“Step into the Real Texas”: Associating and claiming state narrative in advertising and tourism brochures

Texas is one of the most popular states for tourists. Using quantitative and primarily qualitative methods, we analyzed how marketers of small cities and towns associate their place to four central components of the Texas state narrative – the flag, official and unofficial symbols, territory, and social–historical mythology – in advertising and tourism brochures in the years 2008–2010. We discovered that in parallel to the overuse of the “associating to well-known brand/narrative” strategy, marketers also invest efforts toward claiming the narrative. Thus our second goal was to discover which techniques were used in order to claim the state narrative. Using the state of Texas as an example may provide a test case for typology, associating and claiming state narratives in promotional materials.

► We analyzed how marketers associate their place to the Texas state narrative. ► The marketers use four components to associate to the Texas narrative. ► The four components are: state flag, history, symbols and territory. ► Marketers also use four techniques in order to claim the Texas narrative. ► The techniques are: icons, historical events, right place and audience exceptions.