Branding the city of Calgary

I heard on the radio the other morning that the City is looking to rebrand. I don’t feel qualified to comment too much on this as I’m still a bit new here, but my initial reaction was that it’s a good thing. The existing positioning as “The Heart of the New West”, does seem a little retrospective for such a forward looking city. Whilst I recognize the history and influence of ‘Cowboy’ culture, it seems that it  should be just one of the ‘flavors’ of the city rather than be the main focus.

The official line on the ‘old’ brand is:

“Calgary – Heart of the New West™ is a brand used to promote Calgary to the world. The image is a stylized cowboy hat bringing to mind mountains, Chinook winds, and the Saddledome. The positioning line “Heart of the New West™” links Calgary’s past, present and future in a powerful way, while speaking to Calgary’s energy and spirit.”

I accept there are many subtle hidden meanings in the logo, but to most it’s just a cowboy hat, the word Calgary and the tag line.

Which brings me to my point. All too often both clients and designers get wrapped up in the subtle complexities of a logo. To customers, it’s a much simpler gut reaction that gives them an instant ‘feeling’ for a company or brand. Can they trust it? Does it match with their expectations and experience? It’s far more important to ensure the overall impression is the desired one, rather than try to build too many complex meanings into a logo.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for clever logos but ultimately the best and most memorable logos are always the simple ones.

I wish the designers of the new logo luck and hope it’s every bit as good as the new Alberta one.