Providence, Rhode Island, the city that gave us such American treasures as Lloyd Christmas and Buddy Cianci, is going through a bit of an identity crisis these days that is costing the resident's of Providence about a $100,000 and counting.
Providence, which has been known in the past as everything from The Costume Jewelry Capital of the World to The Renaissance City, recently unveiled a new marketing campaign in an effort to give the biggest city in Lil' Rhody a new image by way of a new civic slogan and logo. Enter the new moniker, "The Creative Capital," and a new logo that the Providence Journal has succinctly described as "a bright orange capital P." Everything seems reasonable until you realize, like any self-respecting Wheel of Fortune fan, that there is no way the letter P is worth six figures.
However it isn't the big ‘P' that's ruffling feathers in the city's sizable creative community, but rather the fact that the newly minted "Creative Capital" label was created outside Providence. That's right, the city that is home to the Rhode Island School of Design went with Nashville-based North Star Destination Strategies for its new marketing plan.
"If we're saying that we are a city with creative resources, it's sad that we had to find someone outside the city to come up with that. It seems hypocritical," Providence advertising executive Alec Beckett told the Providence Journal.
North Star beat out Providence based firms such as Advertising Ventures and Clarendon Group with a $75,000 bid for the plan.
As for the ubiquitous big ‘P' logo, the city's Tourism Council tapped Providence designer Laura Mullen. Mullen, working in conjunction with Rhode Island-based design firm Schwa Design, came up with the ‘P'. But according to Josh Silverman, Schwa's owner, this is no regular ol' ‘P.'
"The foot or the serif at the bottom of the ‘P' and the serif at the top of it suggest both looking back and going forward. You won't find that combination of serifs on any typography. It's a distinct accent. It can be iconic, trademark-able even, but it's also scalable - meaning recognizable at all sizes, from pins to billboards," Silverman told the Journal.
So there you go, a $30,000 serif. Chances are you didn't even know what a serif was before reading this. Well now you know it is worth at least $30,000 in public money.
Mayor Cicilline wants people both in and out of Providence to realize that this plan goes well beyond a big ‘P' however.
"If all people remember is the orange P, then that's a failure," he told the Journal. "The importance of this is using the visual in such a way that people associate the city with a place of great entrepreneurship, great creativity and talent."
It isn't exactly clear in what wacky free association exercise a $30,000 ‘P' denotes talent and entrepreneurship, but that's for focus groups to decide. Just don't ask how much the focus group costs.
Marketing efforts for cities and states have a long and varied history. For every I Love NY -- a campaign that transcends tourism and becomes a legitimate pop culture phenomenon -- there is a $4 million disaster like Toronto Unlimited. It is a roll of the dice, that whatever is spent in market research and design fees will be paid back in spades by tourism revenue. At the end of the day, however, it is the actual city, not brightly colored capital letters or slogans of alliteration, which draws people in. Will labeling Providence "Creative Capital" bring any more people or money into town than "The Renaissance City" did for the past two decades? You would think it probably wouldn't. But what do I know? I didn't even know what a damn serif was.
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