By Michael A. Lindenberger
The Courier-Journal

When a tornado twisted through Owensboro four years ago and damaged many mobile homes, late-night TV comic Craig Kilborn figured it was worth a few laughs.

He joked that officials had renamed the state Ken-sucky, and wondered why people here didn't know better than to live in trailer parks.

Owensboro residents weren't laughing.

State officials say those kinds of jokes and Kentucky's lackluster image are helping drive a $15 million-a-year identity makeover for the state - with a slogan, a logo and ad campaign designed to draw new businesses and residents.

The effort officially began this month, and state officials hope to have a slogan in place by mid- to late August. Some early test slogans include:

• "Kentucky: Unbridled."

• "Kentucky: And you're off!"

• "My Kentucky: Make it yours."

Gov. Ernie Fletcher said Friday that business leaders and others considering investing in Kentucky are too often put off by negative images of the state.

Even when Fletcher went to Washington to serve in Congress, he said, he encountered stereotypes of Kentucky as somewhat backward.

Fletcher said the first step "is improve our national and international perception. Once that's done, that helps every other thing we promote, whether it's tourism, whether it's road safety, whether it's making sure we have good clean water."

Leading the image reinvention is Commerce Secretary Jim Host, who founded and later sold a Lexington sports marketing company whose clients include the University of Kentucky.

The approximately $15 million to be spent each year on the identity campaign will come from the budgets of more than a dozen existing ad and marketing campaigns spread through various executive-branch agencies, Host said.

"I want to stop giving Jay Leno and David Letterman a reason to make fun of Kentucky. We want to give everyone a unified message about what we have to offer," said Host, who pitched the idea to Fletcher earlier this year.