The governor also accepted the resignation of chief marketing officer Betsy Wall

PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island is abandoning "Cooler & Warmer" as the state's new slogan, Governor Raimondo said Friday as she announced the resignation of her embattled chief marketing officer and admitted that the launch of the state's new branding campaign had been "sloppy."

Raimondo described the resignation of Betsy Wall, who was hired as chief marketer just before Christmas, as a mutual decision made in the last few days. Raimondo said it had not yet been worked out whether Wall, who was set to make $135,000 for the year, will receive any additional severance.

"It is unacceptable how many mistakes were made in this roll-out, and we need to hold people accountable because Rhode Islanders deserve better," Raimondo said at the State House. "We are going to learn from these mistakes and fix them and work hard to get this right for Rhode Island."

In addition to Wall's departure, Raimondo said the state is going to recoup $20,000 paid to Providence ad agency IndieWhip, which inserted footage of Iceland in a promotional launch video, and $100,000 from Havas PR North America, which is coordinating the campaign.

IndieWhip was a Havas subcontractor and Raimondo spokeswoman Marie Aberger said Havas has pulled its invoice for IndieWhip's video work, but it was not immediately clear if Havas would recoup the money from IndieWhip.

Earlier Friday, IndieWhip released an April Fools' Day video proclaiming that its use of Iceland footage in the Rhode Island video was intentional. Raimondo said it was "unfortunate" and that the agency had "let Rhode Islanders down."

On the now dead state slogan, Raimondo said she had learned over the past few days that "Cooler & Warmer is not a tag line Rhode islanders like. That has been made very clear."

Raimondo said the state would keep the proposed logo, which was created by Milton Glaser, and attempt to harness the intensity of public reaction to the botched campaign launch to help find another slogan.

With Wall gone, Raimondo said Seth Goldenberg, CEO of Jamestown-based Epic Decade, one of the companies working on the campaign, would have an increased role.

The General Assembly approved $5 million this year — $4.5 million to hire Havas, Milton Glaser and Epic Decade — for the new tourism campaign, which includes creation of the logo and slogan plus advertising buys to draw visitors.

Raimondo has requested another $5 million for the fiscal year that starts in July.

Before taking the Rhode Island job, Wall, of Winchester, Mass., worked for eight years as executive director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism. Earlier roles included two years as deputy director of former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's fundraising committee and seven years as a staffer and fundraiser for former Sen. John Kerry.

In addition to the Iceland scene in the video, mistakes Raimondo identified in the tourism launch included inaccurate and outdated information on the state tourism website.

Wall also drew fire for being unfamiliar with Rhode Island's annual Gaspee Days celebration.

The tourism launch represented a rare public relations hit for Raimondo, and Wall is the first member of her vaunted leadership team to be forced out.

As recently as Wednesday, Raimondo had been calling on Rhode Islanders to rally behind the campaign, "but then as I dug into it a little bit and realized just how poor of a job was done I got pretty mad myself, because these were sloppy, unacceptable mistakes."

--With reports from Kate Bramson

