Sample ad using Brand Atlanta’s new slogan. Photo courtesy of Brand Atlanta Inc.

Melinda Ennis-Roughton, executive director and chief marketing officer, Brand Atlanta Inc. Photo by Mike Rast Jr.

The City of Atlanta’s marketing organization, Brand Atlanta Inc., is developing its first international campaign to market the Georgia capital in the United Kingdom in fall 2008, according to Melinda Ennis-Roughton, executive director and chief marketing officer for the project.

Ms. Ennis-Roughton made the announcement at a meeting of the British American Business Group Atlanta Chapter.  Ms. Ennis-Roughton said that the decision to begin the campaign in Britain was made based on the high numbers of European tourists that visit Georgia and the similarities between the two locales.

“We decided to put our toe in the water in England because we supposedly have a common language,” she told GlobalAtlanta jokingly.

Ms. Ennis-Roughton lived in Surrey, England, for over four years and noted the lack of awareness about Atlanta that exists there.

“A lot of people didn’t know where Atlanta was,” she said in a distinct Southern accent.  “When I opened my mouth people thought I was from Texas.”

The Brand Atlanta campaign began as an initiative of Mayor Shirley Franklin in 2005 to publicize Atlanta as a tourist destination.  The tourism industry currently brings $143 million in revenue to the city budget each year and provides numerous jobs in the hospitality business, according to Ms. Ennis-Roughton.

Ms. Ennis-Roughton was hired in June as part of Brand Atlanta’s reorganization, which includes bringing Lynette Young, chief operating officer for the city of Atlanta, onto the campaign’s board of directors as well as lowering its budget and changing its overall slogan.

Ms. Ennis-Roughton said that the campaign initially received large endowments from Atlanta-based corporations, but that it now has a smaller budget supplied entirely by the city government.

Brand Atlanta announced in October that it was abandoning its original slogan, “Every day is an opening day” in favor of “City lights, Southern nights,” in response to an Internet poll of 2,400 respondents from across the United States.

News reports of the slogan change have attributed too much influence to the use of catchphrases in the campaign, according to Ms. Ennis-Roughton.

“A slogan doesn’t sell a city,” she said, adding that a number of different catchphrases are being developed to deliver “distinct messages for different target audiences.”

The Brand Atlanta campaign has faced criticism in the press, many reports claiming that previous efforts did not communicate Atlanta’s diverse population and targeted only certain demographics as potential tourists.   Ms. Ennis-Roughton said that the use of multiple ads is meant to draw all types of tourists to the city from across the U.S. and abroad.

She said that the “city lights” slogan is targeted toward the domestic market, particularly young professionals, identified as between the ages of 25 and 44; and “empty-nesters,” people age 45 and older.

Ms. Ennis-Roughton displayed several possible ads that are still being refined using the “city lights” slogan, as well as several other samples featuring Atlanta area attractions such as Stone Mountain Park, Zoo Atlanta and the Atlanta Braves.

The results of focus groups and polls are indicating that people in the United States see Atlanta as a world-class city that can offer the charm of Southern hospitality, according to Ms. Ennis-Roughton.

The international campaign requires a different angle, as the idea of “Southern hospitality” is not as well known outside the U.S.

The campaign will emphasize Georgia as a destination for ecological tourism, focusing on the state’s natural beauty.  Ms. Ennis-Roughton said that many European tourists visit the state to see its parks, mountains and beaches.

The new campaign will include advertisements in print, on travel Web sites and television.  The ads will also be featured in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where there has not been much of an Atlanta marketing presence in the past, according to Ms. Ennis-Roughton.