Nearly 500 people from state agencies and the wide array of businesses involved in Utah's $5.5 billion tourism industry packed the 23rd-floor reception area in downtown Salt Lake City's Wells Fargo Center to watch videos intermixing the "Life Elevated" theme with photographs of Utah's scenic wonders.
They heard speeches about the brand's importance to the state's economy and its painstaking development under the auspices of W Communications, the Salt Lake City advertising agency hired to develop the new brand after legislators in 2005 allocated $14 million for a two-year program to boost Utah's out-of-state promotions (nothing was said about an earlier tag line that was picked, only later to be discarded, because of its similarity to a Colorado slogan).
And because Utah's beauty is not confined to visuals alone - think of the sounds of skiing through virgin powder, roaring through river rapids or the stunning silence of The Narrows in Zion National Park - launch participants were treated to music. A composition by Kurt Bestor featured four violinists, a flute player, a percussionist and three back-up singers chanting Ute Indian phrases that expressed appreciation for nature.
"This is one man's idea of what it feels like to have been in Utah," said Bestor.
That theme was recurrent in comments about the brand's goal: To touch individuals, each of whom has a different sense of what is memorable, with the notion that Utah has whatever it takes to set pent-up emotions free.
Utah Tourism Office Executive Director Leigh von der Esch recounted how, growing up in Brigham City, she and her sister were introduced by their parents to camping, fishing, horseback riding, skiing and watching sunsets over the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. Utah's natural wonders helped to build a "family language" of shared memories that all will remember to their dying days, she said.
To von der Esch, these experiences represent "Life Elevated." And she expressed confidence this branding program will inspire potential visitors to "find the neglected within themselves" and feel one of those "forever moments."
Pinpointing how those moments will arise is impossible, added Tourism Board Chairman Kim McClelland of Deer Valley Lodging. He asked a Deer Valley guest recently what he liked best about his trip to Utah, figuring the answer would involve the foot of new snow that fell the day before. But the answer - secretly watching his kids embrace skiing in their first lesson - surprised McClelland until he thought more about it, and the state's campaign.
"In Utah, memorable vacation experiences aren't contrived or predetermined. They just happen," he said. "If you can get people to come to Utah, the experiences will take care of themselves."
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said he believes the new brand will help Utah "break out and stand out in a highly competitive region" because "it is real. It is authentic." It is also a call, he said, for Utahns to "elevate how we look at the world and ourselves in it," evoking attitudes of "optimism, persistence and innovation."
Wednesday's program resonated with several audience members.
Park City Mountain Resort spokeswoman Krista Parry said the brand "captures the feel and emotions we want visitors to have. When they have that emotional connection they always want to come back and recapture that emotion."
For Utah Sports Commission leader Jeff Robbins, the campaign will improve Utah's chances of taking advantage of the world prominence afforded by the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The program - and especially the open-mindedness of serving champagne at the launch reception - even appealed to a self-described cynic such as Salt Lake Acting Company playwright Nancy Borgenicht.
"I know what home means to me, and what it means to friends when I introduce them to southern Utah," she said. "This [program] was quite moving, actually. It could save the land we love so much."
mikeg@sltrib.com
