By Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Sun

With the Nevada Commission on Tourism six months away from unveiling the state’s new tourism branding message, commissioners agreed Tuesday to double their meeting schedule next year to offer more frequent feedback to their new director on the project.

Commissioners got a glimpse of the direction research is steering the brand message at the commission’s quarterly meeting and met new director Claudia Vecchio in the session conducted hours before the opening of the Governor’s Conference on Tourism at the Rio.

Commissioners said early indications show that the development of the brand by Seattle-based GreenRubino is on track and members believe it will provide a message that will attract visitors to the state, especially rural Nevada.

“It all my years with the commission, this is one of the best things I’ve ever seen,” said Commissioner Lorraine Hunt-Bono, who as lieutenant governor headed the commission from 1999 to 2007.

GreenRubino President John Rubino is scheduled to give delegates attending the tourism conference a look at work to date later today.

In Rubino’s review with commissioners, he described how his company researched public sentiment about Nevada to learn what visiting the state meant to people. In interviews with 3,000 people, the common theme Rubino found was that Nevada represented uninhibited freedom, inspiring discoveries, rewarding adventures and that it’s unexpectedly diverse. People used words and phrases like “thrilling,” “uplifting,” “awe-inspired” and “off the grid” to describe their feelings for the state.

Rubino interpreted that into a brand insight – that “Nevada is for do-ers.”

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