“Our Vermont brand is powerful,” Scott said at a press conference at the Vermont Tech Jam at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction. “Think Vermont will tell unique and positive stories about Vermonters and Vermont businesses.”
The marketing scheme comes with a logo that puts the shape of the state between the words “Think” and “VT.” A dot turns the slender outline of the state into an exclamation point.
Scott, who often says that Vermont loses an average of six workers every day from its workforce, said he hopes Think Vermont will lower that number.
A website, thinkvermont.com, doesn’t dwell on such negative stats, nor on the others Scott routinely cites — that Vermont loses an average of three public school students a day and that one baby is born to an opiate-addicted mother each day.
Instead, the site draws a picture of quaint Vermont.
“We only use red tape for ribbon cuttings,” the website declares, disregarding longtime business complaints about the state’s environmental regulations.
A page headed “Getting Around” doesn’t tell the viewer how hard it is to get to many Vermont locations via public transportation. But the verbiage is accurate for those who have a car: “Spend more time moving and less time sitting at traffic lights — some towns don’t even have any.”
The site touts the accessibility of state leaders — and lists the cellphone numbers and email links to economic development staff.
Related Stories
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
The governor has previously said that he wants to grow Vermont’s population and that is clearly the main purpose of this web site despite the fact that Vermont’s population is relatively stable right now and the unemployment rate pretty low.
So what is growing the population going to do for decreasing our green house gas emissions, preventing forest fragmentation, improving water quality, sprawl, traffic congestion, destruction of view sheds, growing more of our own food, and becoming more sustainable? Or don’t those critical issues matter?
As global warming creates more catastrophes around the country people are going to want to move here in increasing numbers anyways so why push population growth now. Why not focus on being more resilient in the face of global warming.
Think! Vermont … the slogan looks like a warning asking Vermonters to think. Maybe the Governor needs to learn about punctuation placement. Though, no one has ever accused him of being the sharpest tack, this seems like a campaign that is all website and no substance.
I know people who fall into different age categories who have left the state or are planning to leave the state because they are educated, motivated, and are either unemployed or underemployed. Before we promote how great it is in Vermont, maybe we should make sure we’re offering the opportunities to the talent we already have here.
Ugh
Can you really blame Phil for trying to promote positive aspects of the state? Of course the site is not going to list negative statistics like opiate addiction rates. And while there is work to be done to improve public transit, this is a rural state and public transit is much easier to coordinate in more densely populated areas. Just because we have problems doesn’t mean there aren’t positive thing to promote. I am happy this website was created.