May 2004 Editorial

The N.C. Brand

Long before most of us knew anything about the concept of branding or understood how important travel and tourism is to our economy, we knew that North Carolina was a “Variety Vacationland.” It said so on every license plate.

Everyone knows that beef is what’s for dinner and that pork is the other white meat, but not enough people outside the state know what North Carolina is. Other than the current “First in Flight” slogan on our license plates (which now seems a bit outdated with the passing of the centennial event) the state is not doing enough to “brand” North Carolina.

Because of the state’s pinched budgets over the past three years, the Department of Commerce has had to give back most of the money it was appropriated for buying ads in national publications and TV networks promoting North Carolina as a good business location. In 2001, for example, Commerce got to spend only about $54,000 of its $1.2 million marketing appropriation. In the current fiscal year, it’s been able to spend just $83,000 of an original $522,000 appropriation.

In the travel and tourism industry, some individual attractions and destinations have larger media budgets than the state Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development, which gets about $3 million per year. While a good strategy has been developed to promote the state as a whole, there is not adequate funding to fully implement the plan.

By contrast, Pennsylvania is cranking up a multi-million-dollar campaign to identify itself as “The State of Independence” to promote its historical attractions. Why? Because it works. According to a survey conducted for the Virginia Tourism Corp., 90.4 percent of Americans knew that “Virginia is for Lovers.” More than 40 percent of those in the same survey also knew that the slogan of New York is “I Love New York.” You may even have one of their T-shirts.

Three of the leading forces in economic development in North Carolina are clamoring for the state to do more to promote its brand in the marketplace. NCCBI, the N.C. Economic Developers Association and the state Commerce Department all are strongly supporting the initiative

All three groups argue that the state should restore funding for marketing and require greater coordination between the Commerce Department and the seven regional economic development partnerships. The groups also advocate creation of an adequately funded overall campaign to market North Carolina as a travel and tourism destination. These are common-sense ideas that members of the General Assembly should easily understand.

This important issue is explored by Steve Miller in this month’s Executive Voices column. Miller, the Biltmore Company executive who is a leading figure in North Carolina’s travel and tourism industry, points out that increasing North Carolina’s share of the southeastern tourism market by only one percent would result in nearly a $1 billion increase in tourism revenue. That’s an investment well worth making. -- Steve Tuttle

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