New City Slogan Unveiled

[TheUrbanCore]

I think it's re-election.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where political careers begin.. I love the Georgia slogan. They'll look like geniuses if this slogan catches on but it will be forgotten (with the exception maybe of election year politics by some Peyton opponent). Its too long to be the windy city or I heart NY or I love LA. Wondered what they paid for that? We should have just gone with JAX. its all over the tele (scoreboards, tickers..) and on airline info and such...Its how we are known and immediately recognizable around the country...

worst neighborhood for crime? Riverside

[downtowngal]

I recently heard a speech by Jim Gilmore, author of The Experience Economy. He was addressing a group of urban planners and promoters from all over the world. He said that we should all quit creating and using slogans, taglines and logos to market our cities. Instead, he suggested we spend our time and money on creating better, more unique experiences for our residents and visitors and let them determine what they believe sets us apart from other cities. All of us in the room nodded and thought that was an interesting point. But the reality is that it's much quicker and easier to develop a tagline, buy some ads, write a press release and build a website than it is to create truly memorable experiences. We're working on it and always will be. It's not a task that is ever complete.

For the record, I like the tag line. I agree with vicupstate, we've come this far and spent this much and we need to see it through with the necessary funding

[merlin]

For the record, I like the tag line. I agree with vicupstate, we've come this far and spent this much and we need to see it through with the necessary funding

[Urban_Legend]

We should have just gone with JAX.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If my childhood memory serves me well, wasn't there a character on the Mortal Kombat game named Jax? I think that was his name, or it was similar. Someone back me up on this. Hey, we could let JAX be our slogan, and use the Mortal Kombat guy as our mascot. I just picture him giving a serious uppercut to Jaxon Deville

Anywho...........I thought I'd post this:

As part of a new marketing campaign, the City has put two large banners on the Main Street Bridge featuring the city

[vicupstate]

As part of a new marketing campaign, the City has put two large banners on the Main Street Bridge featuring the city

[vicupstate]

close minded people, hmm...  hold on a minute.  the last time i watched the local news about 80% of the crime was going on "north of the St. Johns", now don't get me wrong... there is crime everywhere, but you would have to agree that there are areas that have more crime than others??  and as far as banks and realtors, they are business people and they evaluate things with such terms as "risk" and "appreciation", when money is involved, everybody gets cautious...  anyways, once again the topic has been forgotten here>>>  should we spend 91,000 dollars on the words, "Jacksonville, where florida begins."  well, if it means that more business and a Macy's comes to town, then money well spent. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You illustrate my point exactly! I never said that there wasn't more crime on the North side of the river. But EVERYTHING NORTH OF THE ST. JOHN'S IS NOT SPRINGFIELD! Historic Springfield is one square mile. The crime you are talking about is happening in areas called Durkeeville, Moncrief, East Jacksonville, Brentwood, Oakland, College Park, Ribault Manor ( and numerous others), and yes SOME of it is in Springfield. Yet, Springfield is always the name the media uses. Sometimes Springfield is the correct geographical name, but most of the time it is not.

As for appreciation, over the last 4-5 years there has probably not been one area in all of Duval County that has appreciated more than Springfield. In the late 90's you had your pick of lots there for $5k - 10K. It is an extremely rare find to find one for less than $35-40 k today. Houses both renovated and unrenovated have at least doubled in value in that same time frame.

I actually heard someone criticizing the new slogan and stated that it would be better understood if it read "Jacksonville, where Georgia begins!"  Not saying that is right, but I think it is definitely going to take more than a slogan and some fancy advertising to change the imagery of Jacksonville.  Anyone can come up with a fancy phrase and find a few photo op's around town and make it look like something it's not. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You have a point, that any town or city can be made to look good OR bad in a few pictures or 30 seconds of tape. The point is to get people's attention, make them examine their preconceived notions. Give them a reason to get off of I-95 and see for themselves what Jacksonville is like. Get them curious to find out if there is more to Jax than just "that place on the way to Disney". Of course what they see after they exit off is very important. But if they never get off the interstate to begin with, it doesn't matter how nice Jacksonville is. Perception is reality, it's time to change some perceptions.

I guess I fall on the side that see's the slogan as a waste of money.  I would have rather seen that $91,000 go to into the pot to help jump start renovation projects like The Barnett and the Laura Street Trio or to clean up an urban park, like Confederate Park or help finish a streetscaping project like Main or Hendricks.

