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Cooler, warmer, obstinate and disconnected

By Christopher Curran
Posted 4/6/16

Once again our state has made it to the national stage and once again the reason is not flattering. As national news networks such as CBS pointed out that the new marketing campaign Rhode Island has …

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Cooler, warmer, obstinate and disconnected

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Once again our state has made it to the national stage and once again the reason is not flattering. As national news networks such as CBS pointed out that the new marketing campaign Rhode Island has embarked upon to promote tourism is tremendously flawed, we Rhode Islanders lament yet another reckless expenditure of our tax dollars.

The latest mishap of the increasingly hapless Raimondo administration demonstrates further evidence of how disconnected the governor’s cabinet is with the will and wants of the citizens. This erroneous sense of superiority and willingness to ignore the considerations of Rhode Islanders had permeated the truck-tolling saga and now has produced a half-baked, opaque, enigmatic, and disproportionately costly marketing campaign that will only benefit the overpaid Ivy League friends of the administration who generated this fiasco.

After over a week of widespread lambasting of this ill launched campaign, Gov. Gina Raimondo yielded to public pressure, an exploding social media, and the demeaning depictions on national and local news, and held a late Friday afternoon press conference in which she “clarified” but did not apologize for the ridiculous rollout. She sacrificed an administration lamb to the media gods and curtailed the confounding slogan while retaining the simplistic artwork that cost $550,000.

Her handling of this debacle begs the question, why did she not express a mea culpa, take responsibility personally, and promise to rectify her administrative mistakes? A shift of culpability and a tepid vague misdirection about how wonderful it is that Rhode Islanders reacted in droves to this nonsensical foray simply did not acquit the governor of this colossal blunder.

Seemingly and sadly, whenever Little Rhody makes it to the national press the reason is usually negative in nature. Such is the latest case with the now abandoned tourism marketing slogan “Cooler and Warmer.” Besides the indeterminate message of the slogan, its companion logo is merely a multicolored background with a sort of white sail, which in our case could be easily mistaken for a surrender flag.

Similarly, the current national criticism is not much different from the critique the Ocean State received from ABC World News Tonight in the early ‘80s when the state launched the campaign titled “The Biggest Little State in the Union.” That campaign was actually intended as a morale booster and targeted the citizens themselves. The news program at the time thought the fact that a state had to expend tax dollars to boost its own self-image to uplift Rhode Island residents was pathetic. At least the message was unambiguous.

However, this campaign’s reckless rollout was so fraught with mistakes one questions the professionalism of the so-called top-notch experts the Commerce Corporation contracted with. When the notice for requested bids was presented, the project was referred to as the “Rhode Island Tourism and Business Attraction Branding Campaign.” With $5 million allocated for this grand adventure, large advertising and marketing agencies scoffed at its budget as being Lilliputian. Some connected Rhode Island notables have also said that the amount was not nearly enough. Certainly, even if the perceived diminutive amount is insufficient, there is no excuse for the bush league mistakes that were committed.

Primarily, of course, the slogan itself lacks clarity. If you have to explain a marketing slogan then you have not accomplished the conspicuous aim of the endeavor. The governor’s condescending original explanation of this, by stating that Rhode Island is a cool, hip place to come to while it is warmer because the people are warm and so are the beaches in the summer, was ludicrous. When I heard the sound clip with the governor’s utterances on the radio news I thought she was going to incredulously say “don’t you get it?” As if we mere subjects would question the thinking of her upper echelon. Secondly, in the glossy promotional video there was an image of an enthusiastic skateboarder in front of a glass laden symphony hall. Knowing Rhode Island as we real Rhode Islanders do, we knew that the building shown was from somewhere else. As it turns out, it was Iceland.

Instead of the administration taking responsibility for the mistake of not checking the work before it was launched, they blamed it on the editing company called “IndieWhip.” Thirdly, the integral website to the project, VisitRI.com, mistakenly shows highlights of out-of-state restaurants, a chef who has already passed on, and mislabeled golf courses that are private but were presented as publicly accessible. These gaffes could have easily been prevented by just having a conversation with virtually any long-term state resident, then proofing the video and website before presenting them.

