PE.com - Tourism Blog

The Desert By Any Other Name, is Still Palm Springs

The Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention and Visitors Authority (perennial winner in the "Longest Name for a Quasi-Government Agency" contest) has apparently scrapped its old slogan "Give in to the Desert" in favor of "Palm Springs California -- an Oasis of Desert Resorts"

A couple bits of background:

1. The old slogan was originally introduced as "Give in to the Desert - You're Surrounded," which unnerved a few branding experts I spoke to at the time who thought it sounded like hostage taking. Eventually a less claustrophobic sounding "Give in to the Desert" was used.

2. The CVA gets most of its funding from city members (Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Cathedral City, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Desert Hot Springs) who give the group a portion of the hotel taxes it earns. Because all eight cities are investing in the organization that is set up to promote the desert to meeting planners, groups and the press, no one city wants to be left out. So instead of letting "Palm Springs" get all the glory in branding efforts, they always try to add "desert cities" to account for the rest of them.

So after a marketing firm, Reno-based InfoSearch International was paid $10,000 to reccomend a new slogan (they suggested "Palm Springs, California's Desert Oasis") the CVA's cities voted to add "desert cities" to it.

In a Power Point marketing presentation to the governing board, the CVA's administrators acknowledged that there's a "Lack of brand clarification - the destination, is not sending a clear destination branding message"

Check back later - I'll be posting a list of memorable travel slogans to other destinations.