$millions spent - outside advertising firm brought in - focus groups of kneeling cheerleaders and deer in headlights conducted - press conference in airplane - check, check, check and check. "NEO" leadership did it again. Another Case of mistaken identities, being those who hired those using outdated formulas to decide how to market our city to us and the world. Every identity mistaken, as plusers ask us to believe in them, and Case re-begets CWRU.
And, the identity these strange strangers created... Cleveland+!?*!?#!?*****. Please. I "believe in Cleveland' and believe we are "a plum", even if we still make mistakes by the lake, but I can't supersize that into love for "Cleveland+, or, even worse, ClevelandPlus.
I thought about Cleveland Plus, on and off, for the past two days, in the back of my head, like a headache. Why did I feel so sick. Perhaps I just didn't get the message from the cockpit: "keep your seat belt fastened... there will not be entertainment... we're just trying to get as many of you as possible from A to B, as efficiently as possible, and we will try not to crash". Lame? Yes! Who cares? really? But, still sick.
Then, I got an email from a stranger that made me think more about how my community is being presented to me and the world...
The idea to create a regional marketing campaign for NEO is awesome. The campaign of Cleveland+ is atrocious. Most of the people I know love Cleveland and crave an innovative concept to market our region. They are all unanimous that it would be challenging to arrive at a worse campaign logo than this Cleveland+ concept. It's not too late! Please recognize this will not work and launch something else. Stick-to-itiveness is not a good trait in this situation.
Be brave and change course. Use your influence to make it happen.
Now, I agree with all the points raised in this email. Cleveland Plus Sucks (a jingle, perhaps?), in words and graphics. Worse, the various Cleveland+ websites are disgraceful. Ugly, uninformative, full of typos and errors... as bad as web site production can be (not to mention the complete lack of creativity and technical and intellectual innovation).
But, why care if Cleveland Plus Sucks? Or, if the ODOT bridge plan sucks. Of, if we tear down the Breuer and historic buildings. Because we are Clevelanders, and we care about Cleveland. Certainly, Doner Advertising [1] - our out-of-town +experts - are at fault for the overall failure of this campaign. But who is at fault for the overall embarrassment of this campaign. Usual suspects, too boring to mention... starts with GCP...
From the Cleveland+ website...: "hardworking people enjoy a fulfilling life here." That's another way of looking at the poorest city in America. Perhaps that is the problem... out of town +experts thinking a bit too hard about "hardworking people" who enjoy "a fulfilling life here" without knowing about Cleveland, or Northeaat Ohio. Kind'a reminds me of America Speaks for Northeast Ohio Voice and Choices. Didn't work.
Cleveland+... too boring to mention. Except, as my mystery email points out, "The campaign of Cleveland+ is atrocious". Do we kneel down to accept with appreciation this $-multi-million gift, or do we pursue the virtual NEO graffiti vandals responsible for further trashing our global cyberspace? What to do?
What do you think about this?
Be Real!
Links:
[1] http://crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060731/FREE/60728030&SearchID=73253459470983