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Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval can now add comedy straight-man to his impressive résumé.

Who knew?

Mr. Sandoval just unveiled a $3 million marketing campaign as Nevada's first-ever statewide brand.

Except it isn't.

Nevada already owns a far better one.

The only rival to "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" (which Gomorrah South stole from Alcoholics Anonymous), originated here in the late 1960's.

Reno's Tyson-Curtis-Wilson ad agency (William Tyrone Tyson, Mark Curtis, Sr., and Thomas C. Wilson ["Harolds Club or Bust!"], all deceased [1]) developed a world-class concept for the Nevada Commission on Economic Development and Tourism.

It simply used what people knew about us to sell everything else: "Nevada: Bet On It."

Marketing pros nationwide took their hats off to that bull's eye of a campaign that would fit any specific.

Is Nevada great for outdoor sports? Bet on it.

Is Nevada a great place to do business? Bet on it.

Is Nevada the place for world class entertainment? Bet on it.

The campaign's rainbow-colored compass logo was turned into lapel pins that became collectors' items worldwide.

Gambling execs told me the distinctive round bling would draw people across a crowded room asking "what is that?"

It remains the best promotional campaign — and in modern Orwellian terminology — the best branding that Nevada has ever seen.

Everything since has been mediocrity.

Sandoval's new sizzle is so very corporate: "Nevada: A world within. A state apart," comes complete with a little sideways banana above the first "a" sternly ordering readers not to mis-pronounce the state's name.

The Los Angeles Angels can sue us for infringement of their halo trademark.

This thing was designed by a committee worthy of the Dilbert comic strip.

Nothing new.

In 1970, a young art director suggested "Las Vegas: Come and get it on" as a cool new theme.

The Mad Men of the day perverted it into "Las Vegas: Come and get it," which conjures up images of a dinner bell-banging chuckwagon cook.

Sandoval isn't doing his Republican Party any favors, either.

The GOP is trying to mend fences with Hispanics and now comes Nevada's first Latino governor scolding them that they are mis-pronouncing the state's Español name.

Mispronunciation is a hallowed Nevada tradition from Verdi to Vur-die, MoAhna to MoAnna, Genoa to JennOhAh, Ely to Ee-lee.

At least we agree about Las Vegas.

The new state "branding" is just a rehash of the 1970's "Reno Reno" campaign from the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority.

Maytag Washer Repairman Jesse White, in top hat and tails, sang about two Renos, one with lots of goodies apart from the familiar gambling and nightlife.

New York ad guys have merely recapped Reno Reno with more syllables.

The late wise man George Carlin warned us to beware whenever anybody starts adding syllables —> Shell shock became combat fatigue became traumatic stress disorder became post-traumatic stress syndrome, reducing real human suffering to a bloodless, emotionless term for a very real wound.

I feel wounded that the state is sending this campaign and its taxpayer millions to two Big Apple outfits with big names and even bigger client lists.

Every time this happens, we get third-string interns for a fourth-rate level of spending and fifth-rate ad copy and graphics.

With predictable results.

Alas, Nevadans remain so insecure that we think somebody from the big city must know more than us hicks.

A familiar malady.

I hope that involvement in this program doesn't force the Las Vegas country band The Killers to become known as The Buzz Killers.

They perform the campaign's theme, Cole Porter's Don't Fence Me In, an old Roy Rogers drugstore cowboy ditty popular before most people were born.

Consumers may thus correctly conclude that uptight Nevada has yet to discover that subversive (don't say it!) rock 'n' roll.

Buzz kill, indeed.

Our biggest non-gambling special event, Burning Man, is conspicuously absent.

Too much rock 'n' roll.

Is Nevada great for self-satire?

Bet on it.

WEB EXTRAS...

HONOR YOUR DON. Keep sending comments supporting legendary Nevada photographer Don Dondero (1920-2003) for the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame.

His life's work appeared worldwide, including this newspaper.

Enlist in the campaign to install Big Don.

Please send me your memories and endorsements via e-mail or to P.O. Box 10034, Reno NV 89510.

The Barbwire got the late RGJ columnist Guy Richardson elected last year.

Let's go for a repeat.

BARBWIRE.TV. Support the return of community TV to these parts.

If last year's elections didn't convince you of the need, the 2013 legislature certainly will.

Join up. You may donate at ReSurge.TV or contact me.

This is important. Thank you.

