‘Not for everyone’? Nebraska using humor to draw tourists

Nebraska has an image problem.

For four consecutive years, it’s come in last on a list of states that tourists are interested in visiting, according to the travel marketing research firm MMGY Global. Even though travel writers routinely praise Omaha’s music and art scenes and the state’s spectacular wildlife, people on the coasts tend to think of Nebraska as a really long cornfield they have to drive through to reach the Rockies.

So tourism officials are trying out a new approach. The Nebraska Tourism Commission revealed last week its new slogan: “Honestly, it’s not for everyone.”

A news release from the Nebraska Tourism Commission acknowledges that the state “may not be on everyone’s bucket list of places to visit.” But, the commission said, “if you like experiences that are unpretentious and uncomplicated or if you enjoy escaping the big city life for moments of solitude in the open plains, creating your own fun or exploring the quirkiness the state has to offer, chances are, you will like it here.”

The tagline is featured in ads that will begin running next spring, with the goal of changing people’s perception of Nebraska as a place where there’s nothing to do, the commission said. One shows hikers on a rock formation alongside the phrase, “Famous for our flat, boring landscape.” Another features a waterfall running through a forest and the line, “Another day on the dusty plains.”

Brand consultants hired by the state found that most consumers don’t consider Nebraska to be a leisure travel destination, the commission said in its news release. The campaign needed to be “disruptive,” the commission wrote, because of the “marketing challenge” facing Nebraska. The slogan’s self-effacing humor was well-received when tested in out-of-state markets that could potentially deliver tourists to Nebraska, the commission said.

Still, not all Nebraskans are sold on the new marketing strategy. A poll by the Omaha World-Herald shows that a majority of readers say they like the slogan, but critics say that it doesn’t help sell the state as a place that tourists might want to visit.

“I just don’t think the best way to pitch ourselves is calling out stereotypes about ourselves,” Micah Yost, a Nebraska native who owns a branding and marketing firm in Omaha, told The Washington Post. “There’s no reason why that would draw people to the state.”

So, how would he pitch his home state to outsiders? “Nebraska was part of the original frontier, and there could be the idea of discovery and really helping people discover things that are out here that they maybe weren’t aware of,” he said, citing the energy of cities like Omaha and Lincoln, and the easy access to outdoor activities, trails and wildlife.

Officials told the WorldHerald that the state spent $450,000 on the campaign.

The self-deprecating slogan lends itself to parody. On Twitter, some Nebraskans jokingly proposed their own slogans, such as “Nebraska: We don’t want to be here, either.”