No love for Sandy

Home to the HBO series "Big Love," but increasingly finding only tough love from neighbors and legislators, Sandy recently paid Love Communications $25,000 to re-brand the city and repair its image in Salt Lake County. Nevertheless, after seeing the billboards and hearing the radio spots, I can only conclude that Sandy is simply "looking for love in all the wrong places."

I don't have any problems with the concept of an ad campaign. It's a bit bold, so I expected people to be a bit surprised by the campaign at first. (When was the last time a Utah city tried to market itself within the state?) I also don't think 25k is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a project such as this (although I understand Sandy has budgeted up to 50k).

I didn't grow up in Sandy, but I'm a Jordan High School alumnus, and after a few years living out of state and even abroad I returned to Sandy and have lived here for several years now. I've come to think of Sandy as my hometown. I really enjoy living here. I love the access I have to Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons, and the great ski resorts that call those canyons home. I like the views of the mountains from my house. I like the access to shopping and entertainment, as well as the close proximity to downtown. My diverse and eclectic neighborhood truly defies all of the stereotypes that people associate with Sandy, and I have no plans to move anywhere else.

Nevertheless, people hate my town.

Witness a commenter to the DesMoNews article linked to above, "I hate Sandy and no advertising campaign will change that."

As much as I like my town, the new radio spots are bad enough to put a bad taste in even my mouth. The whole campaign just comes off as pretentious and even holier than thou.

The radio spots try too hard to mimic Motel 6's iconic Tom Bodett, with the folksy music in the background, and the smooth, slow talking Bodett-wannabe mumbling about how things were back in his day and why those things are still important to Sandy. Here's a clip from one of the commercials. Imagine a more annoying version of Bodett as you read (or click here for the KSL.com video report):

"Anyway, it's been 20-odd years without raising property taxes. Maybe that's why folks in Sandy sleep a little better at night, not having to keep such a tight grip on their wallets and all."

Yeah, whatever.

The main failure of the campaign, I think, is that if you're trying to create goodwill, you shouldn't start out by insulting your neighbors, as in the "hold on to your wallet" and "be careful" billboards. You just can't help but take offense at those slogans if you live anywhere other than Sandy. The "take a hike" billboard hits a little closer to the mark - emphasizing your strengths without saying anything about anyone else.

Another failure is the new logo. The old one was maybe a little busy, with the picture of City Hall, but it was classy, at least. The new logo is too simple, too unimaginative, and too boring. The motto, "Heart of the Wasatch," is OK, but not great. Finally, the color scheme is dull and lame.

The only real good thing to come of this re-branding is an overhaul of the city's website, and the hiring of a full-time webmaster. The website is much improved, both in content and navigation.

But that's not enough to stop people from hating us. Just as the commenter said, no advertising campaign is going to change that.

Well, at least not this one.