Pryor: No new state slogan

R.I. COMMERCE Secretary Stefan Pryor said there will be no new state slogan.  / PBN FILE PHOTO
R.I. COMMERCE Secretary Stefan Pryor said there will be no new state slogan. / PBN FILE PHOTO

PROVIDENCE – There will be no new state slogan, R.I. Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor said Wednesday during a press briefing.
Pryor said he accepted full responsibility for the “unacceptable” errors associated with the rollout two weeks ago of the state logo and since-abandoned tagline, “Rhode Island: Cooler & Warmer.”
He admitted he wasn’t happy initially with the slogan, which was widely criticized as confusing, but that “it grew on me.” He added that it was chosen by the Commerce team, and described it as a “collective decision” with its contract professionals.
He said it performed well during testing with vacationers and “near-cationers,” those who come to Rhode Island from the Northeast, and who represent a key tourist market.
While there will be no replacement slogan, despite social media erupting with countless alternatives over the past two weeks, Pryor said the tagline is essentially just “Rhode Island,” noting many states do not have slogans.
“So many restaurants and merchants and bloggers are having fun with it, and making it their own,” Pryor said. “That’s healthy.”
“We expect people to continue to show their creativity and have fun with the design. … That’s better than a static couple of words,” Pryor added.
Meanwhile, Pryor said Jamestown-based Epic Decade, which has been put in charge of the tourism campaign, will collect opinions of Rhode Island residents to create video clips that will be used to create “authentic content that can be used to attract visitors.
“It’s important we present authentic material,” Pryor said.
Pryor said it’s also important to “earn the trust back” of residents in the aftermath of the campaign’s debut, which also featured a promotional tourism video showing footage of a skateboarder in Iceland and tourism-website errors featuring links to Massachusetts restaurants and a profile of a deceased chef. Pryor said freelancers submitted content for the video and said it will not be used for the summer tourism campaign.
Fourty-five percent of the $4.5 million budget for the tourism campaign remains to be spent. Pryor said he is asking for the same amount next year, and was preparing to present his case to the House Finance Committee Wednesday afternoon.
Gov. Gina M. Raimondo has asked the R.I. Department of Administration to help review what contributed to the errors associated with the rollout.
Betsy Wall, the state’s new chief marketing officer, resigned on April 1, four days after the slogan rolled out, amid the public outcry. Pryor said he could not provide information regarding whether or not she is receiving a severance package, saying it is a “personnel issue.”
He also had a response for his critics who say he too should be out of a job.
“I believe I have a responsibility to carry out the work of this campaign,” Pryor said. “The slogan and logo are behind us.
It’s a small part of the effort,” he said.
The slogan and logo were created by Milton Glaser Inc., famous for “I Love NY.” Material passed out at the meeting from HAVAS PR showed other logos and slogans were created besides “Rhode Island: Cooler & Warmer.” The logo which was chosen, a white sail with blue, yellow and orange background colors, will remain.
However, there are logos showing the letter “R” with an “I” inside, another showing a lighthouse inside the letter “R.” There are also several slogans in addition to the “Cooler & Warmer,” including “Rhode Island Real,” “You Belong Here,” “The Island Effect,” “Far From Small,” “Small Is Good,” “Make Waves” and “A Lively Experience.”
Interestingly, in the material there is no explanation of “Cooler & Warmer.” Instead, it said prospective taglines such as “You Belong Here” and “Far From Small,” with storylines that referenced coastal associations, had relatively strong support. “Lively Experiment/Experience, which harkens back to R.I.’s charter, didn’t receive strong support, which is not unexpected given it is a new direction,” it said.

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