D.C. seeks catchphrase to draw tourists

WASHINGTON — In its hunt for slogans to lure tourists, the nation's capital never has lit on the elegance of a "Virginia Is for Lovers" or the panache of a "What Happens Here, Stays Here."

"A Capital City" was fine for a while, until Washington's soaring homicide rate in the late 1980s produced an unwanted double meaning.

And while residents lined up for "Taxation Without Representation" license plates in 2000, that tagline was more protest than tourist come-on.

This time, the District of Columbia is taking a more studious approach. Tourism officials have hired two brand-research firms to convene focus groups and conduct international surveys of attitudes toward the capital.

A Web site, shareyourdc.com, also invites the city's 582,000 residents — and anyone else — to propose slogans and take part in weekly polls.

"This isn't a few people sitting around a room saying, 'Hey, let's come up with this slogan,' " said Dan Mesches, president of Star Restaurant Group and chairman of the city's Brand Strategy Task Force, a panel of local leaders in business, travel and the arts. "This is an extensive and exhaustive search for what people in town are thinking and what people out of town are thinking."

Mayor Adrian Fenty, 36, said he wanted a catchphrase that braids the themes of "unity, energy and renaissance."

With the White House, the Capitol and oceans of white marble monuments and museums, Washington rarely haswanted for busloads of fifth-graders on field trips or sightseeing families.

In 2005, the last year of available figures, some 15 million visitors spent $5 billion, generating $543 million in tax revenue for the city.

The slogan search is part of a larger "branding" initiative to spice up the city's image.

Victoria Isley, a D.C. tourism official, said the campaign, to start in the fall, would try in part to sell higher-income visitors on the "D.C. beyond C-SPAN," a growing arts and nightlife scene, newly vibrant neighborhoods and new hotels, theaters and restaurants.

At his gallery in the Georgetown neighborhood, Keith Lipert mulled a new slogan.

"To me, it would be something along the lines of, 'Rediscover Washington,' " Lipert said. "This city in the last 10 years has gone through remarkable changes: great music, great theater, great restaurants."

Across town, in the hard-luck neighborhood of Anacostia, people said jobs, safe streets and affordable housing were more pressing than a new catchphrase.

Juan Lyles, 56, a computer operator waiting for a bus, had a familiar suggestion: " 'A Capital City.' But meaning money, rather than the capital."

With neighborhoods gentrifying and high-priced condos popping up, Lyles said, "it's getting out of reach of most of the indigenous population."