Cities can’t be branded

Brand has little to do with those who create it. Brand is a perception, an initial reaction to whatever piece or whole a consumer has been exposed to. Marketing, logo design (among other visible elements) and attitude our under our control.

Branding is not, but Phoenix would sure like you to think so.

You can’t brand a city. It doesn’t work. In fact, you shouldn’t even attempt to do so unless you have a clear idea what your city even is and who lives in it. Yesterday’s why|phx|now meeting, held by a consortium of acronymed companies or CoAC for short (think a crow’s caw that ends with a duck’s quack. Two syllables), was more than a huge step back in the hunt to attract and retain creative talent to the area, it’s a cry for help.

Don’t worry, there are people here that can help. But you don’t. Sure, the newspapers cover Gangplank and can’t wait to post pantsless pictures, but that’s not enough. We can handle our own marketing and promotion, thank you very much. What we want is your money, time and passion.

If you don’t know what that means, ask Mark Dudlik about Phoenix Design Week. Or Jeff Moriarty about Ignite Phoenix. Brian Shaler has even made it easy for you to find events.

But no, you gave us words like Opportunity Oasis and Metro Phoenix DNA and promised to build a new identity for us, with three easy story messages: Urban Pioneering (redundant, flash word) Upscale Desert Garden (might work for AZ in general, but come on, we live on a heat island) and Open Space Thinking (this I like, but still doesn’t DO anything).

The very group you’re trying to serve, 25-45 year old, highly-mobile, highly-educated creative workers, don’t give a crap about what message you’re trying to send. They’d rather have your participation and your support, and not to play any part if helping spread your marketing speak.

CoAC, stop trying to shove your propaganda down our throats. We get it. You think we think we’re not good enough, and your job is to wag your version of our accomplishments around like a prize.

Mapping our canals (plans are to give tourists maps of our canals in hopes that they’ll think we don’t actually live in a desert) isn’t going to save anyone, nor is aligning marketing messages ((East and West Valley and Phoenix proper are Urban Pioneering, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and the Biltmore Corridor are Upscale Desert Garden and Tempe and Downtown Phoenix are Open Space Thinking)) with various cities going to make people think of them any differently.

You haven’t realized that not all education requires a college. You haven’t realized that the creative class you’re trying to help is PRETTY FUCKING GOOD at marketing themselves.

What you should have done is support and encourage them. Instead, you acted like helicopter parents and forced your ideas onto ours.

It’s okay CoAC, we don’t need you. We’re better than you at solving problems. Perhaps YOU should be paying US to fix YOUR brand.

But don’t ask me. I’ve moved on. And the rest of the creative class will too.

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• Meet Metro Phoenix (Again): Now Opportunity Oasis (stealthmode.com)
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Tagged as: Brand, business, DNA, downtown phoenix, Ignite Phoenix, marketing, Phoenix Arizona, Phoenix metropolitan area