Slogan — not as lame as we thought?

With the unveiling of the much-lampooned “Kansas — as big as you think” campaign came a commitment to spend more money promoting the state’s potential for economic development and tourists, $4.5 million total. Because of the boost, Kansas has moved from 49th to 41st in the nation in state spending on travel and tourism in the past year (North Dakota, eat our dust!). Already this year, 50,000 people have inquired with the state’s travel and tourism office, compared with 57,000 inquiries for all of last year. Lots of them are said to be seeking agritourism experiences — wagon rides, sheep shearing, etc. Can it be that the goofy slogan is working?
Posted by Rhonda Holman

14 Comments

  1. Brian
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 4:26 am | Permalink

    I heard from an inside source that at least 7,000 of those requests were from people wanting to see Connie Morris in her natural BOE setting before she goes extinct in the next election.

  2. JUSTA GUY
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 6:00 am | Permalink

    Don’t be knocking Connie, she used to be a fun girl. Get those tourists, we need them, but don’t answer any questions about evolution, Kansas taxes, or privacy rights that they might ask.

  3. What the Bleep
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 6:03 am | Permalink

    If Connie does’t get re-elected to the BOE, she could always be the State’s next tourism director.

    Who else has done more to bring national and international attention to Kansas? We could be known worldwide as the “Sicence Fiction Capitol of the World.” Think of the tourism that would generate!

  4. Snidley Whiplash
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 6:08 am | Permalink

    We’re missing an opportunity here. The slogan should be, “Welcome to Kansas, a step 200 years into the past”.

  5. XXX
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 6:11 am | Permalink

    You may have a point there, Snide. Maybe we could rename the Jayhawks the “Neanderthals”.

    Nah, sounds too republican.

  6. J M Walker (aka one other guy)
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 6:12 am | Permalink

    “Welcome to Kansas, where we…uh…I forgot”

  7. Justin Mitchell
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 6:13 am | Permalink

    But do those inquiries actually convert to visitors coming here?

  8. Brian
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 6:49 am | Permalink

    Since Kansas is already more than halfway there, why don’t we just give the state up to the Christian Exodus movement. Heck, I’d pay to come see the mess they make of the state in ten years or so.

  9. Joe Williams
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 8:28 am | Permalink

    LOL@Brian. Yeah! Another Utah!

  10. Ray Thomas
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 8:50 am | Permalink

    Justin–excellent question. They use inquiries to justify the expense of a new slogan and ad campaign, but have no way of translating that into actual dollars. Short of interviewing every out of state visitor, there is no means to determine if they would have been here regardless of the expensive ad campaign.

  11. Vlad
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 11:16 am | Permalink

    I wonder how many of the poor souls who come here to visit do so because they have inlaws here? Does that count as tourism?

  12. Anon
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 11:30 am | Permalink

    Kansas . . . just plain dull. We know it. Doesn’t matter what the folks in Topeka say.

  13. Jed
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 2:09 pm | Permalink

    Can’t we just accept the fact that Kansas is a place to take vacations from, not to, and find a better use for all that money?

  14. JUSTA GUY
    Posted September 19, 2005 at 7:57 pm | Permalink

    But folk we have a CAPITAL city just like the signs say.