On Wednesday Gainesville officials quietly unveiled Gainesville's new $50,000 slogan.
In a room full of reporters, city employees, past and current elected commissioners, officials quietly unveiled Gainesville's new $50,000 slogan.
Gainesville. Citizen centered People empowered
The slogan, or tagline, takes up three lines and is written in white-and-teal type. Pamphlets featuring the words were handed out and it was also printed on a backdrop behind each speaker. It is featured on a new website, gainesvillecitizens.org. The slogan, however, is just a piece of the city's goal to be more "citizen centered" and inform residents of ongoing city iniatives.
City Manager Anthony Lyons briefly acknowledged the change while highlighting some of the city’s recent accomplishments and future goals.
"... At the end of the day, the essence of Gainesville’s brand is its people, not a symbol,” Lyons said. “Some may call this new design, language, a 'brand,' some others called it 'unbrand.' Some may write about it that way. Call it what you want, it does not matter.”
In October 2017, city officials first spoke about plans to “unbrand” from the city's long-used “every path starts with passion” slogan. City officials agreed to pay Parisleaf, a local branding agency, up to $50,000 to assist with the change.
City spokesman Bob Woods said then that there were no plans for a new logo or slogan, although some ideas were being considered. He also said the “unbranding” process would take between two to four years, before a new logo was unveiled.
On The Sun's Facebook page, several commenters gave mixed reviews. Some said the new slogan was better than the old one, while others criticized the city for not spending money in areas to benefit local residents, such as roads and safety.
In 2006, under the leadership of then-City Manager Russ Blackburn, the city established its City of Gainesville logo with a trail-like “s” in “Gainesville” and the phrase “every path begins with passion” below the city name. It is depicted on the city’s website, buses, official documents, awards, marketing and other aspects of city business on a daily basis. The city previously used a seal that had been in use since 1949.
The slogan faced public criticism from some, but it was received favorably by those in the local marketing partnership, which included the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, Alachua County Visitors and Convention Bureau, UF Shands Healthcare and other local organizations, including county government and the county’s public schools.
Then, the logo and slogan cost $88,000, but the city only contributed $20,000, with the remaining amount coming from the other marketing partners.
Lyons said the purpose of the new slogan is to help residents understand fundamental aspects of the organization.
He said the brand will evolve over time and embodies the city’s goal of becoming a “new American city.”