Toronto: Live with Culture ads<\/a>. (Spacing’s own Shawn Micallef critiqued these on the Wire yesterday; you can scroll down a couple posts down for his thoughts.)
\nDunne says, “Great brands must be clear, distinctive, and stand for something.” Exactly. While the developers of those sad recent ads aimed (and the aim is honorable) at “edginess,” it was through a branding strategy of civic self-deprecation. They failed to recognize that you can’t self-deprecate (or in any way play off, even positively) of something that doesn’t freakin’ have an identifiable external image, and certainly not one that is based around low self-esteem.<\/p>\nPersonally, I never associated low self-esteem (one of the key components of these ads) with Toronto until I arrived here after living across the country and also for a time in the States. You go to Miami, or San Francisco, or New York and say “what do you think of Toronto?” and I predict that rarely will it be something along the lines of “compares itself to other ‘world-class’ cities too much” or “has got an inferiority complex”. More likely it will be “cold,” “nice,” “clean,” or “yeah, I know someone in Canada, in Regina… do you know them?” To try and encourage inferences that go far beyond these existing tropes into civic neurosis observable only from within is ridiculous.<\/p>\n
Also, simply as an ad-project critique, there’s a massive thought process demanded of the consumer, even for those aware of Toronto’s self-esteem problem. I seriously shudder to think about the series of logistical leaps required for an outside, non-Torontonian consumer to even decipher the “joke” at the heart of these ads. Like, hm, woman thinks her boobs are too big. But they’re small. And this has something to do with… Toronto. And film. And Hollywood. Do women have small boobs in Toronto? In Hollywood? Oh, right boob jobs are popular in Hollywood. Where they make films. And maybe people need more boob jobs in Toronto? No, they just want smaller boobs. Do they make films there? I think there’s a festival.<\/p>\n
(It’s also extremely angrifying, as hinted at above, to see the anti-woman angle presented in this whole series of ads, from the pregnant woman being denied a cab, to the boob-conscious woman, to the middle-aged lady being romantically rebuffed, to the acting out of cliched French maid fantasy. Did anyone with ovaries vet these ads, or find them remotely funny?)<\/p>\n
Back to Dunne: “The most famous tourism campaigns… usually tap into existing beliefs, building on what people already believe to be true about the destination…. [also] those who live in the destination have to buy into the campaign and get behind it.”<\/p>\n
In line with Dunne’s thoughts, I want to give props to the already-existing and then-jettisoned campaign that I believe, as someone who has and has not lived here, could reach to that level of emotional buy-in. And that is the “Toronto: You belong here” campaign.<\/p>\n
First, it’s got an emotional pull. When I first moved to Smogville, seeing those “Toronto: You belong here” bumper stickers on local cabs helped the chaos of moving feel more worth it. In a dystopia of transience, it made me feel utopian. And that’s key, especially in a city where so many people come from other places.<\/p>\n
Second, it references something that we, and and a lot of outsiders, actually know about the city — that it’s incredibly diverse. It’s diverse culturally, with communities and citizens from all over the world. But it’s diverse subculturally as well, with everything from opera and fine art to basketball and hip-hop to baseball and classic rock (I’m using broad stereotypes and sort of implying that opera is a sport here, but roll with me for a second) all in one place. And both of those kinds of diversity mean that “Toronto: You belong here” applies to almost any viewer\/consumer.<\/p>\n
Third, it’s broad enough to be applied to targeted campaigns across different markets. (This is part of what the City was aiming at with “Toronto Unlimited,” but only blandly manifested.) Like you could place ads in sports mags, music mags, alt-weeklies, major dailies, food mags, and overseas media using this same tagline with slightly differing copy.<\/p>\n
What I’m thinking about specifically is a bit of a rip of those Mastercard ads; but what about seeing the following in SPIN<\/em> (all numbers completely fudged at this point): “200 Pitchfork-praised bands. 23 independent record stores. 80 live music concerts every night of the week. Toronto: You belong here. [Small print] For more information about NXNE packages, check www.torontoyoubelonghere.com.” Or maybe this in the Times<\/em> literary supplement: “50 independent book publishers. 300 award-winning authors. 897 editors. 3 premier literary festivals. Toronto: You belong here. [Small print] For information about IFOA packages, check www.torontoyoubelonghere.com.” Or even, to get back to that Toronto Unlimited corporati segment, how about seeing this in the Wall Street Journal<\/em>? “342 head offices. 108 Fortune 500 companies. 517 varieties of scotch. One of the world’s largest stock exchanges. Toronto: You belong here. [Small print] For information on business advantages in Toronto check www.torontoyoubelonghere.com.”<\/p>\nOK, I’ve gone on long enough. And yes, I have heard that this Lastman-era, post-SARS tagline gives a lot of City bureaus the shivers. But it’s still got plenty of marketing goodness that can be milked from it. Would you support its reinstatement?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well, dress me up in a three-piece suit and call me a Rotman School of Management professor! According to a Star editorial today by RSM marketing prof David Dunne, I am exactly on the same page as MBA-trainers when it comes to those dismal Toronto: Live with Culture ads. (Spacing’s own Shawn Micallef critiqued theseContinue reading “Why “Toronto: You belong here” belongs here”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4020,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[457,4464,4459,2904,4462,1150,469,4460,4466,818,576,4463,310,4461,2084,4250,19,2789,4254,4465],"class_list":["post-1496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spacing","tag-canada","tag-david-dunne","tag-food-mags","tag-maid","tag-mastercard","tag-miami","tag-new-york","tag-overseas-media","tag-pitchfork","tag-professor","tag-san-francisco","tag-school-of-management","tag-shawn-micallef","tag-smogville","tag-the-times","tag-the-wall-street-journal","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-unlimited","tag-wall-street-journal","tag-www-torontoyoubelonghere-com"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy "Toronto: You belong here" belongs here - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/01\/30\/why-toronto-you-belong-here-belongs-here\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why "Toronto: You belong here" belongs here - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Well, dress me up in a three-piece suit and call me a Rotman School of Management professor! According to a Star editorial today by RSM marketing prof David Dunne, I am exactly on the same page as MBA-trainers when it comes to those dismal Toronto: Live with Culture ads. 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<\/p>\n