Georgia searches for a slogan, and even the peach isn't safe

ATLANTA - Trying to boost tourism and lure business, Georgia is looking for a new way to sell itself to the nation -- and even the peach, sacred symbol of the state for decades, isn&#39;t safe. <br> <br> A team of state officials and private executives will spend the next year inventing a brand for the state -- a logo and slogan that can be mass-marketed by every state agency, on Web sites and in T-V ads. <br> <br> The aim is to sell Georgia as the home of dramatic new diversity, Southern heritage, a healthy economy with plenty of room for high-tech industry, and catch-all geography that offers both mountains and ocean. <br> <br> But fitting all that into a few words isn&#39;t easy. Which is why, tourism officials say, no suggestion will be rejected -- even if its means playing down the Peach State label. <br> <br> A BellSouth Corporation executive who sits on the state tourism board, Phil Jacobs, said -- quote -- ``It is completely open. Everybody is still very open-minded about this.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Governor Barnes will finalize the list of team members soon. The group is expected to include bigwigs from Georgia-based businesses like Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines -- companies that can lend advertising expertise. <br> <br> State tourism officials, who will meet this week in Macon to begin discussing ideas, say they want a sales pitch modeled on ``I Love N-Y,&#39;&#39; the heart-stamped slogan branded for years on T-shirts, mugs and assorted gift-shop kitsch. <br> <br> The state wants a unified brand to attract high-tech industry and draw in tourists, particularly people within driving distance who might still be wary of post-September eleventh air travel. <br> <br> Officials do not have an estimate for how much the effort will cost. The state wants to roll out the new logo and slogan in July 2003. <br> <br> <br>