  Its been over a year now and I still haven't seen Peyton's.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I couldn't agree more about the Barnett, Laura St trio and the other items you mentioned. Peyton and the city do need to get busy. However, $91,000 isn't going to go very far on those big ticket items. But if just ONE CEO or site selection rep adds Jax to the "places to visit" list, that $91k could reap huge rewards.

[bobliocatt]

I couldn't agree more about the Barnett, Laura St trio and the other items you mentioned.  Peyton and the city do need to get busy.  However, $91,000 isn't going to go very far on those big ticket items.  But if just ONE CEO or site selection rep adds Jax to the "places to visit" list, that $91k could reap huge rewards.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're right $91,000 may not go far on a big ticket item, but it may have been enough to get Improv Jacksonville to locate along Bay Street, Issac Hayes Restaurant to open in the Landing, or a small art gallery to open along Main in Springfield.

I don't have any problems with the slogan, I just fail to see how coming up with "Jacksonville, Where Florida Begins" is going to magically attract some big time CEO to move his operations to the River City. I believe everything Jax needs to attract new businesses is already here and has been here for sometime. Over the past year, we have been able to attract companies like Washington Mutual and Fidelity National Financial with no problem. There's even rumors that BOA is going to locate hundreds of their Tampa regional office jobs to Jax by the end of late 2005. All of these recent accomplishments have come without the use of a slogan.

I don't think slick slogans attract businesses, instead low taxes, affordable living, local growth potential, and a good quality of life do. All the chips are already in place here, now its time to enhance what we already have and take things to the next level. I hope I'm wrong and I would love to eat my words, but I feel that paying for a catchy slogan is the same as paying some guy, like Richard Florida, to come give you a speech on how to make your city become "cool" by telling you things you already know.

[Springfieldian]

Is there any real dollar amount that could undo the 100 years of misconception of which state Jacksonville belongs to since Flagler diverted the tourism to our south (and our city fathers chased the film industry out)? This is the first marketing campaign I have seen since "Florida's First Coast" that seems specifically intended to do so. It's also a little less ambiguous than FFC.

I'm not defending the amount, I think it was excessive if all it paid for was a slogan that I have said and heard many times over in my short lifetime, but at least it was spent locally. The money went to a company that employs people who live, work, play, and pay taxes here, in Jacksonville.

Lakelander, I'll agree that slick slogans alone don't attract business but simple, concise ones like this do help address the awareness of a city. Heck, look at the free press the Wall Street Journal gave us (I'd rather see it in the Washington Post but beggars can't be choosers ). Here's an analogy: For years, the Folio has been evolving into a tabloid that looks like the Creative Loafing, Weekly Planet, or City Times in what appears to be an effort to be purchased by one of the bigger weekly tabloid publishers; while this hasn't happened, another amazing thing has happened -- it has become truly profitable. The publisher gambled and invested in changing the image of the tabloid. Although the current state isn't what he had originally intended, I'd imagine he'd place the same bet again. Marketing is a game of craps.

$91,000 could have gone to improvement elswhere; then again, it should have gone elswhere 20+ years ago. Downtown Jacksonville fell under the weight of civic neglect but has recently received part of an infusion that has helped it up onto its crutches. We see some real change happening in the urban core but, as we are about to have greater national scrutiny and attention than ever, the time for marketing is now. I don't know what the city's annual marketing development budget is, but I'd wager that $91,000 wasn't much of a stretch. I say all of this as a proud resident of an area with some of the most badly neglected streets and infrastructure in the southeast (okay, they're fixing it but daggum; why the wait?).

And Peyton does look like a gameshow host (at least the article didn't say he appeared to have the sincerity of a used car salesman).

[vicupstate]

You're right $91,000 may not go far on a big ticket item, but it may have been enough to get Improv Jacksonville to locate along Bay Street, Issac Hayes Restaurant to open in the Landing, or a small art gallery to open along Main in Springfield.

I don't have any problems with the slogan, I just fail to see how coming up with "Jacksonville, Where Florida Begins" is going to magically attract some big time CEO to move his operations to the River City.  I believe everything Jax needs to attract new businesses is already here and has been here for sometime.  Over the past year, we have been able to attract companies like Washington Mutual and Fidelity National Financial with no problem.  There's even rumors that BOA is going to locate hundreds of their Tampa regional office jobs to Jax by the end of late 2005.  All of these recent accomplishments have come without the use of a slogan.

