The Heart Of It All

Ohio Travel & Toursim's Development Director Lydia tells us about the change in their slogan.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right, feel to love becauseyeah, we are Ohio the heart of
it all, and I'm so gladthat we are Mikayla in the new brand
for Ohio tourism. It just wasIt's been about a week, a little
more than a week since it wasannounced, and it's a super exciting time,
especially as we get into the summer. And for that reason, that's

(00:21):
why we wanted to talk to Departmentof Development Director Lydia Mahaleck today about what's
going on in the heart of itall. Director Mahaleck, Welcome to what
matters. Hey, thanks for havingme. So where are you calling?
What part of the state are youcalling from today? Oh? I am
in home, sweet home in Findley, oh And I no place like home,
especially on a daylight today. Youknow. I try to tell people

(00:43):
this is Ohio weather, twenty four, seven, three and sixty five days
of the year, right it is? It is. It's a beautiful time
to be in Ohio, absolutely gorgeous. It's like this all the time,
is it not? That's all times? Help you to They just don't,
they don't believe me, especially whenNovember December roll around. Hey, before
we get to Ohio, Harve atall. We have to talk a little
bit about the huge, strong andeconomic impact that really travel and tourism made

(01:07):
in our state just last year.Oh it's big, It's it's really big.
It was a big announcement last week. You know, as we like
to say, tourism in Ohio isn'tjust big fun, it's big business as
well. And you know, wehad a record record numbers in twenty twenty
two. You know, visitors spendingreached fifty three billion dollars. Whoa wow,

(01:33):
yeah. Yeah. Do you thinkit's because people were so ready to
get back out again? Oh?I think absolutely absolutely. And it wasn't
just up you know a little bitfrom twenty twenty one, it was up
thirteen percent. Wow. And youknow, I think really, you know,
people just enjoy being close to home. They also are enjoying road trips

(01:55):
um and I think, you know, with affordability being top of mind for
a lot of families these days,you know, getting in the car and
being able to drive somewhere close.But also you know, flying on an
airplane not as fun as it usedto do. No, it's not.
You don't know if your flight's goingto get canceled. You're bumped to the
next day, or if someone's goingto get in a fight on your airline.

(02:16):
There's stuff going on all over thiscrazy world. I know, I
know. So it's just you know, Ohio is a great place to travel
too. It's also easy to travelaround in and you know a lot of
Ohiolands are spending their dollars here athome, so we have a lot of
proof in that. And fifty threebillion dollars in twenty twenty two. Also,

(02:36):
our visits were up six percent overtwenty twenty one, and our jobs
were huge. Our tourism jobs wereup over four hundred and twenty four thousand.
Great news in twenty twenty two,and we anticipate that twenty twenty three
is going to be no different,especially excited. Yeah, and then this
new tagline, this Ohio the Heartof it All. It's new, but

(02:58):
it's not news. So mindy,I kind of grew up with this,
Lydia, I am new to it. Tell us about this update to the
tagline from find it here back tothe Heart of it All. What was
the decision making process for that?Well, you know, first of all,
you know, I think you know, for the past several years we've
really encouraged Ohio and you know,to find it here and also visitors to

(03:21):
find it here, and millions ofpeople everywhere I've done just that, right,
they found fun and excitement, joyand adventure. But we thought it
was time for an update because quitefrankly, what we're promoting is more than
just a travel destination. We're promotingour entire great state. We wanted people
to come to Ohio, we wantedthem to explore, but we also want

(03:42):
them to absolutely love it. Andfor some, you know, the brand
may evoke some feelings of nostalgia,right, the heart of it all was
actually Ohio's brand, as you weresaying, from the mid nineteen eighties to
twenty to two thousand and one.And you know, while you know it,
we're still proud of our past,we're actually looking to our future and

(04:03):
we want to build on that brandequity because I think a lot of people
still thought that the heart of itall was still brand. Yeah, because
it worked day, I know itdid. I Mean, Mikayla was asking
me, She was like, Mini, what did that mean to you?
Because I was in high school inthe mid eighties, What does that mean
to you? What do you rememberof it. I go honestly to me,

(04:25):
it said love the heart Ohhio,the heart of it all. And
we love our state. We wantto be proud where we grow up and
we're raising families, and so I'mso so glad that it's back. But
does it really work? Like what'sin a name? Right? What does
this logo? What will it doto the Tours and Department in the state
of Ohio. Yeah, so likeanything in you know, and you know,

(04:46):
look, the marketers who are actuallytrying to sell something can can speak
to this, and probably a muchmore eloquent way than I can. But
a slogan or a logo are,quite frankly, how you grab someone's attention.
It's how you connect with them.And so the way that we look
at this is, you know,it enables us to make a great first
impression. It puts Ohio on people'slist of places to visit and to live.

