Austin Texas’ new $1.1 million logo irked residents. So why do cities brand themselves anyway?

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00:00What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I love New York. Cities and towns all

00:04across the country have branding and slogans, but why?

00:07Two of the most famous slogans in the country. While some branding has gone well, like New York

00:25and Vegas, it doesn't always work out that way. Take Austin, Texas, where officials recently

00:29unveiled a new logo. The local CBS affiliate posted the logo on Instagram, and comments

00:34came in hot. Most of them were negative, and the majority had the $1.1 million price tag

00:39in mind. Come on, ATX, spend our taxpayers' money right, one comment read. Another read,

00:44this is a waste of taxpayer money. A logo is a really tiny, tiny part of a brand, and if

00:50a logo works, it will connect to the brand, so it'll be a visual image. A much more important

00:55concept for a brand is a visual symbol, like the Sydney Opera House or the Statue of Liberty

01:04or something, or the Transamerica building. So a visual imagery can be really important.

01:10I wouldn't spend a lot of time worrying about the logo.

01:13A representative from the city of Austin put a positive spin on the rebrand, saying,

01:17quote, we deliberately chose a mark that reminded us of movement to reflect how welcoming, flexible,

01:22and resilient this community and our employees are. While that rebrand didn't go well overall,

01:26there are many reasons why cities seek brand identity.

01:29It's a thought that differentiates the city, that ideally provides its secret sauce,

01:37or it suggests something that you might not think of when you think of that city because

01:42you kind of misperceive it.

01:44In some cases, it's gone very well, like New York City. We've all heard I love New York.

01:48Branded is extremely important, even for a city like New York, which never struggles from a brand

01:58awareness standpoint. But we still know that the city doesn't sell itself, and it's still

02:03extremely important for us to brand the city and properly promote the city in a way that draws

02:11visitors in.

02:12New York has had some home runs, more than one, actually.

02:16Small towns do it for the same reason, although often with a more humorous take,

02:20like Gas, Kansas, where the slogan is, don't pass gas, stop and enjoy it.

02:25Or San Andreas, California, where they remind you, it's not our fault.

02:29Another reason for the tagline really is to create visibility. And so you would probably easily forget

02:36that city, but that tagline is something that stays with you because it's so humorous and unusual.

02:42And so you will remember the tagline and therefore remember the city.

02:47Then there's Santa Claus, Georgia, for example. There are two taglines,

02:51keeping the holiday spirit with the city that loves children and believes.

02:55We have some banners that we have on our light poles or whatever in the city. In fact,

03:01we just had some made this year and we're incorporating both of those things.

03:06For Straight Air News, I'm Dan Levin. For more unbiased fact-driven news,

03:09download the Straight Air News mobile app today or go to san.com.