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Virginia still feeling the love FORTY YEARS, STILL FRESH

February 23, 2009 12:35 am

The creative team at Richmond's Martin & Woltz ad agency didn't have the Virginia tourism campaign yet, but they really wanted it.

They decided to frame a slogan around the idea that Virginia is the best of the United States in miniature, with mountains, beaches, history, cities and countryside.

But their first attempts didn't sound quite right.

"Virginia is for history lovers," "Virginia is for mountain lovers," "Virginia is for beach lovers"--too wordy. Not practical. Kind of boring.

Then someone said, "Virginia is for lovers."

The moment, David N. Martin recalls, was breathtaking.

It was 1969, and while the rest of the country was bristling with social and cultural change, Virginia clung to its staid Old Dominion image.

But the word "lovers"--implying a little bit of sex, with or without marriage--had a bit of the ooh-la-la.

"We knew that at that time the word 'lover' had electricity about it," Martin recalled in a recent phone interview. "It had the connotation of naughtiness."

And Virginia needed some of that.

People middle-age and older already visited Virginia. This campaign had to attract first-time visitors, people in their 20s and younger--the baby boomers.

Martin doesn't remember which of the four people in the penthouse office overlooking downtown Richmond said the phrase first.

He does remember, though, that like him, none of the others in the room--his partner George Woltz, Barbara Ford and Robin McLaughlin--was much older than 30.

Martin presented the idea in the echoing chambers of the State Capitol, surrounded by stuffy legislators and conservative businessmen.

"I had the sense that they kind of squirmed a little," he recalled by phone last week from his winter residence in coastal Mexico. But "Virginia Is for Lovers" won out over four other presentations, and the young Martin & Woltz agency got the campaign.

The startle factor worked: "Virginia Is for Lovers" was a hit with state residents, out-of-state tourists and, Martin recalled, journalists. "Even newspaper columnists, who are born cynical, liked the idea," he said.

The in-state ad budget was small, but a public service TV commercial was filmed showing an attractive young woman named Debbie Shelton--later Miss Virginia USA and Miss USA--holding hands on the beach with a good-looking guy.

She wore a one-of-a-kind T-shirt with the slogan and the curvy red heart on the front.

The commercial became a mini-phenomenon, and soon tourism officials were besieged with requests for shirts. "They didn't really want to get involved in something so tacky," Martin recalled.

So the ad agency had a batch printed. They sold in department stores and became such a success that, in 1970, the agency made more money on shirts than on ad campaigns, Martin recalled.

Buttons came next, popularized when Gov. Linwood Holton wore one in an appearance on the "Today" show.

Eventually, the state did take over licensing "Virginia Is for Lovers" shirts, buttons and novelty items, Martin said.

And the phrase "is for lovers" began appearing all over the country--ripped off to sell any and every place and product. Martin & Woltz found they could trademark the full phrase, "Virginia Is for Lovers," but not just the last three words. So the admen simply decided to be flattered by imitation.

And when "I [heart] New York" later grabbed a sweet piece of the tourism catchphrase pie, Martin felt honored in a roundabout way: He knew he'd been there first.

Later, Martin bought out his partner, and the agency became the Martin Agency, one of the top ad firms in the country.

It's still going strong, though David N. Martin is no longer associated with it. He founded Martin Branding Worldwide and is a senior consultant to the business, which his son operates.

Though he's had a long and successful career, the "Virginia Is for Lovers" campaign of 1969 stands out in his memory.

It was not only a breakthrough for his agency, but a herald of advertising's future--in seeking, and finding, the edgy phrase that would subtly challenge convention and become part of pop culture.

"It was unbelievable," Martin said, "one of those things that just happens."

Laura Moyer: 540/374-5417
Email: lmoyer@freelancestar.com