(05:10):
And why Well, it's because it'swhat Governor de Wine has been saying
now for a while. This isOhio's time. It's not just you know,
companies are investing here and creating newopportunities. Our affordability. We were
just talking about that. Our greatquality of life. Just we think that
this helps you tell the story ofour connectivity, our family friendships. It's

(05:31):
one unifying brand all here in theheart of the country, Ohio, the
heart of it all. It doesconnect so well to the governor's oh it's
Ohio's time message. I hadn't evenreally considered that, Director mahlleck it,
but it does because you can comehere to experience it all. And you
know, the heart of it allmeans so many things, just so many

(05:53):
people, right, And you werekind of alluding to some of that.
So for instance, this summer,I mean, we're the heart of it
all. For what this summer kindof what's top of mind for you as
you're working with that division at development. Yeah, so a couple of things,
you know, we are excited about, you know, the heart of
adventure, right, because you can'thave without thinking about summer in Ohio without

(06:15):
thinking about our seventy five free stateparks, our five zoos are two amazing
amusement parks, thousands of events andfestivals from our big cities to our charming
small towns. So really the heartof adventure then, you know, the
heart of opportunity. We're going tobe utilizing this in connection with our friends

(06:35):
at jobs Ohio. You know,whether you're starting a business, whether you're
looking to change careers or working towardsa better future, you know, Ohio's
where you go to bring goals tolife. We're also going to be talking
about, you know, Ohio isthe heart of family, So whether or
not you're reuniting with family, whetheryou're starting your own family in Ohio or

(06:56):
finding a community that feels like home, Ohio is and welcoming to you.
So we've got lots of ways thatwe can utilize this brand. I'm so
excited about it, and it couldn'tbe more fun, quite frankly, for
me and the team to put thisto work. You know how many people
who are older like myself and rememberthis and they're so glad that it's back.

(07:16):
I think it was such a smart, smart move, you know.
Ironically, The funny thing is I'mlooking up this list that someone had put
together and this was back in theyear twenty eleven, and it ranks the
state slogans the best to worst.And actually, at that time, Ohio
was so much to discover and thatwas ranked eighth on all the lists.

(07:38):
So that was up there, butsome of these Lydia and MICHAELA and everyone
listening. Montana the Last Best Place, Idaho Great Potatoes, Tasty Destinations,
Michigan was say yes to Michigan.Of course we say no. I thought
that was interesting, But every statereally does have their own slogan, and
I love the heart of it all. Well, yeah, you know this

(08:00):
thing that we know is that agood brand, that a good brand is
important. Of course, Michigan hashad Pure Michigan for a long time.
Ye, Virginia has had Virginias forlovers for a long time. And you
know, we went back to theheart of it all because we thought that
it had a ton of equity init and it just it spoke to whom
we are as a state, andit had more emotion to it, and

(08:24):
we just we got to thinking abouthow we just wanted to take our marketing
to, you know, a muchhigher level. And this thing has legs
and we're going to use it,and I'm really excited about it. It
does because you can do the heartof everything here. And you were giving
us that example of the seventy fivefree state Parks. I think it was
just seeing something the other day thatobviously not every state in the nation has

(08:46):
free parks. You have to payto get into some of them. Is
one of like I think only liketen that has free state parks. But
yeah, I think that's what Isaw, something like that, you know.
And the other thing is that wejust keep updating hours between the new
lodges that are available in different places. You know, Hocking Hills has the
new lodge there. There's a brandnew reunion cabin up at Mammy Bay State

