What state tourism logos look like now vs. 10 years ago
When these logos work, they work, and you don’t want to mess with them
John F. Kennedy established the U.S. Travel Service in 1961 to encourage tourism, and today, the federal government, all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia have some version of their own tourism departments.
These tourism departments aim to do for their travel industry what it can’t do for itself, as Visit California’s corporate guidelines puts it (like putting on a Super Bowl ad, which California did this year). They’re state advertising agencies for tourism, and in some cases, their logos act as de facto logos for states.
A tweet rounding up state tourism logos from a decade ago recently went mega viral on Twitter. I rearranged them in alphabetical order and went through state agency sites today to find their current logos and compare.
Above is what these logos look like now.
Here’s what they looked like in 2012:
What do you think? Which states are the most improved? Which states had it and lost it?
Some logos don’t need a rebrand. New York’s “I ❤️ NY” was famously designed by the late Milton Glaser on the back of an envelope with a red crayon during a cab ride. Introduced in 1977, it’s now in the Museum of Modern Art and brought in $1.83 million in licensing fees for the state in 2011, according to the Village Voice.
Virginia also has a heart-related logo concept they’ve kept around for more than 50 years now, and it even predates New York’s by seven years.
“Virginia Is For Lovers” made its debut in the March 1969 issue of Modern Bride magazine. The slogan was the work of Robin McLaughlin, who envisioned a customizable slogan, as in “Virginia is for history lovers,” or “Virginia is for beach lovers.” The agency Martin & Woltz Inc. shortened it to be more concise.
The first ad told the story of Anne Burras, one of the first English women to arrive in the Jamestown colony. She married carpenter John Laydon and started “the Virginia honeymoon,” the ad’s copy reads. The ❤️ has been part of Virginia’s logo since 1969, and in 2009, its 40th anniversary, “Virginia is for Lovers” was inducted into Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame along with the Budweiser Clydesdales and “Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There.”
If a state doesn’t have a logo famous enough to become a popular symbol in its own right, getting it onto cars can help build familiarity. Utah’s rock formation wordmark, South Dakota’s script wordmark, and Mississippi’s logo, with its looping quadruple Ss, all appear on license plates.
As state’s emerge post-vaccine, they’re eager to woo back travelers, and many have launched new campaigns, including Georgia, where Republican Gov. Brian Kemp directed $5.8 million in federal surplus funds to the state’s tourism industry last year, plus $1 million in grants for tourism marketing.
Looking at updated logos can give us an idea of what states think tourists are looking for. Georgia and West Virginia lean into their charm and folksiness with new logos that still manage to look contemporary.
Other states have moved to sans-serif logos. It’s become a meme to joke about fashion brands all swapping out their serif logos for sans-serif ones, but current logos from Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, and New Mexico show how the look can be simple and strong.
A major consideration for states planning their campaigns is where their visitors come from. More of California’s out-of-state overnight visitors came from Arizona and Texas in the first quarter of 2022 than any other state, according to Visit California, which I find kind of funny considering I’ve seen more “Don’t California My [Your State Here]” bumper stickers on trucks with Arizona and Texas license plates than any other state.
The home of Hollywood, the cradle of Big Tech, and political birthplace of top Democrats including Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Gov. Gavin Newsom, conservatives love to hate the Golden State and seem gleeful for its perceived decline. What’s a state to do when the culture wars reach the gates of The Happiest Place on Earth? Visit California, a nonprofit that works with the state of California’s Office of Tourism, leans into its amusement park attractions with a logo that looks like it could be a California Adventure concept logo, set in Gotham.
While tourism can have the power to break down barriers between blue states and red, a pre-pandemic campaign in California in 2019 showed the extent that politics can play a role in tourist perceptions.
While former President Donald Trump was still in office, Visit California said national policies negatively affected sentiment among likely travelers. It’s solution was an “All Dreams Welcome” campaign that “while not political in nature, targets our key international markets,” with a nuanced messaging strategy addressing county- and region-specific challenges, the group said in a press release at the time.
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Update: This post was updated on June 1, 2022 with additional images and information.