A New Rhode Island Slogan Encounters Social Media’s Wrath; New York Times, 4/6/16

Katherine Seelye, New York Times; A New Rhode Island Slogan Encounters Social Media’s Wrath:

"The idea was simple enough — to create a logo and slogan that cast the long-struggling state of Rhode Island in a fresh, more optimistic light to help attract tourists and businesses. A world-renowned designer was hired. Market research was conducted. A $5 million marketing campaign was set. What could go wrong?

Everything, it turns out.

The slogan that emerged — “Rhode Island: Cooler and Warmer” — left people confused and spawned lampoons along the lines of “Dumb and Dumber.” A video accompanying the marketing campaign, meant to show all the fun things to do in the state, included a scene shot not in Rhode Island but in Iceland. The website featured restaurants in Massachusetts...

This was a reference to Milton Glaser, the world-renowned graphic artist and creator of the iconic “I Love New York” logo, who had been drafted for the Rhode Island project and came up with the logo and the slogan.

In an interview on Tuesday, the governor acknowledged some blunders. “We didn’t do nearly enough public engagement before rolling out the campaign,” she said. Nor did they get “stakeholder engagement and buy-in” in advance."