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Abilene: _______
July 26, 2007Once upon a time, cities didn't need a cutesy marketing brand to get people to come to their towns. My how times have changed.
Apparently, Abilene is tired of their motto "Frontier Friendly" (which oddly enough, I kinda like). And they may be willing to pay a design firm from Nashville a "low six-figure" number to come up with something goofy.
Low six-figures....that would be somewhere between $100,000-$400,000. For a name. Actually, not even for a name, for something to go behind the name of the city.
One of the cities that has already used North Star (the team from Nashville) was Fort Collins, Colorado....get this one.
Fort Collins: Where renewal is a way of life.
Whaaaaaaat? 'm sorry, but that is goofy.
So....I have a list of suggestions for little Abilene. They won't even have to pay me a six-figure amount....something in the mid-high five-figures will do just fine.
Here's the story:
by Sidney Levesque/Abilene Reporter News Wednesday, July 25, 2007A Nashville, Tenn., branding firm may be developing a new logo and motto to market Abilene -- if city leaders come up with the money to pay for it.
The Abilene Branding Partnership, which includes the city and the Abilene Chamber of Commerce, wants to hire North Star Destination Strategies to develop a marketing campaign to replace the present "Friendly Frontier" label. The two have negotiated a fee in the "low six figure" range, said George Nichols, partnership chairman.
He declined to name the exact figure because a contract has not yet been signed. He said the money to pay for North Star's services needs to be lined up first.
All five entities -- all supported at least in part by tax dollars -- that are part of the partnership have pledged money. Nichols hopes to have the funding resolved in the next three weeks.
"It looks very promising," he said.
North Star was one of 11 companies that received a request for qualifications from the partnership. The request said the partnership was looking for a reputable, experienced branding firm to create an original, research-based brand and implementation strategy. The requests did not include bids.
Three companies submitted written responses, one of which was North Star. The request that the partnership sent out agreed not to name the other interested companies until a contract was signed.
Two additional companies phoned to say they are booked with projects. One of those was Lippincott Mercer, the New York City branding firm that visited Abilene in December.
Nichols said of the companies that submitted responses, North Star was superior. Partnership members interviewed the company and a list of reference cities it has worked with.
One of the cities North Star has worked with is Fort Collins, Colo., which now has the tagline, "Where renewal is a way of life." The city of 127,000 paid North Star $80,000 to research and develop a marketing strategy, according to the company's Web site.
All but two of the cities interviewed gave North Star good reviews. Nichols said the two cities that didn't had unique situations.
One city changed leadership after it started the process with North Star, and the new folks weren't on board. The other city, Longview, was unhappy after it was discovered that the motto it was given, "East Texas: Pure and Simple," was similar to "pure and simple" taglines two other U.S. cities were using. One had trademarked it, according to the Longview News-Journal.
Nichols said Abilene, currently known as the "Friendly Frontier," will receive a unique trademark if it hires North Star. One of the city's requirements is that it receive a product that can be trademarked.
Otherwise, signs and other products the city develops with the brand would be placed in jeopardy.
"We're not about to go down that road," Nichols said.
He said it's important for the right kind of task force to be working with the branding firm, that the firm receive everything it needs for its research and that it has an opportunity to spend time following up on its research.
The product that North Star would deliver would be more than a logo and a tagline, Nichols said. There would also be a strategy behind it, and a plan for implementation. Implementing a new brand also costs money.
The city of Frisco plans to spend $200,000 this year implementing the marketing campaign North Star developed for it, according to the Frisco Enterprise. The campaign includes a railroad logo with the words "Progress in motion" beneath it.
Abilene officials said a branding strategy could help the city stand out and attract visitors and business. More and more cities are developing brands, Nichols said.
"This is becoming a competitive tool for cities," he said.
Anywhom...here is my list of potential mottos for Abilene.
Abilene: We don't suck.
Abilene: Life is a highway (referring to I-20)
Abilene: It's better than Wichita Falls
Abilene: The armpit of Texas
Abilene: The drunks come home by midnight
Abilene: We've got a huge wind farm
Abilene: Your choice for no less than three church colleges
Abilene: We're not San Angelo
Abilene: We're not Midland
Abilene: We're close to Fort Worth
Abilene: Your home on the range
Abilene: We're in the middle of Texas
The list goes on....
Posted by Jason Palmer at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Comments
And the winner is...The drunks come home by midnight. Nice one.
council bluffs, ia is lovingly referred to as the armpit of america by many locals and most iowans...haha. omaha went from 'the big o!' to just 'o!' i like both and i am sure you will agree they both fit. ;)
