By Kathleen Cassedy

CASE STUDY :
Virginia Is for Lovers in 2002

Brand logos often have taglines that are incorporated or appear with the
logos. Sometimes a tagline is the brand’s logo, such as the Commonwealth of
Virginia’s tourism brand identity, "Virginia Is for Lo™ers," introduced in
1970.

In 2001, The Virginia Tourism Commission asked its advertising agency,
Work Inc., to conduct market research to determine the current equity in
"Virginia Is for Lo™ers" and its future role. Work Inc. needed to determine
if the logo had become irrelevant or outdated in the minds of consumers and
travel industry partners?

In a lively visual presentation, Kristi Ashley, managing partner, Work
Inc., showed the steps involved with market research, creative design, and
the outcome: a refreshed logo, but essentially the same. Work Inc. found
that Virginia Is for Lo™ers still had enormous equity.

The process used by Work Inc. can be used for any other brand analysis.
Work Inc. needed to know what "Virginia Is for Lo™ers" actually
communicates to the tourism industry and to consumers. Surveys showed that
it means many things. Some said it means "couples, romance, and lovers."
Others said it did not mean anything. A small percentage said it means "fun
and family."

A logo should be salient, make an emotional connection, and have the
power to persuade the consumer, Ashley says. Work Inc. describes salient as
the hip or buzz factor. "It’s the idea that something is going on with the
brand, which will make the consumer stop and say, ‘Hey, that’s different,’"
she says. In this case, the logo would cause consumers to re-evaluate
Virginia as a vacation destination.

The brand logo should emotionally connect with the consumer because it
stands for the same values that targeted consumers believe in. In the
Virginia logo, the heart, which takes the place for the "v" in word "lovers"
is emotionally charged.

The brand mark should also signify qualities and amenities in the destination that consumers seek during their vacations?

Work Inc. needed to consider the brand’s personality by asking these questions. What is the logo going to say? How will it say it? What does the
logo project to consumers in different states?

Work Inc. was surprised by what its consumer research revealed, Ashley
say. The agency thought consumers would find the Virginia brand stuffy,
boring, or dull. Instead, people said Virginia connotes characteristics of
classy and interesting, intelligent and cultured, well rounded and welcoming.
They also said Virginia could be more relaxed and less conservative.

In developing a brand for the future, Work Inc. tested positioning
statements against almost 800 people in key geographical regions. The
positioning statement that best works for Virginia as a tourist destination
is: "Whatever you love in a vacation, you can find it here in Virginia."
"So Virginia has new positioning and a new personality, but the visual
brand mark had been around for thirty-two years, Ashley notes. "We needed to create that buzz factor again, to show [consumers] that change was
happening."

There can be several reasons to refresh a brand. Repositioning is one of
them. Work Inc. slightly adjusted the logo to keep it interesting. The mark
needed to keep those characteristics that still worked. "Virginia’s brand
mark needed modernizing," Ashley says. "A culture changes and the brand needs to change with it. Because travelers are different than they were … when this logo was introduced," Ashley says. "In fact, travelers are different
today than they were on September 11."

Marketers need to manage the brand with consideration to societal and
environmental changes, she says.

A well designed logo will cover the following traits.
• It will be distinctive.
• It will be Timeless.
• It will be versatile. Can it be reproduced on the web, on a square inch
ad, on a banner, or with light or dark backgrounds?
• It allows flexibility in size. Will it look good large, such as on a hot
air balloon, or small on a business card.
• Its colors can create emotion, impact, and they can distinguish and signify
different aspects of a brand.
• It has personality, which is inherent in the logo, because you cannot
communicate every aspect of a brand’s personality in one mark.
Many people assume wrongly that the "I Lo™e New York" logo came before
"Virginia Is for Lo™ers." Because The New York City heart is the same as the
Virginia Is for Lo™ers. Virginia needed a new heart design, Ashley points
out.

The original logo had a slender heart and blue color. Work Inc.’s
development of a "refreshed" heart went down several avenues, including an
investigation of emotion and style of hearts with fourth graders. "What does
a heart mean to them? How do they choose color? Should it be fat, skinny,
have a shadow, or be solid?" Ashley asks. "It was an amazing exercise for
the [Work Inc.’s] creative department because it got them to think about how
hearts can come to life," At one point, Work Inc. had thousands of heart
cards posted on its office walls.

"We looked at hundreds of typefaces in hundreds of different variations,
finally settling on one face that happens to be over 200-years old and is
very classic," Ashley explains. The serif face can be used in both Roman and
Italic versions to signify different personalities of Virginia.

"The day we launched the new logo, we received 14,000 unique hits to the
[Virginia] website," Ashley recalls. "Usually it receives 3,000 a week. The
press was just overwhelmed – the industry was so supportive, and the board
[of the Virginia Tourism Corporation] couldn’t have been happier."

The logo "absolutely sings," according to one staff person.

Unlike the older logo, Virginia now owns this signature and iconography,
which will facilitate its use in merchandising—a lucrative stream of revenue,
as well as another way to publicize the state as a tourist destination.