Home /
RSCVA - largely rejects tag line and creative
RSCVA Board nearly unanimously rejects "A Little West Of Center" tag line. New logo treatment, manifesto content, research and brand platform (101 things to do in Reno Tahoe) is generally accepted. Mortar's creative execution largely rejected.... Back to the drawing boards with a sense of extreme urgency. 'Crerative Execution' refers to the visuals people will see when the campaign is roleld out (print ads, web sites etc).Comments:
Post your commentsPosted by: Wiley_n_Reno - 9/24/2009 1:25:21 PM
Ok time to get Don Draper on this ! I saw the mayor on the news today -- he was genuinely annoyed by 'a Little Bit Left of Center'!
Posted by: Kevin Danaher - 9/24/2009 1:48:46 PM
In My opinion the proposed brand strategy positions Reno as a mentally ill place, supporting negative opinions of the destination. I get it Reno, Extreme Fun, but I don’t want to live in or be associated with a city that's a little off (or left of) center. Kudos to the board for rejecting it.
Posted by: lakescrossing - 9/24/2009 2:54:37 PM
Okay, you spent like 500 words applauding this rebranding thing and then you don't spare a few words to explain exactly what the concept of "A Little West of Center" means. It sounds stupid, but what exactly does it mean? Also, don't even try the "Emperor Wears No Clothes" routine of, I guess Reno wasn't sophisticated enough or literary enough or intellectual enough to get my abstract allusion to Zen Buddhism or something. Get over it. The target is not other marketing execs and literary intellectuals but visitors from California. Don't give them too much credit for their intelligence. Throughout the history of marketing and advertising, simple, understanding slogans and brands have ALWAYS worked over complicated, abstract, illusory, vague, intellectual ones, and I'm just assuming here it's an intellectual allusion to Neietzche's superman or something. I love it when shysters come to Reno with their Italian suits and fake Rolex watches and try to con insecure, government bureaucrats and the locals about how great this national concept is, this chain, this idea, this rebranding, this technology, etc and just like some Elmer Gantry woo's Renoites into spending millions on some dud. Good to know we have a local one.
Posted by: B Cooper - 9/24/2009 3:45:58 PM
So this is an internal RSCVA decision, the public is not allowed to review any of the materials or submit input? I would certainly like to see the presentation particularly since it promised to be so different and could potentially have significant effect upon the image of the city. So far RSCVA has not replied to my call for information.
Posted by: lakescrossing - 9/25/2009 4:22:36 PM
How about "The Sunny Side of the Sierras" What do we have that Northern California doesn't? More sun. It beats "A Little West of Center" I'm guessing it's a play on "A Little Off Center" which better describes that weirdo emo drama kid in junior high school who ate lunch in the restroom. You also want to avoid using the word "little" to describe a place. People remember key words independent of context. Also, Reno is a little off center and quirky, but who the heck wants to be off center? In that case, why not "Wierdo World" or "Screwball Town" or "Wackoland?" And really, who's to say that New York is not off center, or Iowa is off center. It's like accents. Everyone thinks everyone else has an accent and is "off center" when in fact we all have weirdo accents. Nobody is on center anyhow, because we're all unique individuals. Iowa is as much the center of American values and culture as Hawaii. I think it's pointless to say we're off center. You should read the book "HomoZapiens" by Victor Pelevin. The character's basically an awful marketing professional who over thinks everything just to realize that nothing makes sense anyway. He's the opposite of today's marketing professional who pretends to analyze things exhaustively to justify his salary only to come up with something fundamentally simple and intrinsic that a ten-year-old could come up with, but he would never admit it.
Posted by: SmartBrand - 9/26/2009 7:29:28 AM
Of course this is an "internal RSCVA decision". It's their campaign. But you have to know that the RSCVA is directed by community stakeholders. Do you know what the RSCVA is? If you want to know what the now defunct tag line means, the rationale behind it, and the many online and public meetings around the campaign - you might want to do a little research on the facts before you form your opinon: http://update.visitrenotahoe.com/ http://update.visitrenotahoe.com/2009/09/24/reno-tahoe-brand-update-a-new-logo-%E2%80%A6-and-more-on-the-way/
Posted by: B Cooper - 9/28/2009 11:23:40 AM
OK, thanks SmartBrand for the link and advice. It looks like I'm too ignorant and out of the loop to participate in this forum so will just keep my thoughts to myself and leave the stage to all you experts!
Posted by: Reno Navy Guy - 10/2/2009 12:41:49 AM
How about "Americas Outdoor Paradise". "Americas Outdoor Playground".
Posted by: Justin - 10/7/2009 2:54:26 PM
RenoNavyGuy, Any tagline emphasizing the outdoors would quite simply fail IMO. California has superior weather and ample outdoor recreation. It simply won't work to attract tourists from our neighbor state. I truly believe they were on the right track with "West of Center", but our leaders are too uptight and out of touch to get it.
Posted by: Reno Navy Guy - 10/13/2009 2:01:21 PM
How about "Sun, Sand and Snow" as the tagline. I like "Americas Outdoor Playground" or something emphasizing the outdoors, enjoyment, nightlife. "A little West of Center" is a bad idea, is negative advertisting and confuses everyone.
Posted by: Reno Navy Guy - 10/13/2009 2:05:13 PM
How about "Sun, Sand and Snow" as the new tagline. I like "Americas Outdoor Playground" or something that empasizes the Outdoors, Enjoyment, Nightlife. The tagline "A little West of Center" is a bad idea, is negative advertising and confuses everyone.
Posted by: Justin - 10/14/2009 12:31:57 PM
Navy Guy, How is it negative? Do you consider "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" or Austin, TX famous catch phrase "Keep Austin Weird" to be negative as well? It's basically trying to play up the fact that Reno isn't necessarily like every place else, which I find to be the right path. The perception is already out there that Reno is a bit out of the mainstream, so why not play it up? It's not like they were proposing "Reno: We're more than just trailer parks and meth heads". :D
Posted by: Reno Navy Guy - 10/25/2009 10:54:14 PM
How about "Sun, Sand and Snow", "Americas Playground", "It happens in Reno" or "Reno, The best of the West".
Posted by: Reno Navy Guy - 10/25/2009 10:54:48 PM
How about "Sun, Sand and Snow", "Americas Playground", "It happens in Reno" or "Reno, The best of the West".
Posted by: Justin - 10/27/2009 4:08:46 PM
Navy Guy, I'm sure you're a very nice guy and I respect your right too disagree with me, but all of those sound terribly generic. You could easily be describing Boise, SLC, Denver, or Elko for that matter. I still think West of Center was the most attention grabbing and thought provoking tagline to come out of Reno in a long time, but as per usual, the locals/elected officials shot it down because it doesn't send the "right image". It's pretty obvious to me that Reno has given up on attracting tourists in large numbers in an effort to be more friendly to locals. If the city were truly serious about attracting more visitors to our city, they would have done more to improve downtown. Don't get me wrong, downtown has gotten better, at least along the river, but every time a new project comes up the NIMBYs do everything in their power to shoot it down. They run this town.....right into the ground!