The branding news

I will admit, I was more excited than the average Abilenian when the city almost two years ago announced plans to “brand” itself, like New York is branded “The Big Apple” and Dallas is “Big D,” the better to draw business and tourism to the city from all points of the globe. Abilene leaders were very excited, willing to commit $107,000 through its “Abilene Branding Partnership” to pay for the brand’s development. I could see the day when my hometown would display its brand in “Conde Nast Traveler,” “Forbes,” and travel sections in The New York Times and International Herald Tribune.

As I say, I was more excited than most. I counted a dozen or so letters to the editor in response to the branding news, most against paying any money to any advertising outfit to create a tomfool brand the city didn’t need. In fact my reaction ran in the opposite direction. I decided to BECOME one of those outfits and was ready to offer the partnership (at a discount) my recommendation for the brand: “Abilene, Texas Style.” But it didn’t work out. You can read all about that in previous blogs on the issue.

A contract was let to some tomfool Tennessee company to develop the brand, and after a year or so it was revealed at a civic gathering at the historic Paramount Theater on Cypress St. downtown. The brand: “Abilene Frontiering.” It was godawful. The letters count went way up. After a few days, the hubbub died down. Since then, things have been pretty quiet. A couple of weeks ago, I started to wonder about it. I was reasonably comfortable that “Abilene Frontiering” was not going to pop up in The Times travel section, so somebody I know wouldn’t be asking me, “You’re from Abilene, aren’t you?” and starting a “frontiering” cross-examination.

But it seemed reasonable that any civic group wanting a brand bad enough to pay $107,000 for “Abilene Frontiering” would find a way to move forward. This week, a new story broke. The brand was farmed out to a local ad agency, that came back with a spare design that shows the word “Abilene” with a blue shooting star across the top. It was a definite improvement over the “Frontiering” logo that was littered with colored stars that looked for all the world like the stars we got on good spelling papers in school.

The story said this new design was intended only for directional signage within the city, to help find visitors where they were going. I was disappointed. From showing visitors the way from Europe and Asia to Abilene, the brand had shrunk to showing visitors the way from South First and Sayles to Shotwell Stadium. The mayor was beside himself. “I think this is going to change the face of the community,” he said. His being the mayor, I take this to mean the city is officially out from underneath “Frontiering,” which couldn’t help but make any community feel better about itself.

Maybe he is right, and that those of us with feeling for Abilene should be satisfied. There is no doubt in my private mind that Abilene is a city that deserves branding, and could rise to it, if it were a good one. But it may be a thing best left unencouraged, in the sense of being careful what you wish for from a project judged satisfactory when it helps people find their way from one side of the city to the other. “At least now we’ve got a logo that can be used for some time that really embodies that Abilene is a special place out there,” said one official. A city name, a blue star, gangbusters.