Key Challenge
Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. History – all history – is laced with good and bad, highs and lows.  And southern history in particular seems prone to negative stereotypes.  The state of Mississippi was grappling with the challenges of the southern narrative in the national psyche.  When creating a destination brand for the state, was it better to distance Mississippi’s tourism assets from the southern legacy?  Or was there a way to redefine the southern experience, so that it is identified more by the exotic lure, romance, magic and mystery of the south.

Critical Insight
North Star research found that visitors and prospective visitors are fascinated by the south, and they view Mississippi’s influence on southern culture as her greatest asset. In fact, even though Mississippi is not geographically the most southern state, it was overwhelmingly identified by consumers as being the most southern culturally. Even travel writers define her as the heart of the Deep South.

Essentially, Mississippi has played a critical role in the evolution of almost every type of important southern culture including literature, innovation, technology, hospitality, cooking, music, football, charm, gaming and work ethic. Collectively, she offers a broad, textured and varied southern experience.  

To stereotype, pigeonhole or footnote Mississippi is to reduce her. To remove her from the southern framework is to miss the point. 

Brand Strategy
North Star recommended a strategy that targets those who appreciate authentic people and places, positioning Mississippi as the most southern state and the mother of southern culture . . . yesterday, today and tomorrow.

American author and scholar Bill Ferris describes Mississippi as “a place in the imagination . . . shrouded in romance and myth but with realities as intriguing, as intricate, as its legends.”  North Star’s creative direction emphasized the idea of Mississippi as a place in each visitor’s imagination, focusing on the personal journey that people take in their search for the “true south” in Mississippi.  Because each person’s definition of the true south is their own, this campaign is very intimate, personal and flexible. It has appeal for people of all races, cultures, income level and backgrounds.  And it allows Mississippi to own all that is rich and authentic about the south, including the state’s historic struggles.  

The line, “Find Your True South” is coupled with a mark featuring a classically designed compass. The mark leverages the existing equity in the stylized type treatment of Mississippi that accompanies the official state logo.  Together the logo and line emphasize and support the idea of each visitor’s search for the south that speaks to them.  The south that feels true. Advertising and credo copy is intimate and emotional, defining varied Mississippi experiences from the viewpoint of different visitors . . . but retaining the historical context that gives the state its greater meaning.

Initial Concepts

One of the ways North Star brings your brand to life is with a Brand Identity package, which is the creative representation of your identity. Creative goodies include recommendations for a logo, strap line, color palette, print ads, outdoor boards, t-shirts, websites and more!  (Note:  The “initial concept” is North Star’s recommendation.  As our client’s brand implementation progresses we will provide their “evolution of the idea”!)

Evolution of the Idea

The following advertisements were developed by Frontier Strategies, LLC.

 

 

 

Find Your True South: Toyota Corolla Ad
Having trouble with the link? Click HERE to access the video via YouTube.

Brand Action

Bringing a two-dimensional brand to life in a three-dimensional community takes a strong brand action plan. Following are a sampling of action ideas from the hundreds developed specifically for the Mississippi Development Authority. All were designed to help them wear their brand like a second skin.

• Create a series of cultural trails - Develop a list of cultural trails representative of Mississippi‘s True South including music, food, literature, art and dance. For each of these trails, develop a mobile application that not only gives visitors directions to various events, attractions and assets along the trail but also gives interesting facts and history about what the visitor will be seeing along the way.
  
  
• Have a portable presence at major events - Ensure the presence of the state destination brand identity at major events in cities statewide with a mobile “Find Your True South” Center. Use a luxury bus as the mobile Center. Brand the outside of the bus so that it is visual, interesting and appealing. Content within the Center can change depending on what events or attractions are being visited at the time.
  
  
• Design reusable boxes to tell “True South” stories - Create branded eco-friendly shipping boxes for True South artisan gifts and on-line orders that can be reused and are printed with specially designated space that lets each user write a personal message about the enclosed item to the next person in the chain.
  
  
  
  
• Create “True South” interactive experiences - Create a series of Find Your True South Experiences that put visitors up close and personal with southern culture. A few suggestions:
  • A blues workshop that goes through the process and passion of writing, composing and playing blues music.
  • Working a fishing boat including hauling in the nets, separating and weighing the fish, etc.
  • Viking cooking classes that focus on southern favorites like homemade biscuits, fried chicken and sweet tea. Classes can also explore current twists on traditional favorites.
    
    
    
• Sponsor an explorer family - Turn one family's search for their true south into a reality show. Sponsor a True South Explorer Family as they take an RV trip across Mississippi.
  
  
  
• Partner with restaurants - Anyone who has ever devoured Mississippi caramel cake, biscuits, fried chicken, gravy, cornbread or mud pie has wondered how in the world southern cooks make such magic. Ask top restaurants in Mississippi to create True South Dinner Kits, allowing visitors to replicate incredible southern dining experiences at home.
  
  
  
• Mississippi 2017: Homecoming of the South - Celebrate Mississippi’s Bicentennial in 2017 with a statewide “Homecoming of the South”. Partner with the state’s matriarchs (literal and figurative) to invite all Mississippi children home to their true south.
  

Results

Check out these videos on Mississippi's True South and the economic impact of tourism for the state!

Kudos

"Stakeholder appreciation for and alignment behind the brand has been remarkable. It has actually been described as 'spiritually cathartic'. We are excited about putting it to work in the marketplace."
- Mary Beth Wilkerson, Director of Tourism, Mississippi Development Authority