(09:11):
Park not far from here, upon the lake, up at Lake Erie,
just outside of Toledo, where ifyou want to plan a family reunion,
I think it sleeps like eighteen.You know, they're just you know,
the governor has done a wonderful jobof prioritizing these things, and with
more and more people wanting to justkind of stay close to home or travel

(09:31):
to places that are close to home, we're just we're excited that we have
these wonderful assets to show off Ohioand what better place to do it than
right here in the Midwest. Andholy cow, that Hocking Hills State Lodge.
We were in Hocking Hills probably liketwo weeks ago, and I hadn't
gone to Sea yet Director Mahllock.So, yeah, we stopped by as
we were traveling around, like Loganthat whole area, my kids, that

(09:56):
is not your grandma's stay lodge.I mean, it's nicer and a lot
of hotels. We literally could notbelieve how amazing, as my kids said,
when we come back and stay.Yeah, well, director Mary Murtz
has done a wonderful job too,like she's a great captain of making sure
that those projects get done and theyreally are absolutely gorgeous. And so if

(10:18):
you haven't been to one of ourseventy five state parks lately, you got
to get there. There there's definitelya state park. That's when within an
hour's drive where you live here inthe state of Ohio, get there.
So much to do and see.You know, the Mohicans here in the
state of Ohio. The treehouses,the gorgeous treehouses. They were just featured
today on National TV on the showcalled road Stops or Roadshows, And they

(10:43):
were just featured today because the manwho owns those sent me a message he
said, this is so cool.Tell your listeners to watch at two thirty
today. So we did it earlier, but I love when Ohio is the
center of attention on national platform likethat, and it's so cool because there
is so much here and there's somuch in your own life. Lydia.
You are so fun to follow onsocial media because you're always at these different

(11:07):
places with surrounded by people who makethis state so great. What's on the
docket for this week? Where areyou going to be? Or to say,
where are you not going to be? Well, that's a great question.
So I knew that I had todo this interview, so I had
I got that done. We wentto the Toledo Zoo today because Delaney wanted
to hit up a zoo this weekend. I would imagine we're probably going to

(11:28):
be highlighting some small businesses, makingsure that we're talking with our wonderful legislature
about the governor's budget, doing someother things, highlighting some great communities across
the state, talking with our wonderfularts community. Because we had some grants
that we were awarding. We wereat the Toledo or not Toledo the line

(11:48):
of Symphony later in this week.Who's to say anywhere we're going to be,
But I will know tomorrow morning whenI look on my skis all you
know, and pack your vitamin Bright, get the energy going for whatever
is on that schedule tomorrow. Iwill say one thing Lydia and Michaela,
there's only one problem now with Ohiothe Heart of it All. Now,

(12:11):
MICHAELA and I have to discard ourOhio find It here t shirts because now
they're outdated. So the next timeyou come in studio, you need to
replace those with Ohio Heart of ItAll shirts, so we can probably wear
them around town. I will mostdefinitely make sure that you have all of
the swag you need so that youare properly representing our amazing thank you.

(12:31):
We'll be ready. And for anyonewho wants to learn more about getting back
to Ohio the Heart of it All, or anything else that you guys are
up to right now, what isthe best place for them to go on
the internet? Lydia. Yeah,so you can go to Ohio dot org
to learn more and plan your latestsummer bayk. We've also got a great
spot if you have family or friendswho are considering a move to Ohio.

(12:54):
We've got a great site and livein Ohio dot org two that you can
take a look at live in Ohiodot org. Fantastic writing it down.
We'll beginning it up on the Facebooktoo. Director Mahleck, thanks for your
time in the midst of a verybusy weekend. But we're glad you're at
home, and we are glad youspent some time with us. No,
thank you so much. You ladiesare great. Keep up the wonderful work,

(13:16):
Ohio. The heart of it all, Thanks Lydia. All right,
what a sunday. I always enjoytalking to her. She has so much
fun. You're right, She's outand about everywhere and a really great representative
of all we're doing here in ourstate, the heart of it all.
If I didn't have my fifty twojobs that I have right now, I
think i'd want to be her.I mean, it's a good gig,
right, I mean, and she'sdoing a great job with it, and

(13:37):
we're gonna have some fun with thatthis summer and as we move on the
heart of it all. All right, this is what matters on six ten WTVN