I don't think slick slogans attract businesses, instead low taxes, affordable living, local growth potential, and a good quality of life do.  All the chips are already in place here, now its time to enhance what we already have and take things to the next level.  I hope I'm wrong and I would love to eat my words, but I feel that paying for a catchy slogan is the same as paying some guy, like Richard Florida, to come give you a speech on how to make your city become "cool" by telling you things you already know.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't see it as an either/or situation. A city the size of Jax should be able to both enhance it's quality of life and promote it's quality of life. By promoting it, it draws newcomers (both people and businesses) that in turn diversify and further enhance the city.

I think my perspective is so different on this because I hear the viewpoints of others from outside of Florida. The consensus seems to be (from this string) that everyone in Florida has an image of Jax, whether it's good or bad. I would agree with that. But what I see and hear from living and traveling in the Carolinas and Georgia is that Jacksonville has no image outside of Florida. Jacksonville really is a blank slate outside of the state. Fidelity came here because they bought Alltel, they originally planned to close shop in Jacksonville. But because the Chamber convinced them to reconsider, they did an about face and expanded. That's quite a turnaround. But would that have happened if Alltel had been somewhere else? Would they have still moved to Jax?

Getting jobs from Tampa is fine, but what about competing with SC, Georgia and Virginia for the next auto plant? Let me tell you, that will pull people out of trailer parks and into nice homes faster than anything. When BMW came to Greenville, it was essentially the same as giving 10,000 people a 30-50% raise each. Low taxes and cost of living is fine, but if the corporate decision makers aren't aware of that, you get no benefit from it from an economic development perspective. Jacksonville has a great story to tell, but just think if more people heard it.

Someone reading the Wall Street Journal article might log-on to the website, link over to the Chamber's site, and read about our low taxes, our Mayo Clinic, The Player's Tournament, the World Golf Village. The next thing you know one thing leads to another.

A study I read about did an analysis on what the top factors were in corporate relocations. The one number factor was not incentives, or cost of living but distance from the CEO's house to a golf course.

Heck, if just ONE convention came to town, it would pay back that $91,000. IMO, the city has wasted a lot more than $91,000 on things that had no return.

[crazy cuban]

I am always surprised that everyone has the same opinion... let's bring more jobs to Jacksonville and more big coroprations. Then when they do come here and start clearing land and building and the traffic worsens, everybody complains. We all want more prisons, but no one wants one built in their neghborhood. The slogan i think is more of an ego thing. An identity, something for someone to quote or put on a pamphlet at the hotel. is it really going to bring people and business to Jacksonville, no... is it something to be splashed on buildings and tv while the Super Bowl...yes. was 91,000 to much to spend>>> depends. Is springfiled a dangerous hood>> it was and parts still are, is it getting better, no doubt>>> does it have a bad rap with native jax folks>>> you bet ya! perception is everything. and i guess that is what the slogan aims to change>>>

then maybe it is money well spent.

thanks

[Captain Obvious]

I would just like to point out that it costs the city significantly more that $91,000 dollars to upgrade a single suburban intersection with modern traffic lights. Also as the TU mentions today, the city council is about to grant themselves a collective pay raise of well over $91,000 per year for no reason whatsoever. And I don't think i need to remind anyone of how much all these new overpasses, road widenings and freeway interchanges are going to cost. Debate the merits of the slogan all you want, but as far as the $91,000 ... I humbly suggest that everyone needs to get over it. There are literally hundreds of millions of dollars being spent in Jacksonville for worse and less effective purposes than this ad campaign.

(Question for Crazy Cuban ... is the Che icon serious or ironic? Just interested in knowing.)

[Springfieldian]

I am always surprised that everyone has the same opinion...  let's bring more jobs to Jacksonville and more big coroprations.  Then when they do come here and start clearing land and building and the traffic worsens, everybody complains.  This is where a careful growth plan should be implemented (Portland, OR has a fairly conservative growth plan that should probably serve as the baseline for other cities.  Jobs don't exist without commerce but the land can only accept so much abuse.

