Friday Morning Soapbox

Seattle may be good for a lot of things but selling ourselves obviously isn't one of them. Today's announcement of the new ad campaign for Seattle is, in my opinion, an embarrassment and proof that we totally suck at launching and running a decent ad campaign.

The State of Washington announced a new campaign that they spent millions in April 2006. There was tremendous fanfare over the announcement yet I was shocked and embarrassed. A group of advertising executives created the "Say WA" slogan and campaign and were truly excited at the launch. I had not talked to a single person that liked the "Say WA" campaign and they even made fun of us on NPR. So no one was surprised when just six months into the campaign it was cancelled.

Now evidently it's Seattle's turn to make fools of ourselves. The "Metronatural" campaign has been launched by the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau to increase tourism to the city. Just in case you need the definition of metronatural, here it is.

I spent the morning listening to Seatteites call in to my favorite radio station and share their opinions on the air and let's just say that I am not alone in my opinion of the campaign.

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Today is "light bulb changing day" at the office. The question that I pose every time this day rolls around... "How many employee's does it take to change a light bulb?" In the past it has taken as many as 5. Today it only took 3. I am glad to see that we are making some improvement on this.

I wish I were joking.

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Quote of the day...

"I think that somehow, we learn who we really are

and then live with that decision."

--Eleanor Roosevelt

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This day can't end soon enough. I don't quite know why I am so eager to have it behind me but I am. My weekend plans include beer, errands, plank-grilled fish, seeing the *cutest nephew in the world, wine and shoe shopping. Maybe I am just anxious to get started on all the fun.

Have a good weekend!