The Ames Tribune reported last week that the city of Ames has been advised to wad up its new tagline and throw it away. Not because somebody dreamed up something better or because it contained fatal spelling errors, but because Council Bluffs already had taken the idea.

Ames was going to be known as: The Heartland’s Leading Edge.

However, Council Bluffs calls itself: Iowa’s Leading Edge. It makes sense if you think of Iowa moving toward the west, although I always thought Iowa appears to be facing east. She really is the most buxom of all the states.

Anyway, the company that Ames hired to do a complete “visioning” process – it’s like remodeling your house, only you don’t end up with drywall screws in your tires – decided that it’s bad branding to duplicate somebody else’s tagline.

Brand Endeavor, a California-based marketing research company, did all kinds of “focus groups, surveys and data gathering,” according to the Tribune, in return for $78,500.

I would have done it for less, but I probably would have come up with only two suggestions: (1) it would be nice to have more than one through street going east and west, and (2) the north-south options aren’t so hot, either.

It’s impressive that the consultant wants to resolve the tagline conflict and not just stroll off with Iowans’ money. Unlike certain movie producers we could mention. But Brand Endeavor’s reputation was at stake, so the company will go back to its closely guarded formula – it’s believed to involve adjectives – and try again.

Slogans and taglines have always been problematic for cities and states. Something that sounds fantastic at the end of a long committee meeting can sound more like a cleaning product the next day, and soon a new committee gets formed.

Iowa’s current slogan is “Life Changing,” which replaced “Fields of Opportunities.” According to Wikipedia (current slogan: “This could be true. Who knows?”), our other recent efforts have been “You Make Me Smile” and “Is This Heaven?” What ever happened to the excellent “A Place to Grow”? Apparently I lost that fight so long ago that no one even remembers it took place.

Ohio is going with “So Much to Discover,” which sounds like a defensive way of saying, “We Have a Lot to Learn.” Idaho’s catchphrase is “Great Potatoes. Tasty Destinations,” so if you were thinking of using that for an RV cookbook title, better back off.

New Orleans always had the coolest city slogan, “The City That Care Forgot,” until Hurricane Katrina suddenly remembered. A newspaper columnist used to call San Francisco “Baghdad by the Bay.” These days, that would be only slighter better than “No major earthquakes since 1989.”

Up in Ames, they’ll think of a new tagline, but they won’t rework the basic vision. That vision being “fostering creativity and innovation at the forefront of the world’s important issues that the Midwest is uniquely positioned to address.”

See, that’s the kind of class you get for $78,500. If they had chosen the $48,500 package, the vision would be: “Finding more ways to make ethanol.” For $18,500, they would have been stuck with “Ames (something) aims (something).”

One could question whether a tagline makes much difference, whether people decide to move across the country because of a few words. Unless those words are: “You have been accepted into the federal government’s witness relocation program.”

But it doesn’t hurt to try, and we wish Ames good luck on its second attempt. Maybe they can work in both “Cyclones” and “the National Animal Disease Center.” Or how about: “America’s nicest four-letter word.” I would be willing to let that one go for $500.

Jim Pollock is the managing editor of the Des Moines Business Record. He can be reached by email at jimpollock@bpcdm.com