[Source: Arizona Republic] — Much has been made of downtown Phoenix’s new brand, announced last week. Actually, much has been made of how much Downtown Phoenix Partnership paid ($160,000) for said brand, which was “Arizona’s urban heart.” The good news is that it fits on a bumper sticker. But if you had $160,000 to lure people downtown, why not 16,000 free-lunch coupons?
We, too, thought we could come up with better branding at a drastically reduced price — say, 75 cents, the cost of the newspaper. Since it’s not too late to rethink “Arizona’s urban heart” before it winds up on T-shirts, placards, and perhaps the launching subject of a book (“Arizona’s Urban Heart: Bland Brands and Other Underwhelming Civic Efforts”), here are our ideas:
- “Come to the island — the urban heat island.”
- “Look for us on Google maps.”
- “Home of the few useful stops on light rail.”
- “If we weren’t cool, would ASU be here?”
- “A nice buffer between east and west sides.”
- “On the 33rd parallel and proud of it.”
- “Home of many tall buildings. No, the ones to the south.”
- “Copper Pentagon — now with one more side than Copper Square.”
- “When you want to see more than red tiles and pink stucco.”
- “Where Hooters meets the Catholic Diocese.”
Downtown Voices Coalition 