Before 'Ski Utah,' state's brands were blah and short-lived

Susan Rugh's research on Utah's tourism brand history describes "Ski Utah!" and "The Greatest Snow On Earth" as reliable in helping build the state's tourism and winning the bid for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

"But its year-round brands have proven short-lived and are best forgotten," the Brigham Young University associate professor of history writes.

But before those brands are completely forgotten, let's take a tourist trip down Memory Lane.

Early attempts by state travel officials to appeal to large audiences resulted in multi-image branding. Early travel guides emphasized Mormon pioneer history. "The 1940 Chicago Motor Club guide, 'Where to Go in the Western States,' declared that Utah was 'the home of the Mormons, of their world-famous tabernacle, of the Great Salt Lake, of hardy pioneers and their rugged descendants,' " Rugh writes.

But the period after World War II featured a slow shift away from the Mormon identity, "to shed the state's identity as a Mormon curiosity, in part because they wanted to attract recreational tourists."

The first official state brand came from Julian Bamberger, proprietor of the Bamberger Railroad Co. and son of former Gov. Simon Bamberger. He put "Utah, The Friendly State" on his business envelopes. Eventually the governor endorsed having his son distribute dies of the brand to various businesses and state departments for their mailing machines.

But it was short-lived and in 1948 was replaced by "Utah: Land of Color," stressing the desert canyons and national parks.

"Utah, the Unique" followed in the mid-1950s, which Rugh said was "a nod to the dominant Mormon heritage, but also signaled the state's attempt to court all kinds of tourists." Ward Jay Roylance, a staff member at the Utah Tourist and Publicity Council, came up with that slogan.

The constant brand shifting in the 1940s and 1950s "left the state with bland branding," Rugh writes. "So by the late 1950s, the state was still in search of a recognizable identity that would stick . . . "

So, Roylance was back at it, developing "The Different World of Utah" to highlight the state's varied geography and climate. That occurred after D. James Cannon became the director of the Utah Tourist and Publicity Council in 1961.