Therein lies the problem with this whole campaign, and for that matter with this whole administration. They do not know the Ocean State. They are not from here. They have not endured what we have endured and therefore have no sensibility to how Rhode Islanders think and feel. And they are blinded by a presumption of their own gravitas and superiority.

Marion Salzman, CEO of Havas Public Relations of North America, which is one of the three agencies contracted to spearhead this project, is oblivious to these conspicuous failures. She stated: “They have worked together [the three contractors: Milton Glaser, Epic Decade, and Havas] brilliantly in creating a data-driven campaign that focuses on capturing and telling Rhode Island’s unique story,” and “Cooler and Warmer had gone through extensive testing.” According to Salzman, a polling entity called Market Probe International polled 1,886 people comprised of both in- and out-of-staters that overwhelmingly loved the campaign design and precepts. The respondents on social media tended to disagree and offered their own somewhat cynical, satirical, and tauntingly humorous alternatives.

For example, someone suggested the following as substitutes for “Cooler and Warmer”: “Corrupt and Wasted,” “Rhode Island, You Make it, They take it,” “Rhode Island, Sailing Away with Your Pension,” “High Taxes, Poor Leadership.” Along with the aforementioned alternative taglines, a myriad of slogans were offered. For example, “We’re really not an island,” “Size isn’t everything,” “We are like the period at the end of a 49 word sentence,” and “Grinders, Cabinets, and Quahogs, they are really not what you think.”

I doubt any of those suggestions would be effective in marketing the state, but at least they are clearer in understanding than “Cooler and Warmer.”

On the contrary, with no jocularity intended, some Rhode Islanders came up with some catchy lucid ideas. “Explore the Ocean State of Mind,” “Dive in and Discover,” and “The Smallest State with the Biggest Heart” are all much better than the astronomically priced and now erstwhile state-sponsored slogan.

Furthermore, the manner in which the $5 million is being spent is questionable. With only $1.7 million being spent for ad buys and $550,000 for a logo, the bulk of the money is apparently is being spent for gathering data, creative processes, and think-tanking. Thus, the top-heavy percentage is usually for purchasing ad buys, but in this marketing scheme it is upside down.

Fortunately for Rhode Islanders, we have in our state perhaps the best design school in the country, the Rhode Island School of Design. This entire campaign could have been a scholarship contest, costing the taxpayer much less, undoubtedly producing a better work product and a campaign more in touch with who we are as Rhode Islanders.

Now that Raimondo and her personal public relations advisers have come to terms with the gravity of this rollout blunder, someone had to become a scapegoat. That someone was nascent Chief Marketing Officer Betsy Wall from Massachusetts. She fell on her sword to salvage her boss’s reputation and resigned. Considering the fact that Wall was hired after the three agencies of this blunder were, her culpability is suspect. Sensing the growing enmity toward her perceived diffidence toward Rhode Islanders, the governor hired as interim CMO Seth Goldenberg. He is Jamestown based and is a principle of Epic Decade, which is one of the three agencies involved.

Like the ill-fated truck-tolling debacle, this marketing campaign thus far is another in a series of missteps by the Raimondo administration. The problems are because of a predicate paradigm that the administration has. They believe that one must go outside the state, avail themselves of costly talent, and find people with Ivy League pedigrees in order to effectuate drastic positive change in the Ocean State’s direction. They could not be more wrong. To change the state for the better you need to have people who have a vested interest in the state, a pride in being a citizen.

We are lucky enough to have great educational institutions like Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Rhode Island, and assuredly the alums from those schools are as good as any designers or marketers with any upper-crust background. If the governor is insistent on the best and brightest to market and advertise our state, the answer is right here at home!

Comments

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  • Justanidiot

    The marketing worked brilliantly. Lil Rhody got more media attention than it could have bought. Well played, Gina, well played.

