The Oregon Coast is arguably the top “branded” destination name in the state, and one of the top destination brands nationally, so it strikes me as very odd that some very high priced marketing firms are suggesting they rebrand our beautiful Oregon Coastline as “The People’s Coast”.
In addition to suffering from geographical vagueness and ambiguity, “The People’s Coast” is unlikely to conjure up the imagery the Oregon Coast deserves – powerful crashing surf, beautiful sandy beaches, rocky sea stacks towering majestically just off the shore, a lush blue spruce and fir forest sweeping down to the shoreline, and so much more.
Sure, the Oregon Coast is a “People’s Coast”, just like Viet Nam’s where the “People’s Coast Guard” stands watch, but I’m not feeling how this brand is going to take off, let alone bring more folks to the state. More importantly terms like the People’s Coast diminish the current powerful theme of the Oregon Coast which not only promotes that region but associates it with the rest of Oregon. I’m partial to my own region – Southern Oregon – which I promoted online for many years and which includes portions of the magnificent Oregon Coast. whoops, I guess I mean that Southern Oregon contains portions of the People’s Coast…
Joe Duck 
This is the most utterly ridiculous example of self-aggrandized marketing schlock that I have heard in ages. C’mon. Are you serious Joe?
Yes, serious Metro. Also a case study in how to lose top rankings for the most important queries.
Amazing, and people get paid to come up with this nonsense? I have clients throughout the Northwest and all you need to say is “The Oregon Coast” and it conjures up all kinds of stunning visuals for them. When I think of “The People’s Coast” the only thing it conjures up is the coast of China – as in the People’s Republic of. fyi Joe, did another Southern Oregon Coast Yurt tour this past June – Umpqua Lighthouse; Sunset Bay; Cape Blanco; Harris Beach – truly stunning, the very best of our coast is found South of Coos Bay.
Sounds like a great tour Paul! Obviously I am partial to Southern Oregon but there are sure a lot of great things to see all over the state.
People’s Coast sounds like People’s Republic…
The consultant might have wanted to emphasize public access issues but its terrible to somehow want to do away with “The Oregon Coast” and invent some new and utterly absurd slogan just to justify some consultantcy fee that was probably not ever needed in the first place.
Even if there were still hippies around not even they would adopt The People’s Coast as a destination slogan.
I think the agency folks may be too young to realize that using the term in this way will have unintended meanings for anybody over about 40. Older travelers are a major focus of Oregon marketing and you can’t help but smile thinking what they’ll make of this.
But hey, I’ve been wrong before. Maybe “The People’s Coast” will bring peace and prosperity to more beachcombers than you can shake a piece of driftwood at.
I don’t mind telling you Joe that I wrote this piece on the Oregon Coast with the keywords in mind….
http://almostfit.com/2008/07/25/a-taste-of-france-on-the-oregon-coast/
….you are totally right on such a case study of the uninformed:
Even though I’m not a native Oregonian, the coast became instantly special to me the first time I went, and calling it “The People’s Coast” really does distract from what I have in mind. Crazy.
Metro that’s a great article, and Ma Petite Maison sounds like a great place. I’ve always like Port Orford though when I used to promote that area I made the mistake of telling the Chamber that the name “Port Orford” didn’t sound scenic enough. That didn’t go over well.