New tagline for city: ‘Asheville: Discovery, Inside and Out’

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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AshevilleGroundFogAsheville has a new tagline: “Asheville: Discovery, Inside and Out.”

The tagline was revealed on Wednesday night at the annual meeting of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. The entity is connected to the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and is in charge of spending thousands of dollars on print, television and social media advertising in outside markets to draw tourists to town.

According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, the new advertising campaign will target tourists from 25 to 55 years old, with an average household income of $75,000 and an interest in the outdoors, food, art and “discovery.” The new tagline replaces the old “Asheville, Any Way You Like It” tagline.

The Buncombe County TDA hired the New Orleans ad agency Peter Mayer to create the tagline and an advertising campaign around it. The agency showed the tagline to 2,000 customers, who liked it, according to the Citizen-Times story. The Buncombe TDA’s decision to hire an outside agency to create the campaign has been criticized by some who argue that outside agencies don’t offer up an authentic view of Asheville, and say the money spent on promoting Asheville should go to Asheville agencies. Local tourism officials say they seek an agency with the negotiating power to make big media buys and the infrastructure to adhere to strict payment requirements for those buys. Local tourism officials also note that they hire a number of Asheville-based freelancers and companies for work.

I haven’t seen any of the images or videos created around the tagline yet, but I’ll add that when I get it.

For now, what do you think of the new tagline?

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

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21 Comments

  1. Big Al October 5, 2014

    Reminds me of that old programmer’s chestnut “garbage in, garbage out”.

    Reply
  2. Das Drew October 5, 2014

    Sounds like a bad porn title. But then again so does “Any Way You Want It”

    Reply
  3. Harry October 3, 2014

    Oh dear gawd. Really? That’s the best they can do? It’s just fu***ng dumb!

    Reply
  4. Lindig Harris October 3, 2014

    Surely folk from New Orleans could have jazzed it up a little:

    Inside. Outside. All around the town!

    And we could all have the kids’ ditty stuck in our heads for days.

    You’re welcome.

    Reply
  5. Zoop October 2, 2014

    “Come..poop on us”

    Reply
  6. roo October 2, 2014

    So now we’re marketing ourselves as a vacation destination for proctologists?

    Reply
  7. Robyn October 2, 2014

    not much. I could have come up with something better for a lot less than they paid for that.

    Reply
    1. luther blissett October 5, 2014

      “Come visit Asheville: you don’t have to try and make a living here!”

      Reply
  8. Chris Sparks October 2, 2014

    Love to have seen the other choices.
    Asheville: Outsiders deciding how to promote what the insiders know best?

    Reply
  9. well... October 2, 2014

    Beats the shit out of the former tag line, in my humble opinion.

    Reply
  10. Taking Shape Design October 2, 2014

    Just awful…not that the previous tagline was much better. What good is media buying power when the message you’re sending out is lacking in authenticity/creativity?

    Reply
  11. Russ October 2, 2014

    While the strategy to shift the marketing to target visitors who are drawn here for outdoor adventure totally makes sense (duh, about time), I agree that the tagline is a bit bland and vague to what inside discovery means. Not very adventurous. Maybe inside discovery is like art, up to personal interpretation

    Reply
  12. Santa October 2, 2014

    That makes no sense whatsoever. What is this inside they speak of? Asheville Mall?

    Reply
    1. Barry Summers October 2, 2014

      Navel gazing.

      Reply
      1. Barry Summers October 2, 2014

        Oh look, lint.

        Reply
  13. Bill Chase October 2, 2014

    Stupid!

    Reply
  14. ncnc October 2, 2014

    What does it even mean – inside what? Inside Biltmore, very likely.

    Reply
  15. b.c.w. October 2, 2014

    Gentrification continues in 3…2…1… The tagline sounds exactly like something an outside agency (i.e. not in Asheville itself) would come up with. Bland, nondescript, generic. Asheville is now a product that is being distilled down so the lowest common denominator can come in, consume, and move on. Guessing the concept of ‘Keep Asheville Weird’ it just too much for the ‘suits’ to handle.

    Reply
  16. H.D. Wimbledon October 2, 2014

    i don’t understand why everyone is having trouble wrapping their heads around this. there will, likely, be the phrase ‘inside’ over a series of pictures of restaurants, shopping, etc. & then the phrase ‘outside’ over a series of pictures of mountains, the river, etc.
    it might not roll of the tongue, but it’s fairly easy to envision how it will be laid out w/graphics.

    also, i see on social media a number of people who bitch about tourists bemoaning how unsuccessful this tourism campaign will be. classic asheville non-issue controversy.

    Reply
  17. Barry Summers October 2, 2014

    Vapid, Inside and Out.

    Reply
    1. jtroop October 2, 2014

      HA!

      Reply

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