Tennessee Sounds Good To Me: But the state slogan doesn't sound good to Governor Phil Bredesen who says, "There's nothing that brands Tennessee in a phrase like that." So, the first-year governor and his commissioner of tourism, the former marketing director of Dollywood, want to change the official slogan for Tennessee. Admittedly, some state slogans do sound better than others.

Perhaps the most lovable slogan initiated by a state is I Love New York, which has served to endear us to The Big Apple as well as the State of New York over a period of more than a quarter century.

The longest continuous state tourism development campaign that is tied to a slogan is Virginia is for Lovers, which has branded the Commonwealth of Virginia since 1969. But tourism development is only part of the economic lifeblood for most states, so Virginia's slogan has been leveraged in recent years in the slogan Virginia is for Business -- call it brand extension.

Wisconsin is for Cheeseheads doesn't sound like a particularly great slogan for the state (and it's not); with all due respect to the phenomenal Green Bay Packers, who are loved statewide and beyond. So, it's not surprising that people in the State of Wisconsin have huddled recently at Curly's Pub at Lambeau Field to develop a game plan for the heady issues concerning the state branding, which has been a political football for a few years.

The Brand Called Wisconsin is the title of a very thoughtful White Paper presented at an Economic Summit at the University of Wisconsin a few years ago by Marsha Lindsay, CEO of the Madison (not the Avenue) advertising agency Lindsay, Stone & Briggs. It's a "must read" for anyone seriously interested in branding at the state level.