Live Free and Blank: New Hampshire Attempts a Rebrand

The state of New Hampshire loves its tourists. After all, tourism is where a good chunk of the state’s cash comes from. In 2011, those nickels and dimes added up to more than $4.2 billion. Looks like nobody can exactly do the first part of the state’s historic motto, "Live Free or Die."

(And what's the point of encouraging potential tourists to do the second part?)

Because of that, the state is looking to draw in more tourists and launched an advertising campaign Thursday that hopes to help potential visitors think of New Hampshire in new ways, according to the Associated Press. Part of the new tourism push includes a play on that old motto.

The new campaign is open-ended and supposed to suggest that a tourist can really find anything to do in New Hampshire. ”Live Free and ____” is the phrase used in the campaign that was unleashed upon the world Thursday. 

The new icon that goes along with the motto shows mountain peaks, hiking trails, and waterways.

One of the issues that New Hampshire is aiming to address, WMUR reports, is that it doesn’t have a distinct identity for most tourists. Back in 2010, “a survey of consumers and tourism representatives in 2010 showed that unlike Maine lobsters and Vermont cows, New Hampshire didn't have a clear icon of its own.”

What people thought of when they thought of the state was its White Mountains, overall New England feel, and beautiful foliage. Hopefully for New Hampshire, by the time autumn rolls around and all that foliage is showing off its beauty, residents won’t just be raking in leaves, but tourist dollars as well.