‘Copper Square’ sent to smelter
As reported by Mike Sunnucks in the Business Journal, The Downtown Phoenix Partnership said Monday it is ditching the 8-year-old Copper Square branding effort.
I must admit I am one of the few fans of the Copper Square name, although I admit it never caught on. In fact, it was a disaster from the beginning for one reason — you can’t give yourself a nickname. It just doesn’t work that way. Lest we forget the lesson of George Costanza, who in an effort to get a cool nickname like “T-bone” ended up with the moniker “Koko the Gorilla.”
So we all knew the Copper Square name was short for this world, but I was struck by something in Mike’s story: “Downtown Phoenix Partnership and Scottsdale-based SHR Perceptual Management have been working on a new name since October 2007.”
It took them a year to come up with “Downtown Phoenix.” Wow, whatever the partnership paid SHR Perceptual Management they should get back — plus punitive damages for stealing their money.
‘Copper Square’ sent to smelter
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Comments
October 20th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
“It took them a year to come up with “downtown (lower case) Phoenix.” Wow, whatever the partnership paid SHR Perceptual Management….”
Love it, Len. That’s what I was thinking.
Did City of Phoenix foot that bill like they’re footing GPEC’s budget, plus Goodwill and all these other non-profits? Yet the city is laying off its own people and these places are spending money on SHR and other companies.
The year was to change it from capital downtown to lower case. Grammatically correct.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:06 am
It was “koko the monkey”
October 21st, 2008 at 9:37 am
Aargh…X marks the spot, matey! Attack the palm tree — there’s gold in them thar dates!
Also, is “Perceptual” a word? Maybe that should have been their first clue.
Maybe the Partnership should have taken a page from Sky Harbor Airport which very effectively branded “PHX”. It’s even on the Suns jerseys now and places like Phiadelphia are copying it.
It is also surprising to me that Dale Jensen, the man behind “Jackson Street Entertainment District” and whose slick commercial developments will redefine downtown, thinks this is cool.
Love it or hate it, “Copper Square” was a good brand. It is a visual term and suggests heritage. I don’t know what “downtown Phoeni(X)” does.
It’s like plain wrap at the supermarket.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:03 am
I’ve been wondering what was up with the Copper Square brand, as I work downtown and have noticed the Copper Square buses getting a facelift.
Does it matter that “Copper Square” was not known outside the Valley? Educate the visitors once they arrive. I liked it because it was a unique identity and gives a city with not a lot of past some type of heritage.
Valley PR Blog » Blog Archive » Guest post: Leibowitz on downtown logo Says:
October 21st, 2008 at 1:49 pm
[...] Below is a guest post from David Leibowitz, Vice President, Creative at Moses Anshell. We asked him to weigh in on the new downtown Phoenix logo. [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Don’t get me started on this. As a member of the Phoenix Community Alliance Executive Committee since it was founded, I’ve seen about five branding efforts for downtown come and go, each done by someone outside, and each worse than the last. I screamed about them all — loudest to Jerry Colangelo about Copper Square. But what do I know? 28 years in marketing didn’t give me a voice. So now I hope they got what they wanted.
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:22 am
I agree with Dan – it is like plain wrap, but slightly worse – like plain wrap that sticks when you try to peel it back. The evidence is the difficulty you have when typing it – “downtown Phoeni(X)” is just plain awkward.
I guess if there’s any good news in this sad outcome, it’s that everyone is surely talking about downtown. I hope the conversation leads somewhere constructive because I’m a downtown lover… xx oo.
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Branding is more than plastering your name on the side of shuttle buses, and handing out brochures. Beyond that, there was very little effort to promote ‘Copper Square’ outside of the downtown area, and outside the state. downtown Phoeni(X)? It’s already been said by others. Blahhhh!