By Mike Copeland

Tribune-Herald business editor

How does the slogan “Waco We Do” strike you?

Those words will appear on TV, radio and print ads in the coming months as the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce seeks to change perceptions of the city.

“We want to give people permission to brag a little bit about where they live, not duck their heads when they’re asked where they’re from,” said Dean Riley, with the local marketing firm Innovation that came up with the slogan and is preparing the media blitz.

A slogan alone won’t change Waco’s image. But “Waco We Do” is more than that, local leaders say. Changing perceptions is one of five major goals the chamber is pursuing as part of an economic development strategy. It came up with these goals with help from the community and Market Street Services, an Atlanta consulting firm.

The chamber Wednesday introduced its “Waco We Do” campaign to about 150 people in the Waco Convention Center. The community will begin seeing the ads this week.

Eleven local radio stations, local TV stations and several publications, including the Tribune-Herald and Waco Today, will carry the advertisements.

A print ad destined to appear in regional and national magazines gives a harder sell. It says, “We Do Space,” then touts the availability of 3,000 acres in the Texas Central Industrial Park, located along Interstate 35 and the Union Pacific rail line.

“So when the time comes for your business to take off, you just might consider landing in Waco — where there’s space to grow and resources to help you soar,” that ad says. “If you need a hometown that believes that the sky is the limit, in Waco We Do.”

The local radio and TV ads will feature original music performed by country recording star Wade Bowen. Innovation approached his management team, and Bowen jumped at the chance to do something for his hometown — and at no charge.

“I’m from Waco, and Waco’s really been good to me and my career,” Bowen said, speaking by phone. “I wanted to do like my dad taught me: give back to people who were good to you. I’ve never done anything like this before, an ad campaign or jingles. I threw them an idea. They liked it and ran with it. I’m looking forward to seeing how they pieced everything together.”

Vice president Mark Connell serves as the chamber point person for the “perceptions” campaign. He said planning has gone on for more than a year.

Now that it has arrived, he said, “it will last at least through the end of 2007.” The campaign will be “broad and brisk” between now and December, meaning the public can expect to see and hear the words “Waco We Do” often and everywhere.

The campaign will set a more measured pace next year, Connell said.

“Waco We Do,” Connell said, means Waco is a community that gets things done. It has beautiful natural resources and a can-do spirit, he said, but other cities may have those assets as well. “Waco We Do,” he said, sets Waco and its residents apart in a special way.

“When the city needed to move cattle from one side of the river to the other, it built a bridge,” Riley said. “The Brazos River Country Exhibit in the Cameron Park Zoo is unique. It was a dream. We passed a bond issue, by golly, and made it happen.”

The campaign is meant to make Waco residents feel good about themselves, Riley said. But the big idea is to have those good feelings rub off on others.

City leaders have acknowledged through the years the struggle Waco has had carving out a more positive image of itself, especially in the wake of such tragedies as the 1993 Branch Davidian siege, which chamber officials have often noted erupted 10 miles east of Waco.

Patrick Contreras, owner of Creative Man Studio and a member of the chamber’s economic development steering committee, likes what he sees of the campaign.

“I’ve been a longtime resident of this city, was born here, and I get people all the time who ask me why I stay,” he said. “But the next two or three years, I think big things are going to happen in Waco. We’re starting to see the beginnings of what this market has to offer. I think we’ll see an explosion.”

Last week, the Waco Chamber announced it is nearing its goal to raise $4.7 million for economic development, including construction of a new headquarters in downtown Waco. A Houston group, meanwhile, is proposing a $50 million mixed-use development near City Hall.

The new campaign takes the words “Waco We Do” to great lengths. One print ad, for example, says name-dropping may be frowned on in some circles, “but in Waco, it’s what WE DO.”

Names dropped in the ad include George W. Bush, whose ranch is in nearby Crawford; industrial heavyweights like Caterpillar, Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper; and local heroes like Pat Green, Ted Nugent and Wade Bowen.

Connell said the chamber is spending $50,000 to tell the world and Central Texas about “Waco We Do.”

It’s getting much more than its money’s worth, he said, with some media outlets giving the campaign anywhere from two to 10 advertising placements for the price of one.

That’s not to mention the contributions of Bowen and McLennan Community College, which donated its recording studio to assist with production.

“I think it’s a great campaign,” said Liz Taylor, director of the Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s nice to hear people say nice things about their own community, and this is a community with so much pride.”

“I’m excited about it,” Mayor Virginia DuPuy said. “It’s catchy. It’s easy. It’s positive.”

mcopeland@wacotrib.com

757-5736