Branding

The conversation here in the enterprise pod this morning was centered on the St. Pete Times’ new branding slogan: One Bay. One Buy.

Which makes complete sense in this two-paper region on Tampa Bay, I guess, and is (way?) better, I guess, than the previous campaign: In The Know. In The Times.

But it still falls short.

I remember the ridiculous branding campaign and jingle developed by a marketing company for the Times Herald-Record a few years ago: Because We All Live Here. (Get in all the the Tiiiiimes Herald-Record/Get in all in the Tiiiiimes Herald-Record/Get it all in the Tiiiiimes Herald-Record/Because we all live here!)

Why can’t we do this right? Like this:

This is pretty good, too, from the LA Times:

We fail, I’ve decided, because these marketing decisions are made outside the newsroom. So these come free of charge:

Don’t Be Stupid. We still have a Metro section. The other paper feels like the skin of a 100-year-old man. You don’t have to be a crack head to like Old English.

We still have a Metro section.

The other paper feels like the skin of a 100-year-old man.

You don’t have to be a crack head to like Old English.

Branding horror stories? Ideas? Let’s hear them.