North Star Destination Strategies and client dissatisfaction
Posted by 3Dsound at Saturday, November 15, 2008 10:30 AM and is filed under North Star Destination Strategies,North Star,Marketing,Darin Atteberry,Greatest Hits,draggin' the line,Criticism 
List (updated; bumped up from 08-Jun-08)
Draggin' the line
Abilene, Texas: Public dissatisfation typical of a North Star engagement.
Abilene is one of about 100 communities that has used North Star Destination Strategies of Nashville, Tenn., to develop a brand, but not all have been keepers.
In each community, North Star Destination Strategies CEO Don McEachern said, the initial reaction varies.
The brand's "intent is not to win a popularity contest, but to go to work in terms of making better use of the resources and efforts that are being used to market Abilene," McEachern said. "It strikes a passion with people when people are passionate with their hometown, so that's a good thing."
North Star's brand for Abilene – "Abilene Frontiering" – was unveiled Tuesday by the Abilene Branding Partnership. Initial reaction in comments left on stories on www.reporternews .com has been negative.
The partnership is made up of the Chamber of Commerce, Abilene, the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council, the Abilene Convention and Visitors Bureau and DevelopAbilene...
Jared Fields (14-Nov-08), Branding often stirs reaction, firm says, Reporter News [Abilene, Texas], online at www.reporternews .com (accessed 15- Nov-08).
Fort Collins, Colorado: Rejection of logo.
A local design firm has been picked to create – for free – an alternative new city logo in an effort to quell criticism of a different new logo widely panned by residents.
Linden marketing will work with the public and city leaders to develop a logo to potentially replace the iconic image of geese flying in front of Horsetooth Rock.
"We're looking at things through a local lens," said Linden account manager Jackie O'Hara. "It's not about the money. It's about helping the city find a solution."
Elected officials and city manager Darin Atteberry have been deluged with criticism over the new $2,500 logo, which was announced in March, put on hold, then withdrawn but not before being used on some printed materials.
That new logo, designed by a national firm called North Star, featured the city's name in large type, along with two curvy lines meant to evoke mountains and rivers.
But critics said the North Star logo was everything from generic, dull and lacking heart, to too similar to Greeley's, which was also designed by North Star...
Trevor Hughes (02-Apr-08), Fort Collins firm to help design alternative new city logo for free [article for sale online], Coloradoan [Fort Collins, Colorado] (accessed 07-Jun-08).
Galveston, Texas: Rejection of brand messaging.
Longview, Texas: Rejection of tagline, and termination of North Star relationship....Galvestonians and tourists alike repeatedly cited "dirty beaches" and the town's "unclean feel" during recent interviews conducted by a marketing firm hired to help boost Galveston's image.
"Your beach is most known, but neither visitors or residents think highly of it," says the report, commissioned by Galveston's top tourism promoters. "Flaunt the uniqueness of your island. Your beaches and island are not dirty – they are colored with stories, history and culture."
That's among the advice contained in the $76,000 promotion report commissioned by the Galveston Island Park Board of Trustees, which is responsible for overseeing tourism promotion on the island. Officials plan to spend another $24,000 designing and distributing print ads and billboards promoting Galveston around the state of Texas and to targeted cities around the United States and Canada. The money comes from hotel-occupancy tax revenues in Galveston.
Parts of the new tourism campaign by North Star Destination Strategies of Nashville, reflect Galveston's promoters' desire to celebrate that history. The Galveston Island Convention & Visitors Bureau already has adopted the recommended slogan: "The Legend Continues"...
Promoters are eager to exploit the town's magnificent architecture and often tragic history to lure tourists, but they are far less keen about other North Star recommendations.
The firm had recommended taking part "in a big way" in the national "Talk Like A Pirate Day" on Sept. 19, an idea at which locals and tourists alike scoffed...
Brown said that talking like pirates for a day was probably one of those recommendations where town officials would end up smiling and turning the page. Ditto the proposal to build a huge "pirate's sandbox" in Houston filled with Galveston sand, a pirate's ship and planks to walk.
