New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities&quo

[BuildTO]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities

remember that ad that spacing put out a while back? I cant remember what it was exactly fory, but it was Toronto writing a letter to it's audience, speaking about it's virtues. That idea would have been 1000 times better than the current ad campagne.

Yes! (Thanks for the link, too.) Since seeing that, I've mentioned/mused/fantasized about having that as a campaign. It would be brilliant.

Sigh.

 

[BuildTO]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities

Duncan Ross, the city's executive director of tourism, said any type of advertising about Toronto could be effective.

This made me consider banging my head against a wall.

 

[blixa442]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities

The Spacing campaign was vastly superior to the professionally produced rubbish that's currently being used to promote the city.

 

[BuildTO]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities



I was looking at the AIDS Conference website today, and noticed this banner on one of the pages (for people who can't attend, to keep tabs online). I really like the tag line in the bottom right.

 

[esplanade guy]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities

Like I said in another thread, it's all just BS if we don't have the attractions to back up the hype. We need to focus more on making Toronto exciting, interesting, unique and FUN! We need more first rate attractions, quirky neighbourhoods and original ideas, in terms of art, street furniture, festivals, architecture, signage, streets, museums, transit and parks. Every aspect of Toronto should be based on original designs. Imagine if something as small as every entrance and sign to a subway station was original and distinct, (like the Paris Metro) that as soon as you was it, you knew it could only be Toronto, how iconic and beautiful that could be. Now apply that to every aspect of Toronto, everything designed by artists or even regular Torontonians, it would be amazing. It wouldn't be long before Toronto had a distict look and feel, which I'm sure the rest of the world would notice and Torontonians would grow to love. We love our streetcars, City Hall and Kensington Market because they are all unique and original. Toronto can only benifit from that kind of original thinking. I just think we focus too much on how to market the city, instead of how to improve and develop the city in original ways. Am I on a tangent? lol Ok, enough said,

 

[SD2]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities

Like I said in another thread, it's all just BS if we don't have the attractions to back up the hype. We need to focus more on making Toronto exciting, interesting, unique and FUN! We need more first rate attractions, quirky neighbourhoods and original ideas, in terms of art, street furniture, festivals, architecture, signage, streets, museums, transit and parks. Every aspect of Toronto should be based on original designs. Imagine if something as small as every entrance and sign to a subway station was original and distinct, (like the Paris Metro) that as soon as you was it, you knew it could only be Toronto, how iconic and beautiful that could be. Now apply that to every aspect of Toronto, everything designed by artists or even regular Torontonians, it would be amazing. It wouldn't be long before Toronto had a distict look and feel, which I'm sure the rest of the world would notice and Torontonians would grow to love. We love our streetcars, City Hall and Kensington Market because they are all unique and original. Toronto can only benifit from that kind of original thinking. I just think we focus too much on how to market the city, instead of how to improve and develop the city in original ways. Am I on a tangent? lol Ok, enough said,

I don't know if that's really the case. There are a lot of original ideas in the city, but those kinds of things take time.

 

[BuildTO]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities

We need more first rate attractions, quirky neighbourhoods and original ideas, in terms of art, street furniture, festivals, architecture, signage, streets, museums, transit and parks.

It seems to me that we have almost all of those things in abundance.

In particular, we are "a city of neighbourhoods"; I don't know where that phrase came from, but I use it more and more to describe our city, especially to outsiders. Our great strength is that we have so many interesting neighbourhoods without the segregation that is apparent in many other (especially American) cities.

We have plenty of attractions and too many festivals to name. We have nothing to apologize for in terms of galleries and museums. We have many streets with their own character and they are walkable, day and night. Our transit, while needing much improvement, is still among the best on the continent. We have great parks.

Architecture, street furniture, and signage are all things that are frequently discussed here and it seems there are real efforts underway to make real improvements.

 

[Duplicitous]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities

sadly, Toronto - squandered promise, seems most appropriate.

 

[SD2]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities

sadly, Toronto - squandered promise, seems most appropriate.

I disagree. Far too much to potential here to dismiss the city in such a way.

 

[tudararms]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities

Toronto is hated by many, and ignored by most everyone else. There is definately a lot of image building to be done.

 

[esplanade guy]

OK Dupli, let's hear your positive side

Dupli, your funny. Your the first one to always put down Toronto AND the first one to criticise any attempt to change something. (I've been told I'm a bit of a pesimist but compared to you, I seem quite the optimist lol) So Dupli, tell me what you want to change if your so unhappy with Toronto? Instead of just criticizing, let's hear some positive feedback of what you would do to make things better. We know your against an Expo but what are you for?

 

[BuildTO]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities

Toronto is hated by many, and ignored by most everyone else. There is definately a lot of image building to be done.

Nothing you can say or do is going to stop the rest of the country from hating us.

Jus' sayin'.

 

[Duplicitous]

Re: OK Dupli, let's hear your positive side

So Dupli, tell me what you want to change if your so unhappy with Toronto?

Actually I think the city works well, it is the cronyism and mediocre government we have at the city level, lack of a voice at the Federal level, it seems that even with a solid Liberal red toronto under Chretien, Toronto was the bastard stepchild without a voice. I like the idea of revitalizing the waterfront, I would prefer some deregulation of the controls on development.

All roads seem to lead back to half assed local politicos. Like I saod before, I'm biased having worked in a job directly answerable to the City.

Looking behing the curtain and seeing the Wizard is depressing.

 

[tudararms]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities

"Nothing you can say or do is going to stop the rest of the country from hating us."

Perhaps, but I think it's a shame. There is a hell of a lot to like about Toronto. The message just hasn't captured the imagination yet.

 

[BuildTO]

Re: New Toronto Brand: "City of Unlimited Possibilities

"Nothing you can say or do is going to stop the rest of the country from hating us."

Perhaps, but I think it's a shame. There is a hell of a lot to like about Toronto. The message just hasn't captured the imagination yet.

That seems to imply that TO's unpopularity within Canada is a result of people simply not realizing what a wonderful place this is, and that with the right marketing we could "teach" them.

I think the hatred comes from many things: resentment, misconceptions about funding (the widely-held view that all tax dollars go to TO's development), misconceptions about city living (e.g., high crime rate), anti-urban sentiment, negative experiences while visiting (often the result of coming in with a piss-poor attitude = self-fulfilling prophecy), insecurity/defensiveness about one's own hometown, etc.

Marketing to tourists is one thing, but overcoming a long tradition of hatred by our fellow Canadians is another thing completely. Marketing won't change that.