Check back on this...but I think $50K is just the cost of writing the "Live Like You Mean It" line. Wasn't there an earlier payment of like $70 or 80K as a first step in this "branding process"? Didn't they announce this last year as "Wisconsin Originals"

And did anyone notice that the line is supposed to work for ALL state agencies...from DNR to Dept. of Transportation to Agriculture to Justice to Corrections!!
Now there's a new one.
Maybe a guy looking out from behind the bars with "Live like you mean it!" underneath?

Or maybe one of Doyle's released felons wearing an ankle bracelett
smiling and saying "Live Like You REALLY Mean it!"

Or how about one of Doyle's illegal immigrants with a state tuition check saying
"Live Like You Mean it!"

Can we recall Doyle now?
Anybody ready to sign on?

I suggest.."Living it up!!"

Close enough, right?

The slogan and logo are completely regrettable (and forgettable), if not downright embarrassing to WI citizens! Does anyone out there seriously think that such droll nonsense would somehow draw businesses and tourism into the state? And if you factor in the cost of this debacle, one can only conclude misappropriation, malfeasance, and misconduct. Wonder who has a relative on the payroll at Red Brown Kle (isn't that a brand of chewing tobacco?)? How incompetent is Doyle and his administration? I suspect we need only wait a little longer to answer that question! It's well past time to dump his dopey grin and anorexic little mate off our free state maps!

The best state slogan I have ever heard was "Kansas, The Land of Ahs".

freddog, the attorney for the Bald Vulture Anti-Defamation League is holding for you on line 2...

Thanks to Doyle, it should be "escape FROM wisconsin".

$50,000.00 is just what the state paid the Milwaukee marketing firm. Then you have to add in the time (salaries) spent by state workers to discuss, evaluate, approve, etc.
Check this out: "The state's brand manager Sarah Klavas has said a legal review turned up no problems with the state's use of the phrase. And she says the $50,000.00 paid to Red Brown Kle is fraction of the department's $10 million marketing budget".
I thought - wow, the state has a "brand manager"?!? And the Department of Tourism has a $10,000,000.00 budget?!?
I'm almost speechless...

$50,000.00 is a fraction of the budget huh, shows how much they respect taxpayer dollars....just a pitence to them, what about some guy trying to live on 20 grand a year, seems like a lot to him..

since they are changing things how about the state bird being the vulture, preferably bald...

keep-a-going

You forget the role of government. It is to: TAKE SOME THING SIMPLE, & COMPLICATE IT!!"..

What a stupid slogan. They could have had mine: "Wisconsin - where the smell is all well" for half the money.

Wisconsin - #2 in Milk, But Our Governor's the Cheesiest!

Hey JohnDoe~ Neither is "LIVE IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT" But hey that earned the ad firm $50,000 so it doesn't have to be new or original, "Smell Our Dairy Air" was new to me, so sorry for the confusion there John. Now if you come up with something funny John and I haven't heard it before I will thank you for the laugh and new (to me) Joke.

"Thanks for the laugh and A new joke!"

Sorry, but it's not new, or original.

But it is humorous.

Walker~ I love it "Wisconsin-Smell our Dairy Air" Thats awesome, Holy Cow thats the funniest thing I've read in A long time! Thanks for the laugh and A new joke! "Smell Our Dairy Air" Thats funny I don't care who ya are.........

$10 Million budget? Hey folks looks like we found another area thats SUCKING UP MORE OF ALL OF OUR TAX DOLLARS!!!!!! WOW $50,000 for an over used phrase how impressive! I think I read somewhere (No I know I read it) that Bacardi used this same phrase, thats funny so now Wisconsin is using the same phrase that A company used to sell BOOZE! Thats great you can't even come up with jokes that funny, so I guess Doyle and Wisconsin are the punchline......... HAHAHAHAAHAHAH I get it!

I would have done it for free, and felt honored if they chose it.

"Wisconsin Where Trains Are Dreams And Tax Payer Money Can Make Them Come True" What a joke

A contest may have made sense, but I think it would probably have cost even more. By the time all our beaurocrats were done setting up the contest, the rules, the submission stations and hiring extra staff to go over all the submissions, and then debating which slogan is the best over expensive lunches and dinners, our lawmakers would've squandered well over $50,000.

I, too, think $50,000 is rediculous. "Escape To Wisconsin" was a much more meaningful logo. And, the graphic for the logo? I wouldn't have known that it was a person doing a cartwheel unless I had read that this is what it is supposed to depict. Total waste of money for changing a logo that has always been great from the start.

folow the money. there is something about the 50 grand for that stupid slogan that isn't right, morally or any other way. the contest idea is well tested and the state could have given ten grand, for example, to the winner. but in politics, now a days, nothing is ever going to make any sense when it comes to taxpayers money and the fradulant spending of it on all levels, fed, state and local.

I saw someone once had the "Wisconsin, your among friends" bumper sticker, only they removed the "r" in friends.
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I always wished they would use "Wisconsin- Smell Our Dairy Air"

50 grand for a slogan they stole from a Bacardi ad. Gee, I wonder why this state is in such a mess.

Well, that's pretty typical -- probably even low -- for a marketing slogan with potentially many years uses in different media with a budget the size of Wisconsin's. I agree the results were pretty lame, but the choice was probably made by bureaucrats.
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Apparently they think America's Dairyland isn't as applicable now that California has bypassed us in milk production. But You're Among Friends was pretty likable, farmgirl. I do remember it was thought bland when introduced as well. I know I forgot all about it, so maybe that's a hit.

Wow! I would have charged only 2 or 3 dollars for one of mine!!!

no kidding 50K for that logo...what are they out of their mind? Why not open it up to a contest for all Wisconsin residents, I know several talented students and adults that would love and be very good at creating a design/logo. We could even award a prize of say $1,000.00 and have saved $49K to be put to better use. Maybe then we could actually get something a little more original instead of old hand me down logos and sayings. Sheesh, for 50K I would think the ad company could be a little more original.
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By the way I still love the old sayings of Wisconsin Your Among Friends and Escape To Wisconsin, or the original Americas Dairy Land...what ever in the world was wrong with them? Why must we always spend money to change things that work?

I guess I should have majored in marketing!

I still think "Escape to Wisconsin" is more marketable and timeless. Nice to see they spent $50,000 on a font and the silhouette of a person, nice going.