that making it more expensive to visit Oregon will attract more visitors.