    Wednesday, April 6, 2016 Report this

  • wtsart

    Kudos sir on a fine editorial . But sadly I feel all we can do here is vent our frustration with those (I think) we've chosen to be our leaders . I hear folks call our ruling pol/lawyers , "Idiots , stupid dummies and incompetent knuckleheads !" And I can't help but think that they are anything but stupid to say the very least . Because the last time I checked, most of these politicians are making a heck of a lot more money than I am or for that matter , any of those yelling those insults at our leadership. I feel you hit the nail on the head Sir , with saying their "Blinded by a presumption of their own gravitas and superiority ." On that point sir , You are very correct and they don't even have this veil lifted when they get their fingers caught in the cookie jar and finally go to prison . All we've got to do to get to the bottom of this debacle and ALL the other ones to boot , is to follow the money trail . We can cry about all the short comings of our leadership ( at least for the tax payers anyway, the pol/lawyers love it !) ,or we can push for things which just may bring some accountability to the political pillaging which passes for Govt. here in Lil Rhody . Firstly REAL ETHICS to stop the rampant conflicts of interest and nepotism practiced by our politicians . Second , Term limits to keep said politicians from getting entrenched enough to take advantage of their offices or to make illegal practices , legal . Third would be a real form of a system of accountability NOT set up by the politicians . And as for selling Rhode Island , we need to spend the amount of money being wasted on this scam like we need a few more potholes . I won't go into all the talent here in the state that could do far more for far less . As I do not feel getting a great state slogan was ever a consideration in this scheme . Or for that matter , what "kind" of product came of it just as long as certain people got their "cut " of the proceeds . And that part right there folks is the real brilliance behind the scenes of sadly all to many of our pol/lawyers running this state . As far as advertising goes , all to many in that line feel any publicity is good publicity, you throw enough crap at a wall and something will eventually stick . An from a taxpayers view if your not spending to much this is just an irritant that will soon pass and indeed , I think the powers that be thought that 's what would happen again in this case BUT . In light of this administrations proposed fee's and toll's to maintain our already very over priced yet still decaying infrastructures , it was a step to far for the taxpayers to bear . As far as advertising goes there are Co.'s in advertising making alot of money on projects very similar to this "Warmer Cooler" deal where the advertiser is paid by "hits" or the amount of people possibly to be subjected to whatever it is being advertised . It does not matter weather the public like or dislike the product or if most folks are even offended by the means advertisers use to advertise. Just that the public noticed the advertisement in any way at all is all that's important . This whole episode begs one question , did the advertiser in question get paid ? And if so , will the advertiser have to give that money back for an unsatisfactory product ? Hmmmm.

    Thursday, April 7, 2016 Report this

  • georgecarver

    Good story on the debacle. While I'm glad we have an energetic governor,I do wish that there was a higher level of respect and consideration provided towards "who we are" and "where we are now" before club Ivy league rolls out generic case study solutions.

    Maybe some training in emotional intelligence as it relates to the decision making process or at least get some local honest representation in the process. The immature ego 's by many of the key staff personnel may "check the block" to fuel the Presidential resume but, it isn't going to earn the respect of the voters here at re election.

    Thursday, April 7, 2016 Report this

  • Straightnnarrow

    Yes, Kudos for a fine column. We now have to bear 2.5 more years of the Governess before enters the White House under Hillary's petticoat or quits like her predecessor. In the meantime, the best that we can hope for is that she shuts up, goes home and makes cookies for her family, but we'll wait for a shrimp to whistle for that to happen because she will be "moving her team forward". We worry how ISIS and these bombers get under the radar screen to do so much damage, but how is it that these politicians in our state are not vetted before they take office? How is it that there is no detection system to warn us of these wooden soldiers who do so much damage to our state? How is it that Fortune & Glamour magazines and the Beacon, all with brilliant editors, endorsed Gina before and after she took office?

    Friday, April 8, 2016 Report this