Utah's new brand getting last-minute touch-ups before unveiling Feb. 8

The state's new brand will be uncorked Feb. 8, and tourism officials and an advertising agency will be working hard until then refining it to just the right taste.

The Utah Board of Tourism Development on Friday approved the brand "platform" and gave the go-ahead to its marketing committee to work with Office of Tourism staff and W Communications of Salt Lake City to finalize creative elements and draft the marketing plan.

Everyone at Friday's meeting that had seen the platform walked a verbal tightrope to provide a feeling of confidence and excitement without revealing the brand or too much about it. The official public unveiling of the 2006 vintage of the state brand will be Feb. 8 — the four-year anniversary of the start of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games — at the Rose Wagner Theater in Salt Lake.

"I think it's like making wine," board Chairman Kim McClelland said. "You start out with really great grapes, and you've got a great chance of having a great bottle of wine, but you can screw it up a lot of ways if you're not paying attention. And I think we have great grapes, and I think we'll have a fabulous bottle of wine when we're done."

"This is an evolutionary process," said board member Jeff Robbins. "The 'look and feel' looks great. . . . A lot of terrific and hard work went into that."

Shelleice Stokes, the marketing committee chairwoman, said the platform celebrates Utah's tourism products and quality of life. It includes mountains and red rocks, "but it's also celebrating all the other things that we have," she said.

The Legislature allocated $10 million for the current fiscal year and $4 million for next year to promote Utah to potential tourists outside the state. Since last fall, the tourism office hosted a "branding tour" to get input from people throughout the state and worked with W Communications on various elements of the brand and the marketing plan. The first draft of the plan is being reviewed.

"We need to understand that it's still a work in process and it will be fine-tuned," board member Colin Fryer said.

McClelland said many people have been "extraordinarily committed to getting this right. . . . We just want everybody to know that we appreciate everybody's effort in trying to get this right. We understand this is a legacy for the state. We know how important it is, and we will get it right, and it will be fabulous."