VOTE FOR THE LUCKY 13, the most powerful Nevadans of 2013. Send nominations to <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>

Last year's rogues gallery will be linked to the expanded web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com/

LET'S GET IT ON. E-me to get on the Barbwire News bulletin list for information not filtered through corporate lenses.

I broke a bushel of major stories last year which the above lead item will very probably top.

Turn on, tune in and tell a friend.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)

____________

Andrew Barbano is a 44-year Nevadan, chair of the Nevada César Chávez Committee, producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration, first vice-president and political action chair of the Reno-Sparks NAACP, labor/consumer/civil rights advocate, member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO and editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. Check local listings for other Nevada cable systems. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Daily Sparks Tribune since 1988.

Smoking Guns...        1. After TCW disbanded, Ty Tyson became advertising director for Reno's Mapes Hotel-Casino and the Money Tree Casino.      After leaving the agency, Mark Curtis, Sr., became advertising director for Harrah's. His son, Mark Curtis, Jr., has long operated his own Reno advertising firm.      Thomas C. Wilson, originator of the world-famous "Harolds Club or Bust!" campaign, was the dean of Reno advertising executives in his day. His citation inducting him into the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame reads: "The ex-reporter launched Reno’s first advertising agency in 1939. He was known as the 'father of ideas,' and his creativity sparked the world’s first casino ad campaign (Harolds Club or Bust!)." He was also the father of eminent Reno attorney and 16-year Nevada State Senator Thomas R.C. ("Spike") Wilson III, D-Reno. "Old Tom" continued operating a full-service advertising agency for almost all of the rest of his life. A fine gentleman.   ...and more ammo... We Don't Need No Education The continuing Barbwire series The Post-Dated Recession: Pay me now or pay me later Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-6-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune The Post-dated Recession By Joshua H. Silavent / Daily Sparks Tribune / 5-3-2011 Union decline and rising inequality in two charts by Colin Gordon Economic Policy Institute / 6-5-2012 Used in journalist Mark Robison's extensive Hard Labor: Nevada unions tout role in helping workers, firms, economy (Sunday 2 Sept. 2012 Reno Gazette-Journal, page one, Reno Rebirth section of the print edition). Union men Jim Burrell, Paul McKenzie and Guy Louis Rocha did the movement proud. Not included in the RGJ online edition. WOMEN AND UNIONS — ORPHAN MAJORITIES The Barbwire Labor Day column Reno Gazette-Journal / 9-3-2012 Nevada Press Assn. Better Newspaper Contest HAT TRICK: Barbwire takes first place three years in a row. The winning entries Suing for Schools: The 20-year shuck Expanded from the 2-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune Click here to view the show on your desktop RED flags flying low over Sparks Expanded from the 1-10-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune The wrath of self-righteous racism Expanded from the 11-8-2009 Daily Sparks Tribune Government contacts Nev. congressional delegation Nevada Legislature State of Nevada Secretary of State Carson City Clark County City of Las Vegas Douglas County Reno City Council Sparks City Council Washoe County Commission Washoe Registrar of Voters The campaign against forcibly-paid newspaper obituaries And they wonder why the newspaper business is dying?   The Dean's List    The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described "fighter of public demons," who started putting his "Barbwire" columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites. RENO NEWS & REVIEW, 11-9-2006 The 2009 first-place Nevada Press Association award winners Tony the Tiger & the flaky NFL Barbwire / 11-30-2008 Deregulation is never having to say you're sorry Barbwire / 8-3-2008 Nevada: A good place to visit, but do you want to live here? Barbwire / 6-15-2008 The 2008 first-place Nevada Press Association award winners The price of a piece / 6-17-2007 Boxing Pandora /9-23-2007 The Lady in the Red Dress 10-28-2007 1997 Pulitzer Prize entries ...and more ammo yet Barbwire Corporate Welfare Archive Barbwire Corporate Propaganda Archive Cabellyup.com

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Copyright © 1982-2013 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 44-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org; and former chair of the City of Reno's Citizens Cable Compliance Committee, He is producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration and serves as first vice-president, political action chair and webmaster of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.

Barbwire by Barbano moved to the Daily Sparks (Nev.) Tribune on Aug. 12, 1988, and has originated in them parts ever since.
How a hall-of-famer's hunch birthed the Barbwire in August of 1987
Tempus fugit.

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