Rhode Island. No commas or conjunctions.

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Rhode Island’s new tagline “Cooler and warmer” is catching a lot of flak from the state’s citizenry. The lovely ocean state recently launched a new logo and tagline, costing the taxpayers a couple million dollars, and the homies are not happy. The logo is okay, but the tag has no ballast. Poetic? Perhaps. Goofy? No doubt.

rhode island logoSo how did Rhode Island get into this mess?  I’m guessing there was no brand brief. And if there was, it certainly lacked a tight idea. I used to mentor brief writers by telling them your claim should have “no commas or conjunctions.” A claim should be about one thing. “Tastes great, less filling” is the rule breaker. And let’s just say the Rhode Island brand brief was tight, then the tagline writer and approver rode roughshod over the process. For my money, there was no brief. Or it was a poorly crafted piece of strategy.

If anyone has a copy (on the off-chance there was a brief) and would like to share, I’d be happy to do some forensics.  Peace!