By Jessie Burchette

jburchette@salisburypost.comLooking for "Authentic North Carolina?"

You don't have to look far.

It's Salisbury and Rowan County.

That's the new brand message of the Rowan County Tourism and Development Authority — and it's been copyrighted to fend off others who might want to copy it.

The brand replaces "Where the past is still the present," which has been used for many years.

Tourism officials say the goal was to find a "bigger tent" message that incorporates not just the history and heritage but the many other attractions and elements that are the fabric of the county and Salisbury.

The Tourism Development Authority's rollout of a stimulus program came just as work is completed on a new brand message and new website.

While leaflets at rest stops and advertising helps pique the interest of potential visitors, the Web site is an electronic front door and welcome mat.

During November, the Authority's current Web site drew 189,000 hits, an average of more than 6,300 a day.

The tourism marketing committee has worked for almost a year with Little Rock, Ark.-based Aristotle to refine the message and the delivery.

The firm is a full-service company that handles many major accounts including the South Carolina Department of Tourism and Albuquerque, N.M.

After a series of work and strategy sessions and input from the public, the committee agreed on "Authentic North Carolina" as the best way to describe and sell the area.

James Meacham, executive director of the Tourism Authority, said the committee work with Aristotle examined all the traits that visitors and residents find appealing and attractive.

The traits include: Southern, historic, agriculture, arts and culture; preservation, scenic beauty; historically modern downtown; homegrown products such as Cheerwine; great food and "very North Carolina."

The trick was trying to come up with a message or slogan of two or three words that carries the full package.

"Very North Carolina," soon became "Authentic North Carolina."

Development of the brand message came as the committee and Aristotle worked on developing a new Web site and logo for the Tourism Development Authority.

The decision to launch the stimulus program prompted the creation of the Authentic North Carolina Web site to provide information immediately on the holiday activities.

The website www.authenticnc.com will continue in place and redirect visitors to the new Tourism Development Authority Web site, which is expected to be up and running in January. It will have the same address as the current site, visitsaliburync.com.

Once the new site is working, the current site will disappear.

It's designed to be easy to navigate and has attractive graphics and lots of local pictures including video of some sites.

In preparing for the Web site and marketing, photographers visited spots across the county, getting still shots and video of both the places and the people.

Some of those video interviews are featured on the Web site's "Local experts," talking about places to visit and things to do.

The site features the authority's new logo, which uses a mix of typefaces and converging ribbons of blue, signifying both rolling terrain and the merging of the Yadkin and South Yadkin rivers. The logo includes "Authentic North Carolina."

What do you think? Post your comment below.