Virginia Tourism Corporation: Virginia is for Everyone by The Martin Agency

With the recent shocking white nationalist marches, hateful rhetoric and deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Martin Agency, based in Richmond, decided change a decades-old tourism slogan to combat the hate.

The agency looked back to a campaign it created back in 1969, the famous “Virginia is for Lovers” that is still used today. For this round, they changed the classic tagline to read “Virginia is for everyone” and added the hashtag #standforlove.

With it, they turned the phrase into a call for tolerance and diversity, a way to announce to the world, the country and to visitors and locals alike that the horrific events there should not define their state.

The Martin Agency, though no longer the agency for the Virginia Tourism Corporation, had to ask permission to use the old logo and reference the classic campaign, and Virginia Tourism Corporation gladly agreed, helping to get the word out about the campaign on social media inviting their fans to share photos and videos tagged #standforlove. They also provided animated gifs, logos, graphics, videos, and a display of over 80 public artworks, called LOVEworks.