• NY Times, Thursday, November 17, 2005 1:30 PM

As most marketers know, slogans as promotional tools can be risky--a truism that holds especially for cities trying to hype themselves as a tourist destination. Sometimes slogans can work magic, like the famous "I Love New York" campaign that featured the image of a red heart in place of the word "love." Then there was "Virginia is For Lovers"--another winner. But the latest effort for the city of Atlanta, introduced last week, seems to be falling a bit flat. The slogan, "Every Day Is an Opening Day," is intended to convey the growth Atlanta has enjoyed over the last decade. Instead, it's apparently confusing people rather than inspiring them. "I have no idea what it means," said Laura Ries, the president of Ries & Ries, a marketing strategy firm outside Atlanta. "The main problem with most destination slogans is that they generally don't say anything and try to encompass too many things, and this is just another example of that." Bob Hope, the president of Hope-Beckham, a public relations firm in Atlanta, agreed that the challenge is daunting. "It's hard to come up with a simple definition of who you are," Mr. Hope said. "Right now, I don't think there are many common bonds across the board for the four and a half million people who live here."

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