It’s rare to find something that is more costly, unproductive, over hyped and short lived than the “career” of Ryan Leaf. Marquette Gold would be within the margin of error, but I submit for consideration an entry from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism and its slogan “Live like you mean it.” The marketing campaign was halted after only a few months since being revealed until further notice. The cost of the often mocked slogan was $57,000, nearly $5,000 solely for the design of a logo.
The logo depicts a person doing cartwheels, but in what appears to be a Freudian slip in design, it resembles a taxpayer being “shaken down” for a last bit of change pocket change. If that was the case, a more appropriate slogan to accompany it may read “Business leaving like you won’t believe it” or “Taxed like you wouldn’t believe it.”
Most people believe that the Department of Tourism’s role in the state is to encourage vacationers to visit Wisconsin, a task in which they have seen much success, based on the column of Illinois plated trucks pulling boats that I manage to get stuck behind every Friday afternoon. The Department’s other mission is economic development. As far as a road assessment of their performance, I have seen far fewer semi-trucks taking products across and out of state with too many taking it a step further and taking entire businesses out of state.
The easy thing to do is blame greedy companies and evil business owners for packing up or even considering other venues. With Gov. Doyle abandoning the idea of fixing the economic mess in Wisconsin, much of which he created, there is an opportunity for a new person to step up and attempt to get this state on track again. I’ll admit I am bias toward a particular candidate, but I am more than willing to listen to ideas coming from all view points. What is important is the denial of the current state of Wisconsin’s economy ends and the debate begins with fresh ideas; Rather than focusing on revising the state’s slogan, more time and effort should be placed on how to live up to our state’s motto and how to move “forward.”
As the Department of Tourism attempts to rethink how to market this state to vacationers, it is fitting that businesses, elected officials and taxpayers meet to determine what can be done to increase the capitalistic foot print and warm the economic climate in Wisconsin. Far too often these discussions occur too late to save businesses and, more importantly the jobs they provide.
For the full story check out the La Crosse Tribune:
http://www.lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_a97bc868-aea7-11de-b33f-001cc4c002e0.html
To see what else the Department of Tourism is up to:
And in case you didn’t get the Ryan Leaf reference, enjoy:
http://z.lee28.tripod.com/wherehaveyougoneryanleaf/index.html