“Winnipeg: made from what’s real.” possibly even worst than “Spirited Energy“
Anyone that has been to Winnipeg will tell you it is a beautiful city with great people, rich in culture, and home to a vast array of lively festivals. It has also been on the receiving end of many unfavourable slogans such as the Slurpee capital, murder capital of Canada, mosquito capital, and pothole city, to name a few.
The need for Economic Development Winnipeg wanting to rebrand the perception of the City is understandable. The previous Winnipeg Slogan was “Winnipeg: Heart of the continent.” The new slogan got chosen after a two-year collaborative research effort with Travel Manitoba. “Winnipeg: made from what’s real.”
“Up until now, Winnipeg has had slogans, names or labels others have given it. It’s time to have a story created on our own terms that we can tell to the world to attract more talent, investment and visitors to our City.” Said Economic Development Winnipeg
Winnipeg’s new slogan has earned it a place right next to the failed Spirited Energy slogan. It’s that bad. The effort to shed some of the negative names associated with the City was genuine, but the execution was terrible.
What makes the unveiling more ridiculous is that it took a couple of years with two of the City’s more prominent organizations leading the charge to sign off on a slogan that has spawned countless memes and negative responses from the public. The negative response has overshadowed the rebranding effort.
It is hard to believe that no one from Economic Development Winnipeg, Travel Manitoba or the focus groups did not tell the respective CEOs,” the Emperor has no clothes.” Everyone we’ve interviewed to ask their opinion on the City’s new slogan laughed or uttered an explicit word describing it.
What the rebranding team should have done was to involve Winnipeggers in the process. Better yet, have a year-long contest and have the citizens vote on the slogan they feel best represents them and their City.
Instead, they have another dumb slogan to add to the growing list that makes the City sound like an awful place to live, which it’s not. Then there is the added cost to taxpayers and the budget it will take to convince everyone the slogan “Winnipeg: made from what’s real” is a good idea.
If there is a positive about this rebranding effort, it is the team responsible for the promotional video who did an exceptional job. It highlights all the beauty the City has to offer. That video alone would make tourists want to come to the heart of the continent.
Perhaps the next time anyone wants to waste taxpayer monies in a rebranding effort, they take the lessons learned from the Spirited Energy and now “Winnipeg: made from what’s real” and involve the citizens.
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