We all want more prisons, but no one wants one built in their neghborhood.  I don't want more prisons. I want to encourage personal responsibility and prevent crime instead of create punitive laws that make more people criminals and fill already crowded jails; however, this takes investment and is less visible than concrete and concertina wire.  I don't think I am alone in this.  As far as the NIMBY arguement, Jacksonville has better, less populated places for its jail but they are all fairly remote and the Judges will be darned if they're going to drive all that way for work.

The slogan i think is more of an ego thing.  An identity, something for someone to quote or put on a pamphlet at the hotel.  is it really going to bring people and business to Jacksonville, no...  is it something to be splashed on buildings and tv while the Super Bowl...yes.  was 91,000 to much to spend>>>  depends. 

Is springfiled a dangerous hood>>  it was and parts still are, is it getting better, no doubt>>>  does it have a bad rap with native jax folks>>>  you bet ya!  perception is everything. And this is Springfield's biggest battle.  The news organizations continue to errantly report all crime north/northwest of the river as being in Springfield, effectively undoing the hard-earned positive press the neighborhood receives.  Property values are rising, crime is falling, the neighborhood's diversity is increasing, but changing Jacksonville's perception of Springfield is akin to fighting an uphill friendly-fire battle.

and i guess that is what the slogan aims to change>>> Even if all it does is increase the understanding Jacksonville's geography.

then maybe it is money well spent.

thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[JaxInvestor]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

and on that note...

[TheUrbanCore]

Watch Fla. city for Super Bowl lesson (Detroit Free Press)

December 11, 2004

BY JOHN GALLAGHER

FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- To anyone living north of the Mason-Dixon line, places like Jacksonville all may be interchangeable Sunbelt success stories. But to John Peyton, the boyishly upbeat mayor and salesman-in-chief for his city, Jacksonville badly needs the image boost that hosting Super Bowl XXXIX on Feb. 6 hopefully will bring it.

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# SUPER BOWL XXXIX: Jacksonville is in for a whole new ball game

"I think it's an opportunity to introduce our city to people in large part who've never heard of Jacksonville or could locate it on a map," Peyton says of the National Football League's championship game. The Super Bowl brings in 100,000 visitors, more than 4,000 credentialed media, and a worldwide television audience in the hundreds of millions.

"If you think about it," Peyton adds, "most cities have an identity. When you think of San Francisco, you have an image. When you think of Miami you have an image. Because Jacksonville is growing more in the last decade than in previous decades, we are really coming into our own. I think right now we have a blank canvas."

As it turns out, even some larger Super Bowl host cities, notably Houston in 2004 and Detroit, which will host the 2006 game, also have viewed the Super Bowl as an antidote to civic self-esteem problems. Before hosting Super Bowl XXXVIII, Houston's planners complained that their city was known for little more than mosquitoes and the Enron scandal. As for Detroit, its Rust Belt image problems are almost too painful to mention.

But Jacksonville, the smallest market (with about 1.2 million people) ever to host a Super Bowl, feels the need for a Super-sized image boost as much or more than the others.

"Jacksonville has been looked down upon for so many years," complains Lyn Briggs, a spokeswoman for the Jacksonville civic group Downtown Vision. And, in what may be a gold standard of Sunbelt put-downs, she adds, "Other Floridians consider us south Georgia."

Even ordinary citizens understand the need for a civic pick-me-up. At Hemming Plaza, an attractive square in the heart of downtown Jacksonville, Brenda Cooper, selling homemade pies and cakes during a weekly farmer's market, takes a moment to stand up for her home.

"They think we're still a little bitty town," she says of outsiders. "But we are a great town. We've got a wonderful city here."

Tucked into the northeast corner of Florida, along what residents call the First Coast, Jacksonville has long slumbered in the shadow of Miami, Tampa, and Orlando. It may be best known for the Navy bases in the area, or perhaps as the home of the Winn-Dixie grocery chain. The main downtown employer is government itself, and the region's geography is marked by low grassy marshes that show up in photographs and paintings in art galleries around town.

Image worries, of course, are common currency in urban centers everywhere. Like many cities, Jacksonville has a riverfront long neglected but now the focus of ambitious new development. It boasts a small, people-moving monorail that everyone wishes extended farther than it does. And its downtown was emptied out years ago by suburban sprawl.

And like many cities, Jacksonville suffered over the decades from self-inflicted wounds. On the edge of downtown, barren lots mark where once stood LaVilla, a historic African-American neighborhood known as the Harlem of the South. Its row houses were bulldozed a generation ago in the spirit of urban renewal. "We can look back and say, 'Why on earth did we do that?' " Briggs says.

