'Fun-sized' slogan — suggested by a Journal reader in 2016 — captures the charms of the country's smallest state in a series of seven-second videos.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — What does "fun-sized" mean to you?
"What's appealing about something that's small?" Bob Holfelder, a Cumberland resident, said Thursday. "Well, it's like a little treat. It's bite-size. It's something manageable, but it's still something that's enjoyable."
That's what Holfelder was thinking in April 2016 when he commented online on a Providence Journal story about the state abandoning its short-lived tourism slogan "Cooler & Warmer."
"I think 'Fun Size' should be the Rhode Island slogan," he wrote in the April 2 comment. "The logo could be a tiny candy wrapper with 'RI' on it."
Two days later, the newspaper published Holfelder's suggestion in a story about what readers thought the state should use as a slogan.
And he heard nothing more about it until Thursday, when a reporter told him the state was using the slogan in online ads trying to attract out-of-state visitors.
The idea came from an advertising consultant hired by the state, Nail Communications, according to Lara Salamano, chief marketing officer of the state Commerce Corporation, who oversees the advertising campaign.
Salamano stressed that the series of seven-second web ads — there are eight now, but there will eventually be 18 of them — are just an advertising campaign, and that "Fun-sized" has not become the official state slogan.
"It can grow. It can evolve. It can become other things. It can turn into TV. It can become events," Salamano said Thursday. As examples, a beer-related tourism promotion could be tagged "pint-sized." One centered on food, "bite-sized." One focused on Block Island, "island-sized."
"We need to be nimble," Salamano said. "We need to make sure it's resonating. We do need to be fresh. We constantly need to be fresh. We need to update."
The short ads are meant to grab viewers' attention so they click on them and go to the state tourism website, visitrhodeisland.com, she said.
Each ad follows a similar theme: it starts with a close-up of people engaged in an activity in Rhode Island before dramatically zooming out to show an aerial view of the same scene. They include a fisherman on Beavertail, a group in a corn maze and kayakers along the coast.
"We really think that it will break through the clutter in the digital landscape," Salamano said.
The digital ads allow the state to track how many people see them, how many people click on them and how many people book trips as a result. Since the end of November, Salamano said, more than 1,400 hotel rooms have been booked as a direct result of the ads.
The state paid Nail $250,000 to produce the 18 videos and will spend $400,000 for them to run through March 1 on travel-related websites, including booking services, such as orbitz.com, she said.
Meanwhile, Holfelder, a professional trombonist from Cumberland, hopes his brainchild will be seen as his.
"It would be nice to at least get recognition, if not some compensation," he said.
"If we make a profit on it," Salamano said, "we could certainly give it to him."
— pparker@providencejournal.com
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