There’s no island quite like Rhode Island. Throughout Rhode Island’s tourism campaign, the state has continually failed and has drawn ire from residents and out-of-staters alike, The New York Times reported.
The state first released a video featuring brief footage of a skateboarder shot in Iceland, not Rhode Island. Then, the state unveiled a new slogan, “Rhode Island: Cooler and Warmer.” Finally, the website featured restaurants located not in Rhode Island, but in Massachusetts.
In response, the state’s chief marketing officer resigned and Rhode Island’s governor, Gina Raimondo, recently dropped the slogan. Ted Nesi, of Providence’s CBS affiliate, told The New York Times Wednesday that Raimondo is “too in thrall to out-of-staters,” and struggled with campaigns that “require the human touch rather than a spreadsheet.”
The campaign logo’s designer, New York native Milton Glaser, told the Times on Wednesday, “People became crazed by the idea that they didn’t get it. If you rolled it out over weeks, you could have made a case for it.”
In a press conference Tuesday, Raimondo passed on answering a question about her thoughts on taking advantage of Rhode Island talent for the campaign.
Part of the problem with the state’s reinvention campaign is that it showcased none of Rhode Island. Its website featured businesses from a neighboring state and the promotional video featured footage shot in a foreign country. It’s hard to imagine that anyone who actually lives in Rhode Island worked on this ad campaign.
The Rhode Island School of Design is one of the best art schools in the country, and somehow, the campaign couldn’t feature a logo designed by one of its graduates. The campaign makes it look like the state’s government doesn’t have its business together.
The theme of this campaign is ultimately a struggle for relevancy. Raimondo may be a little too preoccupied with being in the national spotlight and her desperation shows through.
The only time Rhode Island shows up in the news is if the state is having political trouble or is incredibly failing with something like this.
All people know about Rhode Island is that it’s located under Massachusetts, it’s really small and it may or may not have been one of the original thirteen colonies. But that’s something to take advantage of. The state is a blank slate for Americans.
With its current slogan, Rhode Island’s ad campaign wants to showcase the state’s typical temperature when it should be highlighting its small-state charm. Rhode Island should use its status as the smallest state in the union to its advantage.
If a slogan as simple and straightforward as “Pure Michigan” can work, then it shouldn’t take much for Rhode Island to showcase its best qualities. Michigan is OK, and Rhode Island has arguably the same amount of material to work with.
Contrary to the current ad campaign debacle, there are positive aspects of Rhode Island. Providence is cute. Heck, Taylor Swift has a beach house there, so it can’t be all that bad.
Though the Iceland shot was a small detail, it was bound to be ridiculed. Nobody really seems to want Rhode Island to succeed anyway. Unfortunately, the ad campaign makes it look like residents don’t think their state is relevant, which is quite the contrary.
A Rhode Islander could make a list of little things they love about the state — Al Forno, Narragansett Beer, tailgating at polo games, sailing, Del’s Lemonade, Iggy’s Doughboys and Chowder House, Brown University — and still be missing many crucial details.
People would go to Rhode Island if they knew what the state had to offer. The smallest state in the union has a lot to show the world. Now all that’s left to do is to prove that it’s more than its climate.
i take offense that an out of state firm cannot do this as well as in state. The problem is the firm that was chosen must not have done a poll or focus group, because if they had, they would have seen the logo was a confusing disaster. These errors made were third grade PR errors, and had more to do with firm trying to make the most money, do the least amount of work, and reap the benefits. There are many good in state and out of state firms that would have done better.
Rhode Island seems to have the worst luck in the Union. They’re consistently overshadowed by Massachusetts (and the things you listed are swept under the rug), but still have to contend with the Northeast’s high cost of living. I’ve never been, and I feel as though my existing impression of the Ocean State is warped by a parade of Rhode Island jokes.