Washington D.C., the city we all love/hate, is looking for a new tourism slogan:
Seattle has a new tag line: "metronatural." And Little Rock has recently begun calling itself "The Rock."
Now the District is looking for its own catchy way to describe and define the city and lure more tourists to town. Tourism officials are hiring marketers, conducting surveys and convening focus groups in search of a few words or images that capture Washington's essence.
I think we, the DailyKos community, are more than up to the task of assisting the fine folks at the DC Tourism Board.
The current slogan, used for nearly a decade, never electrified anybody. It appears in every D.C. taxicab and on the sleeve of every D.C. police officer, but even longtime residents are hard-pressed to recall it: "Washington, D.C.: The American Experience." Another catchphrase, "Celebrate and Discover," which appeared for a time on D.C. license plates, also was a snoozer.
Not as electrifying as Live Free or Die or Greatest Snow on Earth?
Feedback is rolling in from a variety of sources -- an online survey of 1,800 people across the country; interviews with 35 stakeholders such as the D.C. government; and meetings with 10 local focus groups. In a survey running through April, a new Web site, http://www.shareyourdc.com, asks local residents what they think. (Sample factoid: 70 percent say they call their home "D.C." None calls it "the Capital.")
I thought, "Why limit the input to DC residents only? Why not find out what other people, the people who have to deal with the crap that comes out of the District, think about DC?" So have at it. If you could come up with a slogan that encapsulates that 'DC Feeling,' what would it be?