New Mexico One-Ups British Columbia

For some time now, the province of British Columbia, Canada, has marketed itself as "The Best Place on Earth."  It's position atop the land of superlatively-branded destinations may now be usurped by New Mexico, whose tourism marketing team has decided to engage in a little one-upmanship.

The new tagline?  New Mexico: The Best Place in the Universe.



Where to go from here, really?  "The Best Place Even If You Could Travel To Another Dimension?"

Normally, I'd be whinging on about copycat branding, but in this case the two brands have obvious differences.  BC plays off its natural splendour and laid-back lifestyle, while New Mexico plays off, well, its reputation for attracting loony UFO-spotters.  What I really like about the New Mexico ads (once I get past the rather clumsy-looking art direction) is that it has a personality and it leverages what people already believe to be true about New Mexico.  One can only hope that the residents of New Mexico have enough inherent lunacy to embrace the brand, if not the campaign.

And as for BC?  I think they're still safe in their claim and differentiated as a brand.

Late breaking news:
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Intergalactic (the space tourism arm of Sir Richard's British Empire) recently announced plans to build Spaceport America in New Mexico.  Best of all, the proposed spaceport is located near the town of "Truth or Consequences" - I kid you not.  The plan is a long-shot, as it is dependent on state funding and the implementation of a .25% sales tax to pay for it all.  A referendum will be held shortly to see whether the program moves ahead, but it has the potential spin-off benefit of adding yet another strong proof point to New Mexico's 'Best place in the universe" claim.

Late late breaking news:
The referendum has passed and design work is underway on the $225 million Spaceport project.