Slogan Discussion
The following is a record of the discussion that occurred over email after I sent a weekly update with suggested talking points. Among these talking points I included a suggestion for an Alliance slogan.
"Preserving the Cumberland Way of Life"
Please read everyones remarks on this slogan and please add your own thoughts.
Lana's Comment
I think the slogan, Preserving the Cumberland way of life, will grab everyone. Even those who may not support our eco and heritage positions will go for it. Not sure if we want to be more specific and add the word Plateau to make it Cumberland Plateau. The word Cumberland says a lot of things to me including the place in Great Britain but as I read more about it, I am not sure it exists anymore. Randy, what are your thoughts here? If we included Plateau the slogan might be a little awkward. Whichever way we go, I love the idea. It is, indeed, powerful.
Sure would be great if we could up the meeting to 12:30 or 1:00 at the church. It would give me a chance to eat something besides Burger King or other fast food for lunch as I drive. I cannot eat at 11:00, just way too early. If there is a problem, a Whopper once in awhile will not kill me. I just really look forward to something good for lunch when I make the Cookeville trip. Barring bad weather both dates look good to me.
Thanks,
Lana
Bob's Comment
Zeb and Lana,
I feel the name Cumberland works well by itself. I think of Cumberland Plateau as referring to the plateau top, while the Cumberland region is made up of plateau tops, mountainside, coves (or gulfs), and valleys, such as Sequatchie Valley where I live. Also, a significant portion of the Northern Cumberlands (like Frozen Head) is actually mountains rather than plateau.
I agree that "Preserving the Cumberland way of life" is a great slogan that will appeal to residents of the region.
Zeb, I like this weekly update idea.
Lana's Reply
Bob, great to hear your thoughts. I agree and support just the word Cumberland. It is more inclusive...
Katherine's Comment
Hi Everyone!
I agree that “Preserving the way of life” is a powerful slogan for the Alliance. I also wanted to weigh in a bit on the phrase “Cumberlands” vs. “Cumberland Plateau”. Early on during our marketing efforts with MMA, we did meetings around the region and asked LOTS of folks about this. What did they call the place where they lived? What name meant something to them? What described them? As you can imagine, we got a lot of answers. Most folks did not know what the difference between the Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains. Some folks called the place where they live “the Mountain”, or “the Plateau”, or “Walden Ridge”, or “the upper Cumberland”, and the list went on and on. In the end, the words “Cumberland Plateau region” were the ones that resonated the best with the most people. No matter what folks generally called the place they live, when we said that phrase they agreed that it described their home. Because of this, the Alliance marketing committee folks decided to brand the region with those words—hence, “Let’s Go Plateau!”.
How we market ourselves and how we market the region can be two different things, but, I think that might cause some confusion and we’ll have to be ready to defend why. We already get questions about it because our name “Alliance for the Cumberlands” doesn’t use the “Cumberland Plateau region” phrase….but, the name was in place long before the marketing committee.
I agree that “Cumberland Plateau region” is much more of a mouthful than “Cumberlands”. Adding it to any slogan makes the slogan much longer and more cumbersome to say. However, I wanted you all to have the benefit of previous conversations and efforts to develop a name…..please understand that this debate has been a long one and there are still folks out there that don’t really like “Plateau” in the marketing efforts that we do, but, they have come to accept it because we held firm based on our surveys of folks who actually live in the region.
I think it is important to understand the history of the debate around this name. I believe the fact that folks disagreed on what to call the area is one reason why marketing the region has been so difficult over the years. I think it is important for us to be as consistent as possible.
Just my two cents!
Katherine
Lana's Reply
Leadership Upper Cumberland, a now defunct group, tried to come up with a slogan and a logo for the Upper Cumberland with NO success at all. It was a great exercise in team building and exploring the idea but we experienced a big dose of realty. In my mind and probably in the minds of the Alliance for the Cumberlands board members there is very common and unique theme. In the minds of the various Chamber Directors and other interested folks that is not the case at all. I think they were approaching the slogan from the wrong direction.
“Preserving the Cumberland (Plateau) Way of Life” is a HUGE slogan. Marketing committee again...consider a poll on the website?
Byrdstown is not on the plateau but I can see it out my window. In short distance terms I agree with just the word Cumberland. In larger, more far reaching terms we are considered the Cumberland Plateau. The weather reports always refer to us as the Cumberland Plateau. As a branded area we are the Cumberland Plateau. Even the city of Cookeville is referred to as on the Plateau. Once you start up the Highland Rim from Nashville you think in terms of Plateau. The average person does not differentiate geological fine points. There is probably a different perspective coming from the South or from the East but we get Nashville TV and they have branded us better than anyone.
Bob's Reply
Another observation I thought I'd throw in, although I don't know that it will help the discussion one way or the other. I haven't done a scientific study on this, it's just the impression I've had during the 30 years I've lived in or near the Southern Cumberland area. While I tend to think of everything between the Appalchian Valley and the Eastern Highland Rim as the Cumberlands or Cumberland Plateau region, when the average local resident says or hears those terms, they're thinking of the area to the west of Sequatchie Valley. They don't necessarily think of the term Cumberland as applying to Walden's Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Sand Mountain, and so forth. Again, just thought I'd mention that. Any problem that might cause, I don't know the solution for.
As for whether we go with Cumberland or Cumberland Plateau, I'm all for keeping things as simple as possible, but I'll support the end decision. I realize that someone living say, in the Nashville area, may well think of the river first when they hear the term Cumberland.
Zeb's Reply
This is an interesting discussion and certainly see where we will run into criticism by using the word Cumberland. Randy sent out a separate email clarifying the various uses of the term which I will copy below (perhaps to his chagrin):
Oliver's Comment