Editorial nails ridiculousness of NH Office of Travel & Tourism latest act

I found the following Editorial from Joseph W. McQuaid of the Union Leader; "Stop laughing, NH, you need a brand" right on target about the ridiculousness of NH hiring a FL firm to help determine its "brand" - which, by the way, will not be our Live Free or Die motto.

Do you agree?

"Last week, some not-too-bright marketing types at Chevrolet decided to ban the use of "Chevy" because, their memo said, they should get behind a single brand term, "like Coke." After the country stopped laughing and pointed out that "Coke" is itself interchangeable with Coca-Cola, Chevrolet beat a hasty retreat.

If you live in New Hampshire, you may want to stop laughing. It was announced at the recent Governor's Conference on Tourism (produced, by the way, by a Vermont firm) that the Granite State is in need of its own "brand identification." Why? Because a survey of someone, somewhere, said that Vermont is known for maple syrup and Maine is known for lobsters and lighthouses, but poor New Hampshire isn't known for anything.

Never mind that New Hampshire draws more than twice the tourists that Vermont does and also millions more than Maine. Never mind that we have the White Mountains and the Lakes Region and the seacoast and fishing, foliage, and skiing, among other things. According to the Boston Globe, New Hampshire "officials" have long "looked with envy upon their neighboring states' more easily identifiable traits."

Well, sure. Some New Hampshire officials have also looked with envy at our neighbors' big taxes and big governments, but we have kept them at bay, so far. But now we read that New Hampshire's Office of Travel and Tourism will pay a Florida firm to tell us what our "brand" should be.

But that "brand" won't include New Hampshire's "Live Free or Die" motto. Heaven forbid. Alice DeSouza, office director, says, 'we're not touching that.'It has 'nothing to do with the marketing of the state.' "

And that attitude may be what is wrong with New Hampshire these days, in more ways than one.