As you may have heard, members of the state office of tourism, in conjunction with the public relations firm they have hired, W Communications, are in the midst of a "listening tour" around the state of Utah in an attempt to come up with a new slogan to attract visitors and improve tourism.

"We want to find the emotional core of Utah that resonates with people," Mark Hurst, president of W Communications, told the media.

Apparently, the biggest problem in coming up with a decent, catchy slogan is our diversity. It's tough to capture the essence of a place that has both the Bonneville Salt Flats and "The Greatest Snow on Earth," which happens to be the current state slogan and predominant license plate label.

Being "A Desert Famous for its Snow" is not only unique, but try saying that in six words or less, even though I just did.

They have attempted to marry those two images — the red rock and the white snow — in the billboards at the borders that show a guy ski jumping into Delicate Arch. But besides looking like the loser in a third-grade art contest, that has only resonated well with a few dozen Finns.

The Huntsman administration, by the way, is paying $10 million to the new marketing campaign charged with creating the new catchphrase.

Call it a finder's fee.

---

A look at other state slogans reveals that slogan-making is no easy business. Some go a tad over the top (Alaska: "Beyond Your Dreams, Within Your Reach"). Some try a bit too hard (Idaho: "Great Potatoes. Tasty Destinations") and some beg for additional comment which may not be exactly what the tourism office hoped for: New Jersey's "The Perfect Getaway" (after you rob the bank), Oregon's "We Love Dreamers" (and hate loggers), California's "Find Yourself Here" (be careful what you wish for), Oklahoma's "Native America" (but we took it from them anyway) and New Hampshire's "Make Up for Lost Time" (Speed on to Vermont!).

This, of course, isn't the first time Utah has tried to define itself. There was the campaign a few years ago that introduced the slogan, "A Pretty, Great State," which was too subtle and too clever at the same time and suffered a pretty quick death.

So where to this time?

How about, "A Great, Pretty State"?

That eliminates the clever and the subtle.

We could go for the neighborly approach: "At Least We're Not Wyoming."

Or, "You Can't Gamble Here, But You Can in Nevada."

Or, "Not as Boring as Idaho."

We could follow the lead from Arizona ("The Grand Canyon State") and go with what put us on the map: "Stockton-to-Malone-to-You."

We could subtly draw attention to our unique lifestyles: "Discover Our Plurality," or "And You Think You're Peculiar."