This is the first sentence of a blog post about the new branding effort from Positively Cleveland. “This is Cleveland.” This is the new slogan for our city, meant to boost tourism on some level and ostensibly stir civic pride. This is the resounding “huh?” you’ll hear throughout the month, leading up the big reveal of the massive and ultimately heftier branding campaign on March 19.
This is a link to Positively Cleveland’s website, which shows off all the cool stuff you can do in Cleveland. This is a reminder that “this is Cleveland.”
This is an invitation to drop a comment at the bottom of this page and praise or decry the new slogan. This is an admission that, yes, the slogan is primarily targeting out-of-towners. This is a native Clevelander nonetheless wondering what in that slogan “brands” this city in any meaningful way for the uninitiated.
This is an excerpt from Sam Allard’s interview with Positively Cleveland President/CEO Dave Gilbert, who oversaw the rebranding process:
You’re also in charge of Positively Cleveland. What’s this I hear about a new branding effort?
We are kicking it off in March. And this is mostly for out-of-market people. Our job at Positively Cleveland is to advance the travel and tourism industries, and ultimately to bring more people to town. We’ve done a huge amount of research. We brought in the largest and best destination-branding firm in the world. They’ve done work from Barbados to Buenos Aires to Trump Hotels. It’s a firm called MMGY Global (ed note: based in Kansas City, Mo.) and they blew our whole committee away with their approach.
What was so special about it?
They really did a lot of research of people’s perceptions, and the fact is there’s a visceral reaction to the word “Cleveland.” They’d really never encountered this before, at least not at this scale. Their contention is that those crazy jokes about Cleveland exist and you have to meet them head on. You can’t stick your head in the sand. Ultimately, what the brand is about is changing the narrative of the word Cleveland.
My sense is that those visceral reactions are much more pre-programmed in the older set. The boomers.
The research shows that absolutely. And not to the exclusion of others, but this effort will be geared more toward Millennials. The reason being that Millennials are the most open to visit Cleveland and the most open to new experiences. Right now, Millennials make 11 percent of travel decisions, but by 2020, they’ll be making 33 percent of all travel decisions in America. It’s the market segment where we need to target our resources to get the biggest return on investment.
This is repetition for emphasis: “We brought in the largest and best destination-branding firm in the world…and they blew our whole committee away with their approach.”
This is Cleveland.
***
THIS IS AN UPDATE: This is the most recent tweet from the person behind @ThisIsCleveland on Twitter (likely unrelated to all of the hoopla above):
@TonyGrossi can you please unblock my other account?
— This is Cleveland (@ThisIsCleveland) February 13, 2014
This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2014.
– Cleveland’s a Plum –
I thought it was silly until I read the rationale. They’re trying to dispel the myths of “Cleveland: The city where the rivers burn”, of “Cleveland: the mistake on the lake”, etc. So, they’re showcasing what we have to offer and saying “No! THIS is Cleveland.” It could work.
I understand the rationale behind the slogan, I’m just not super impressed by it. The Cavs used this slogan a few years back at points where they’d try and pump up the crowd, I saw it on the back of some of their shirts too back in the day.
Maybe they can borrow a page from the Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Videos and use the slogan “At Least We’re Not Detroit”
This is peculiar.
Didn’t Downtown Cleveland Alliance just change their branding to “This Is Downtown Cleveland” in 2013 and release a shiny video? Wasn’t this a Cavs slogan once that had it’s own theme song? Won’t the two coinciding slogans be confusing?
Also… the opportunity for parody with the twitter hashtag is immense. I can only imagine how many pictures of homeless people, foreclosed homes and dilapidated buildings will be tweeted with that hashtag by trolls. Not to mention the slogan on a t-shirt with all of Cleveland’s memorable sports disasters.
I love this city with all my heart, but the marketing decisions made by the CVB are severely lacking.
Good to see Positively Cleveland continues to embarrass itself and the city.
COULD NOT AGREE MORE “They really did a lot of research of people’s perceptions, and the fact is there’s a visceral reaction to the word “Cleveland.”
I JUST MOVED HERE FROM SAN FRANCISCO AND THE FACES I GET WHEN I TELL PEOPLE THAT IS FUNKY. CLEVE IS A GREAT PLACE WITH A MONKEY ON IT BACK. GET OVER IT AND MOVE ON
I’m on board. Their rationale is brilliant and game-changing. The younger people love the parts of cleveland where tourists rarely go. Our neighborhoods and districts are very compelling places, and in many ways, offer way more than our museums.
I feel like it’s a “flyover” statement. Like a slumped over, “and…this is Cleveland. Bleh.” I dunno I think it could be a bit more exciting, to showcase a city that is growing positively. But, that’s Cleveland…lack of creativity and culture!
They need to get the old guys running things to invite some Millenials (preferably Millenials that have boomeranged or moved here from hip big cities) to talk about beating back the stereotype if they want to get some real creative juices going. Too many stodgy people run too much of this town—they need to be open to new ideas. I hope this campaign works out…we’ll see what comes out!
You might be on board Mr. Glazen… but it won’t do any good. Those “young people” don’t care about the CVB and use sites like trip advisor and foursquare to find cool places. It’s the older generations (and meeting planners) that go to the CVB website for information, and this “hip, young” look of their new branding will alienate the generation and demographic that uses the site. Plus, the new typefaces are hideous.
FYI: “This is Cleveland” is not a slogan or a logo – it’s the name of the campaign.
Homeless dudes fighting each other for money in public square. this is cleveland.
it would be better if it was
This is CLEVELAND?
trip advisor and foursquare? What year is it?
It works for me. However, crime must be reduced (top priority), streets and walkways repaired (potholes), empty store fronts fixed up or re-occupied, natives just need to smile more, and more open/green space – lake Erie access would be cool. . Welcome back East Bank when it’s done. Now that’s Cleveland, if ya know what I mean.
I like it and have applied to all things in my life. This is toast! This is beer! This is fat! And let me introduce you to my friend, This is Bill!
It’s brilliant and really raises the bar on branding and advertising.
This is _______