Branding Baltimore
According to the Baltimore Sun, “nine months and half a million dollars later Baltimore has a new slogan:”
Drumroll, please: “Baltimore - Get In On It.”
The preposition-rich slogan is set to be announced…as the centerpiece of Charm City’s new effort to sell itself to tourists and visitors, according to sources familiar with the lengthy and secretive process…
…[T]he Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association has submitted four applications to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to secure use of the phrase…
…[S]ome of Baltimore’s previous slogan attempts [include] - “The City That Reads,” “The Greatest City in America” and “Charm City.”
…Landor Associates, was paid $500,000 to produce [the new brand] over the past nine months…
The city picked a respected and experienced brand-builder in Landor. The San Francisco-based firm has come up with slogans for such locations as Madrid, Spain; Florida; and Hong Kong…
Not promising for Baltimore on a number of levels. First, Get In On It reminds us of Wichita’s inane We Got The Goods, and Wyandotte County’s even worse The Dot’s Got It.
Second, Baltimore selected a firm well known for creating cheerleading such as Hong Kong - Asia’s World City, Madrid with Focused Passion and for whom the firm developed a flag, and Cincinnati - All Together Surprising, for whom a flag was also created. But cheerleading is not branding.
Neither the Baltimore, Madrid, Hong Kong, or Cincinnati attempts at rebranding answer the question crucial to any successful brand campaign; the one asked by each tourist Baltimore or any other destination seeks to attract, and this is, Why should we care about you? Unless the question is answered effectively, in an instant, Baltimore’s dollars will be wasted.
One Baltimore City Councilwoman reacts, “I don’t associate anything Baltimore to it.”
She’s right.
Get In On It could just as easily be used for most any American or international city; Get In On It - Norfolk, Get In On It -Budapest, Get In On It - Moscow. And because the phrase is so easily transferable, it is worthless as a branding tool needed to set Baltimore apart from ANY other tourism destination.
One view sums it up well. Baltimore native, filmaker John Waters, wraps this bow around Get In On It:
“…What they’re saying is, come celebrate real estate porn. You know, when people talk about how much their house cost at parties.”
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5 Comments so far
Top 5 Rejected Baltimore Slogan Ideas:
5. Baltimore: You might not get shot!
4. Baltimore: Experience the smells.
3. Baltimore: Putting the teriffic back in “Genteriffication!”
2. Baltimore: We’ve got a Roy’s. ‘Nuff said.
1. Bawllmer: If you know what I’m sayin’, welcome home!
The first few times I read the slogan, I swore it said “Get It On”. Horrible slogan, horrible logo. Bad altogether.
I think a play on Charm City could have been much better. But then again if the city was more tourist friendly that perhaps would have been the better start.
What was wrong with “Charm City”?
What was wrong with the old UPS logo?
What was wrong with the old AT&T logo?
Re-branding for the sake of re-braning is stupid and short-sighted.
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As bad as the schools are in Baltimore because of the absent landlord-leadership of Martin O’Malley, not even the boy-moron could make the grade himself, and this whole fiasco proves it.
Comment by chasseur 06.01.06 @ 6:43 pm