The introduction to this element included asking the crowd in attendance who recognized Geico’s gecko and AFLAC’s duck. Mortar’s spokesperson is a very charming man with a heavy British accent – so there was some good humor in how it was positioned (although he kept saying Nevahdah). I could care less how you pronounce our state – but others might have bristled a bit that he wasn’t “correct”, which certainly positioned him as the “out-of-town” expert.

But then he polled the crowd – “how many of you know what AFLAC does”? Very few would admit (in that setting) that they did. Maybe three or four out of 50 people.

Certainly these brand characters were recognizable – there have been millions spent maintaining their visibility. But the informal poll of the audience clearly illustrated that few knew what AFLAC’s core business was (which was surprising to me). I think Mortar intended to support the fact that they were highly recognized brands with cultural icons.

This somewhat confusing set-up and informal audience poll served as a sequay to introduce the Big Horn sheep as the region’s new “spokesperson”. But the example used was that while they were recognizable, they didn’t communicate the brand’s basic values or scope of business.

It was contradictory – to say the least.

I’m not entirely “sold” on the Big Horn sheep, per se. But I understand why they’d want to engage a character of sorts to help communicate the unique values of our community, and utilize it to geographically identify the specific locations to those unique opportunities.

The tactic of doing that for this crowd was all wrong (in my opinion). It confused more than clarified. And there were some passionate naysayers, like our Mayor, laying in wait in the audience for just such an opportunity to show off. That certainly didn’t help convince anyone that the very contemporary art direction suggested was supported by clear brand strategy. This simple element may have been another reason there was such an irrational reaction to something as simple as the proposed tag line.

Once you have community leaders wagging fingers at good people over a total misunderstanding of the rationale – then the media swoops in to grab the sensational headline, rather than reporting the facts. PR fail.

You know how it goes… better than most, Mike. Sometimes it’s not the core value of the concept that is rejected, it’s the way you present it to the client. Mortar and the RSCVA have done a great job on this campaign – they just missed the mark a bit in its presentation to the public (and key community stakeholders) – in front of media. I don’t think that helped gain the public acceptance needed for this very smart, bold, needed repositioning campaign.

Larry – I think ultimately the brand positioning could serve as a tag line – you’re right. “A little west of center” may have been a bit too obtuse for people, and made them feel more like they were saying the region was more on the “weird” side than the “quirky” side (which, in turn, made people feel like we were telling them that they were weird). There’s a fine balance to being quirky and being weird or awkward.

I’ll be interested to see more execution of the bighorn sheep spokesperson, too. I didn’t include anything in this post about it because I didn’t have a good example to reference. Did anyone offer up the artwork to use as a sample, or did anyone grab a good photo?

My question is…if the “A Little West Of Center” tag line is not acceptable, why not simply run with the foundation of the campaign itself – “Refreshingly Offbeat”?

Seems that captures the essence of the campaign without being too creatively challenging. I’m sure the good minds at Mortar will work quickly now to tag this campaign and get it rolling forward.

I have some concerns about using a big horn sheep as our spokesperson – but given the executions I saw yesterday, I think it can resonate and work.

Great post…keep ‘em coming!

People interested in the branding process the RSCVA has undertaken can also get background and updates at update.visitrenotahoe.com.

Jim Scripps