The first mistake in branding NE Ohio is the name of the organization promoting Cleveland.
If there is a “greater” there must be a “lesser”- when we can’t fall under one banner- adding adjectives only dilutes the brand.
Multimillion-Dollar Ad Campaign To Promote NE Ohio – Yahoo! News [1]
A Cleveland-area economic development organization is launching a multi-million ad campaign to help strengthen the image of northeast Ohio.The Greater Cleveland Partnership, an organization of more than 17,000 northeast Ohio businesses, met Tuesday morning for its annual meeting
The group said there are a lot of positive change under way in Cleveland, with GCP initiatives attracting millions of dollars in business development, major sporting events and job creation.
However, the stigma of being the poorest big city in the nation remains, GCP leaders said.
The Dayton Ad Club had the same stupid idea- renaming themselves the “Greater Dayton Advertising Association [2]” throwing away 100 years of brand equity to appease some suburbanite who thinks that they aren’t a part of Dayton and that the word “club” wasn’t professional enough. Face it- no one is going to say I’m going to visit “Greater Cleveland” or fly into “Greater Cleveland International Airport”- they’re going to Cleveland.
Let’s hope Dayton doesn’t get caught up in the same stupid thinking. We’re Dayton, and we’re proud.