City Branding: City of Melbourne blows $250k on a new identity
Has the City of Melbourne been taken to the cleaners paying $250,000 for a new corporate identity, or is the Premier of NSW Nathan Rees a tight arse paying a measly $4,600 for a new state logo?
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Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said the new logo reflected a modern, vibrant, cool sophistication, intellectual, creative and urbane city. Does it? For me, it looks like it was inspired by Melbourne’s controversial ‘Love or Hate’ Federation Square.
However, across the border in NSW, our much maligned premier is defending himself against critics for spending only $4,600 on a new State logo. A logo some people are saying looks like a lotus flower rather than a waratah.
In my book, a city’s or a state’s brand imagery has to designed for longevity. It has to collect positive associations in the minds of people. What should not happen is change for change sake, redesigned to satisfy a new mayor or premier or a change of Government or marketing manager or a drop in tourism. That is just wasting money.
What do you think of the new logos? Is Melbourne’s new logo a very expensive folly? Or is the NSW Government just a tight arse?
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5 Responses to “City Branding: City of Melbourne blows $250k on a new identity”
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July 26th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Please take this comment as what it is… an instinctive response without any background knowledge, from another Brit, and one back in the UK into the bargain. On this basis I’d say Doyle has spend wisely. The Melbourne logo is engaging and substantial and worthy of a major international city. It’s distinctive, contemporary, full of animation and online potential. Very appealing on the international stage I would say. The NSW logo is a dog of the worst kind: a boring dog. Value isn’t in the price it’s in the result. NSW’s logo is appallingly bland. Melbourne’s will be recognised around the world potentially. Don’t get me wrong: there’s a whole lot more to city branding than logo… in fact logo comes quite a long way down my list, and I’m not commenting on any other aspect of Melbourne’s efforts… but if the logo is indicative then I’d say they’ve got their thinking in pretty good shape. NSW on the other hand looks as deeply ‘provincial’ as you can get. I don’t know if Rees is a cheapskate… but he’s certainly been badly advised on design.
July 27th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
@Simon, big thanks for the comment. I agree with 90% of what you say, but in the end like you said ” Value isn’t in the price it’s in the result.”
December 16th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
The logo is OK but the animation SUCKS! It is so old fashioned and predictable. If it is ‘telling the story of the brand’ – please can we have our money back?
December 16th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Oh and the NSW is so bad they should pay someone to erase all evidence of it.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Really cool modern logo and loving Melbourne as I do sure encompasses it as a thriving go ahead place. Yeah the exploding animation could have been better, and I can see how promotions could work using this technique. Te Papa, our Wellington museum which is real cool spent a fortune on their branding and ended up stumbling on the ‘thumbprint’by accident when one of the creatives left his thumbprint on a piece of negative film. How about this he joked. Challenge solved, and it is a great brand, so easy to rationalise