Raimondo’s National Press Problem Following Tourism Fallout
Sunday, April 10, 2016
It’s been a roller coaster couple of weeks for the Governor of Rhode Island.
Gina Raimondo, accustomed to getting glowing national press, was suddenly not just in the Rhode Island media glare, but under national scrutiny for the botched rollout of the state's new tourism campaign.
SLIDES: See "Highlights" From National Tourism Coverage BELOW
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“A world-renowned designer was hired. Market research was conducted. A $5 million marketing campaign was set. What could go wrong?” quipped Katharine Seeyle for The New York Times in the post-mortem a week later on April 6. “Everything, it turns out.”
“The anatomy of a disastrous state branding campaign,” wrote Aarian Marshall for City Lab for The Atlantic Cities. “After Rhode Island’s epic screw-up, a five-step guide to doing better.”
Just months earlier, GoLocal wrote on January 12, “Raimondo Getting Great National PR, While Struggling in RI.” Now, the heat is coming from both directions.
“Of course, you always want good media coverage. That’s especially true with national media because they rarely do stories locally, and when they do, the leftover images of the story tend to stay in the nation’s memory longer,” said Dave Layman, former Providence news anchor and director, and now corporate communications consultant. “On the other hand, local media coverage is more forgiving since you might get a bad story one day…but the next day, a positive story leavens it out a bit.”
“Initial national coverage puts you on the world wide radar and that’s great during the “honeymoon period” when all is going well. National coverage is not so appealing when controversies begin to swirl, once you’re in office for awhile…and it really hurts if scandal is the basis for the follow-up stories,” said Layman. “Fortunately, this is not a scandal story as most people see it.”
The Highs, and the Lows
Up, then down. The Commerce Corporation put up -- then took down -- its new tourism video in a matter of hours, for this scene - of Iceland.
Then there was Raimondo's appearance in Fortune Magazine as one of its “World’s Greatest Leaders," taking the number thirty-eight position for her oft-cited and highly contentious pension reform effort as General Treasurer — five years ago.
Roger Williams University Professor of Journalism Michael Scully spoke to the impact of the negative coverage -- which he saw as minimal.
“Governor Raimondo's recent spate of negative coverage in the national press is just a minor blip on the radar. It's just a fleeting yelp that has been amplified by social media. But the noise has died down and what she does next will define her abilities as an executive. At the center of this is her tourism campaign, and what she needs to do now is simply move forward," said Scully. "The key to this campaign isn't the slogan, it's how the campaign is executed."
Raimondo has said the state will be dropping the much-maligned "cooler and warmer" logo slogan but retaining the image; a new video has yet to emerge following the initial one being pulled for the Iceland footage.
“I think that Governor Raimondo has picked a strong direction for the Rhode Island economy: Promoting tourism is a great idea for the Ocean State and I appreciate the fact that she's investing $5 million towards that purpose. All we had is a slogan and a slogan is NOT a campaign; what she needs to do now is sell the idea,” said Scully.
“So how does this effect her politically? What she does next will define her administration. If she cowers to social media's reaction to the tourism slogan, she's done. Executives who second guess themselves stop being leaders," said Scully. "Now, if she moves forward with the campaign and demonstrates some clear results from the investment in tourism, she will show the public that she has the ability to lead. Basically, she needs to double down and own it.”
Reviewing What Went Wrong - and Looking Forward
City Lab’s Marshall raised the question of the state’s use of out-of-state vendors, when the slogan fell flat — and a video was allowed to run with footage from a foreign country
“The demise of “Cooler & Warmer” is all the more tragic for the design talent behind it. The logo is actually the work of superstar Milton Glaser, the man responsible for the iconic “I Love New York” campaign, but also that very famous poster of Bob Dylan and (most importantly!) Brooklyn Brewery’s label. But Rhode Islanders were not amused. They wanted to know why the state spent an estimated $550,000 on designers, and why a New York communications firm won the right to head PR for the rollout,” wrote Marshall. “It’s very possible that these companies had the best (and cheapest) proposals when Rhode Island came looking for contractors. But it’s at least worth considering local firms—if only to cover one’s butt.”
Layman, who had been Director of Communications for former Republican Congressional candidate Brendan Doherty, offered his views on the political implications of the public scrutiny.
“In my view, the tourism spectacle would not, on its own, fatally harm [Raimondo], politically. That only harms her in the long term if this is seen as part of a disappointing pattern. Her political critics will argue that’s already happened with the embarrassing rollout of the controversial initial tolling plan a year ago; the ethical flare-up of her hiring of former state representative, Donald Lally, and her prolific out-of-state hirings that some view as expensive cronyism,” said Layman.
“While on A Lively Experiment this week, we tended to dismiss this but I think that is a mistake. Remember, Governor Raimondo was elected with just 41% of the vote—far from an electoral mandate! So, missteps can inflict serious political damage for her if they continue. I believe these episodes have certainly undermined her reputation and formidable image as a tough businesswoman who knows how to manage and has good instincts. She is now vulnerable in ways she was not in January 2015. The good news for her is she has lots of opportunities and two-and-a-half years to win some of that back,” said Layman.
“In all fairness to the Governor, her tremendous and widely praised success with the state pension reform while she was General Treasurer really set her up for unrealistic expectations. She’s a human being and a capable leader who is taking on the most ambitious reform of state government that I have ever witnessed. That’s one heck of a task made necessary by the failures of previous Governors and General Assemblies," said Layman.
Related Slideshow: National Press Critique RI’s Embarrassing Tourism Campaign - 2016
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