Into Jacksonville's current blend of tranquil lifestyle and civic ambition, the Super Bowl promises a treasure chest of rewards. The NFL and various economists say hosting the game can bring a city $300 million or more in direct and spin-off benefits. Some economists dispute those figures, but there's no question that host cities see the game as an unrivaled chance to show off for the world.

"For a market like ours, no matter what the direct injection of dollars is for Jacksonville, we obviously think it's going to be more than what we put into it," says Michael Kelly, president of the Jacksonville Super Bowl Host Committee, the main organization planning for the event. "This is marketing that they couldn't afford any other way."

Seizing on its moment in the spotlight, Jacksonville launched an advertising effort this week aimed at re-branding the city with the theme "Jacksonville: Where Florida Begins." And mirroring the cleanup efforts that both Houston and Detroit undertook for the game, Jacksonville is rushing to complete a host of civic improvements in the weeks leading up to kickoff. Trees have been planted along local highways, roads have been repaved, and the bridges across the St. Johns River that knit together the downtown area are being strung with colored lights.

A former retail developer, Peyton has been leading his aides on frequent walking and driving tours of downtown, pointing to a cracked sidewalk here, a crumbing wall there, to make sure everything gets repaired by the time visitors arrive.

"I've been very hands-on," Peyton says. "I like to get out and see it and identify it, make sure someone owns it, follow up and make sure it's fixed."

The NFL admits that this trio of cities -- Houston in 2004, Jacksonville in 2005, and Detroit in 2006 -- were unusual choices to host the game. The league traditionally brings its championship game to tourist dynamos like Miami and New Orleans. When the league announced its choices for the 2004-2006 games, not a few sportswriters and corporate planners gagged on the thought of spending several days in humid Houston or snowy Detroit.

But Jim Steeg, who has run the Super Bowl for the NFL for the past 26 years, says the league wants to spread the benefits of hosting the event to as many cities as possible, as well as encourage cities to build or improve their stadiums as a lure for getting the game. And he gives Jacksonville high marks for its preparations and its enthusiasm.

Contact JOHN GALLAGHER at 313-222-5173 or [email protected]

[vicupstate]

Great article. Thanks for posting.

[Captain Obvious]

On the edge of downtown, barren lots mark where once stood LaVilla, a historic African-American neighborhood known as the Harlem of the South. Its row houses were bulldozed a generation ago in the spirit of urban renewal. "We can look back and say, 'Why on earth did we do that?' " Briggs says.

actually, a great deal of these buildings were knocked down only 15 years ago. slightly less than a generation, which makes it all the more sad.

[TheUrbanCore]

Super Bowl host 'fixin' to blossom'

By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY

JACKSONVILLE

[wolfdawg54]

actually, a great deal of these buildings were knocked down only 15 years ago. slightly less than a generation, which makes it all the more sad.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well unfortunately we can't raise the dead and bring back the community so we need to restore some of the more significant buildings in that area and continue to move forward. Hopefully Jacksonville is past the destruction phase.

[bobliocatt]

Well unfortunately we can't raise the dead and bring back the community so we need to restore some of the more significant buildings in that area and continue to move forward. Hopefully Jacksonville is past the destruction phase.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're definately right. However, its still not to late to take advantage of empty land and vacant brick buildings (ex. Richmond Hotel, old black high school) between The Ritz and the Broad Street area and re-establish an actual urban neighborhood, that could benefit from the area's rich history, as well as benefit the northern half of downtown.

Imo, the block surrounded by Union, Davis, Beaver & Jefferson Streets is the most important piece of property left in LaVilla. If another suburban office complex, with a large parking lot, ends up there, you can official declare the area's future potential, as an adjoining distict urban neighborhood dead.

[Fruit Cove]

i drove through downtown last night on the way to a fernandina beach high school game. i noticed the banners on the main street bridge and they looked quite nice. the csx building looks amazing and about 1/4 of the north side(not facing the river) is now of the black facade. looks fantastic!

[Urban_Legend]

BTW, if you haven't seen it yet, the slogan has a website. It's www.wherefloridabegins.com

The site doesn't really help or inform you, but perhaps they'll update it. But anyways, it's pretty cool.