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Pensacola branding initiative

955 bytes added, 16:03, 16 December 2007

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The subject was the focus of an [[IHMC]] lecture by Carol Coletta of [http://www.ceosforcities.org/ CEOs for Cities]. According to Coletta, "A city brand has to be felt through the community as a shared story. … There are obvious economic and social benefits for those who do it right. But if you make a mistake or don't do it well, the people in that town will give you hell."<ref>"Expert: Cities can benefit from finding their 'brand.'" ''Pensacola News Journal'', December 13, 2006.</ref>

The Chamber hired Coletta's Memphis-based firm [http://www.smartcityconsulting.com/ Smart City Consulting], along with [http://www.gostonemantel.com/ Stone Mantel] of Colorado Springs, to study the Pensacola area and create a new "brand" for the city. Members of both firms traveled to Pensacola several times and held a series of ''[[Wikipedia:Charrette|charrettes]]'' in May 2007 to gain input from citizens.Tom Jones, a consultant with Smart City, said of the process, "We just came up with a list of adjectives and asked people, 'What do you want your city to be?' We just repeated back to the chamber what those folks said to us."<ref name="magnetsstick">"Magnets showing up everywhere, and chamber hopes they will stick." ''Pensacola News Journal'', December 14, 2007.</ref>

Local advertising executive [[Jane Birdwell]]came up with the magnet idea, according to Jones, ~~whose~~ and her firm [[BPM]] helped with the brand rollout~~, said of the endeavor,~~ . "The branding process gives people an opportunity to talk about their passions, what they love about this city, what their life experiences are here," Birdwell said. "Because while we might have issues with things and areas to improve, by and large we're all here because we love this place."<ref>"Branding Pensacola." ''Pensacola News Journal'', May 27, 2007.</ref>

==Elements==

In a viewpoint published in the ''[[Pensacola News Journal]]'' after the initiative was announced (but before details were announced), [[Ron Melton]] criticized the Chamber for "fretting too much about the lack of a superficial advertising identity and not doing enough to create a better education system, a cleaner environment and utilization of smart growth."<ref>Ron Melton. "Forget branding -- just get it done." ''Pensacola News Journal'', May 16, 2007.</ref> A later editorial by the ''News Journal'' called the Chamber's effort "a serious one" that "has focused on the right things, beginning with our 450-year history."<ref>"'Branding' can work when it's real deal for community." ''Pensacola News Journal'', September 7, 2007.</ref>

~~The~~ ''[[Independent News]]'' publisher [[Rick Outzen]] said he dons the "heroic" magnet on his vehicle "to recognize and remember the heroes of Hurricane Ivan who have worked so hard to rebuild our community."<ref>[http://inweekly.net/article.asp?artID=5780 Outtakes]. ''Independent News'', October 4, 2007.</ref> The publication parodied the magnets in ~~their~~ its 2007 "Best of the Coast" issue, joking that "if you see the six words … enough and speak them over and over again, then the Pensacola area will become those words. It's called 'branding.'"<ref>[http://www.inweekly.net/article.asp?artID=5911 Best of the Coast 2007], ''Independent News'', October 18, 2007.</ref> In December, Chamber President [[Evon Emerson]] said they were "just thrilled with the success of the magnets," and that they were ordering 5,000 more after the first 25,000 had been picked up in a matter of weeks.<ref name="magnetsstick"/>

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