Forgive me; I was remiss in not posting the video about Columbia’s "hot" new slogan earlier.
Well, there it is. Hot, huh? Did you like my headline? Get it? How does cola taste when it’s hot? You know, sweet but flat… Oh, come on, people, work with me here! I feel like Dr. Evil having to explain his equally stupid pun about the "caliber" of the FemBots…
Anyway, I think it’s been trashed enough already — more cleverly by some than by others. I sort of liked this one in a letter in today’s paper:
So, the board of the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and
Tourism is replacing the brand “Riverbanks Region: Where Friendliness
Flows” with “Columbia: The New Southern Hot Spot”?Man, oh man, where do we find these Slogan Shoguns, and at a mere $75,000 a pop, to boot?
I
bet a nice little motto lotto run by The State, offering a prize of,
say, a $5 Dollar General gift certificate, would have produced a better
tag than “Southern Hot Spot” (Am I the only one who thinks our new
brand sounds more like a civil disturbance in Nicaragua than a
professional tourism promotion? No? Oh, well.)But anyway, just
to illustrate my point, here are a few off-the-cuff ideas my Great-Aunt
Eula anted up during her latest weekly bridge club party, even though,
in a bit of unfortuitous timing, she was the Dummy at that precise
moment: (1) “Columbia: The Gem of a Notion,” (2) “Columbia:
Capital-Sized & Southern-Prized” and (3) “Columbia: The 4,352nd
Wonder of the World.”You go, Auntie Euly — straight to your
local Dollar General, an actual Southern Hot Spot, by the way — and get
you something real nice with that prize money.MIKE SHEALY
Leesville
As I said, I’m not going to trash it any myself, though. Too easy, and too trendy. I’ll leave it to y’all.
On thing that intrigued me in the news story, though — the suggestion that it sounds better if you’re not from here (“What attracts (planners) might not necessarily attract local people,”
said Bob Livingston, one of two Lexington County members on the
nine-member board.)… So if that’s true, it’s impossible for the people paying for the study to judge whether it’s any good or not. Do I have that right?
How do you get into this consulting biz, anyway?
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One of the biggest industries in Columbia seems to be hiring consultants to cook up new slogans, study the city bus debacle, etc.
It’s funny how so many of the things justified to bring money to Columbia, actually end up paying consultants from out of state.
Columbia is as hot as Hades, but what’s new about it?
That new ad brought tears to my eyes, especially after I learned how much we paid for it. It’s got sizzle, but would fit Charlotte or Charleston better.
How about a little truth in advertizing? The city’s attractions are good enough, we’ve got some great eateries, and watering holes with some zip and a nice selection of adult beverages, but I must have missed the announcement for the grand opening of the local Moulin Rouge. As for the local inaptly named gentlemen’s clubs, I’ve no personal knowledge but have been told that it would take more than a few bucks to upgrade them to the level of seedy.
Columbia is attractive because it’s not too complex once one leaves the Statehouse grounds. One can have a fairly fun day or evening for a pretty fair price, at least in comparison to where I am now, the DC suburbs, where I just paid $9.00 per pint for Sam Adams’ seasonal and, had I directed what I spent on product toward investing, could be a significant minority shareholder in the firm.
We are good enough, call it simply adequate or stubborn simplicity, but we’ve got what it takes to make folks glad they visited yet still return home with enough traveler’s checks to make the next car payment.
We’re not hot, but just warm enough to keep visitors comfy, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
So what say we head off to Sumter for a really good time?
Mike,
I am on a binge of touring SC, from Aiken to Wando. Columbia has a lot of genuine things to see, but there is a cottage industry of tourism promoters who are mostly self promoters, and they always have to stir the pot in order to lick the spoon.
I actually like the new slogan. It’s certainly not worth the money we paid for it; but it does seem to capture the essense of the place. It’s certainly a vast improvement over the old slogan: “Where Friendliness Flows”.
Riverbanks Zoo, State Museum, Edventure, Art Museum and Congaree Swamp are all worth seeing. Nothing spectaculor here but certainly enough to merit a short visit. Just keep the visitors away from the Polluted, I mean Saluda River.
History is one of the top reasons to visit Columbia or Charleston, but the politically correct crowd wants to suppress all signs and mention of the American Revolution and Confederacy.
As a recent transplant from Seattle, I’d agree that the new slogan is an improvement from what you had before. (And in terms of the usual expense of an image makeover, I think you got a deal.)
What I really think will drive people here is the quality of the little 30-second video that I saw — great music, marvelous visuals, and a great display of what you’ll find other than eggs cooking on the sidewalk.
Who was responsible for putting that together, anyway?
As a recent transplant from Seattle, I’d agree that the new slogan is an improvement from what you had before. (And in terms of the usual expense of an image makeover, I think you got a deal.)
What I really think will drive people here is the quality of the little 30-second video that I saw — great music, marvelous visuals, and a great display of what you’ll find other than eggs cooking on the sidewalk.
Who was responsible for putting that together, anyway?
The other slogans didn’t work out too well.
That’s why they have all been scrapped and the money wasted.
The problem with event promoters is they are marketeers. Their answer to everything is marketing, like a person with just one tool, a hammer.
Here’s some more waste and corruption in just the last few months:
* Money spent on moving the Farmer’s Market, that is now not going to be built.
* $8,000,000 overspending on City health plans, almost a 90% overrun.
* $1,500,000 mistake on the development of the the Kenny’s Auto site in Five Points.
* $100,000 abuse of travel and expense accounts by upper city employees.