One of these things is not like the other ...
I [heart] New York.
Virginia is for Lovers.
What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas.
Don't Mess with Texas.
Every Day is an Opening Day.
The NYTimes [reg required] writes about Atlanta's recent re-branding and re-sloganing attempt: Every Day is Opening Day. Apparently, it is meeting with mixed reviews.
... so far, "Every Day Is an Opening Day" has been met with confusion.
"I have no idea what it means," said Laura Ries, the president of Ries & Ries, a marketing strategy firm outside Atlanta. "The main problem with most destination slogans is that they generally don't say anything and try to encompass too many things, and this is just another example of that."
This reminds me of the recent lauch of Toronto's own rebranding: Toronto Unlimited. It too was met with much scorn and ridicule. I have to say, Atlanta has done a pretty good job of pulling key elements together; they have a newsletter and a citizen ATL team. I can even download a themed ringtone (oh, wait, that's an advertisement -- they're advertising on their tourism site). Sigh, if only the Barenaked Ladies [blog] had done one of those for TDot.
Atlanta, like Toronto, knows that not everyone will be happy with the new slogan and look. Toronto bloggers had their own contests to see if people could design a better logo (I never saw anything better). People squawked at the $4 million price tag; Atlanta's is $8 million.
Does Paris go through this kind of marketing angst?
My favourite quote about Atlanta's initiative is from Bob Hope, a PR professional in Atlanta. "You can't say, 'We've got the biggest airport in the world' as a slogan,"
Amen, brother. Amen. Otherwise, in Toronto, we'd be saying "Fly to Toronto - we have the most expensive landing fees in the world". Just not as catchy and hard to print on a Tshirt.