"They kept mentioning pirates," Brown said. "I think they went a little overboard on the pirates."
One recommendation that city officials rejected immediately was to change the city's name. The proposal to rename it the "City of Galveston Island" provoked such hostility that Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas felt the need to reassure residents that no such change was imminent...
Joe Stinebaker (11-Dec-06), 'Unpolished' Galveston hopes to brighten tourist image, USA Today, online at usatoday.com (accessed 07-Jun-08).
Longview residents together with local public relations and advertising firms will play a major role in the city's continued efforts to complete its branding campaign, while North Star Destination Strategies will not.
North Star's contract will be terminated, Mayor Jay Dean announced Thursday. The decision to fire the Tennessee-based firm hired to develop Longview's marketing campaign was the recommendation from the newly-formed Branding Process Review Committee.
"It is the opinion of the committee that North Star will be unable to regain the level of confidence from the Longview citizens necessary to deliver the branding product results we intended from the beginning," Dean said.
In March, the city unveiled a branding campaign developed by North Star that included the logo and tagline, "Longview, East Texas, Pure and Simple."
Though the logo was touted to be unique for Longview, within days of its unveiling at least two other U.S. cities were found to be using the same "pure and simple" phrase.
Longview and the sandy white Beaches of South Walton in the Florida Panhandle share nearly identical phrases, featuring the words "pure and simple" above the logo.
In Colorado, ski resort Gunnison-Crested Butte, has a trademark on its version of "pure and simple."
With the discovery, city officials opted to discontinue use of the tagline and began talks with North Star about the development of another logo and tagline that would be unique to Longview.
The firm submitted numerous proposals which were reviewed by the Branding Process Review Committee, but the committee decided instead to terminate the contract, Dean said...
Sherry Koonce (06-Apr-07), Mayor: Longview to fire North Star: Committee suggests use of local resources to create new logo, Daily Sentinel [Nacogdoches, Texas], online at dailysentinel.com (accessed 07- Jun-08).
Peoria, Arizona: Dissatisfaction with tagline.
Peoria's new branding slogan "Naturally Connected" is catching flak from residents and city officials.
The West Valley city spent more than $100,000 to develop the branding slogan, including paying $81,000 to North Star Destinations Strategies to come up with a catchphrase it hopes will help grow its economy, including attracting a major corporation, medical center and college.
But few seem happy with the catch phrase that some say seems confusing because it can mean so many different things: that Peoria is naturally connected to Lake Pleasant, its rivers and trails, employment opportunities and amenities.
"I do have a real concern with the tagline 'Naturally Connected,' " said Councilman Ron Aames, who has a marketing background. "I think this is off-mark. I think this is a strikeout."
Aames said, a tagline should be immediately recognizable, such as Budweiser's "The King of Beers," Coca Cola's "It's The Real Thing" and Home Depot's "You Can Do It, We Can help." He suggested using "At the Heart of the Valley of the Sun."
The logo/catchphrase issue was the subject of heated debate at a recent City Council meeting. One resident, Dolores Ceballos, spoke against the tagline and questioned whether the city could get back the $81,000 paid to the consultant.
"It's not a unique tagline," she said. "I want to see something that really defines us."
•Cecilia Chan (26-May-08), Peoria's new slogan catching flak from all sides: Tagline 'a strikeout,' not catchy, Arizona Republic [Phoenix, Arizona], formerly online at azcentral.com /arizonarepublic (accessed 07- Jun-08). •For a discussion of how the Peoria tagline and alternate tagline both duplicate those used by Canadian cities, see Steve Wright (30-Nov-07), What's the deal with Americans ripping off our tourism slogans? Brand Canada Blog [tourism, marketing and destination branding], online at cblog.brandcanadablog .com (accessed 15 -Nov-08).
If interested in the limitations of the North Star BrandPrint™ process, have a look at my coverage of the Fort Collins logo affair.
Comments