Mike Blackburn

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Following the riots local tourism body Visit Manchester have been pushing hard to get momentum behind their "I Love Manchester" campaign #ilovemcr.

The aim is to get lots of positive messages out through social media to reinforce what a wonderful place Manchester is to live, work and visit.

I think the idea behind this is really great and it's very good to have a rallying call in these harsh economic times. The campaign has really gathered momentum too with lots of twibbons being used to adorn Twitter and Facebook avatars and lots of positive messages.

Tomorrow there will be a mass tweet up commencing at 5.30 with the aim of getting #ILoveMCR trending globally on Twitter; if you have an account please tweet.

I'm from Yorkshire originally, and having lived in Manchester for over twenty years, although I still feel the odd twinge of guilt about leaving my home county, I think it's one of the best places to live not just in the UK but the world.

However, the one thing that disappoints me about the movement is that, as a city full of creative people, we've chosen a logo to promote the campaign that is a rip-off of a 30 year old device from New York.

Manchester's success has been built on innovation in everything it does, whether it be business or the arts. I'm not wanting to be petty, or draw away from the campaign's goals, but it just seems wrong to me that we are relying on this old device.

Surely there is an opportunity here for the creatives of Manchester to develop a new icon to challenge the red heart as a way of demonstrating positive feeling.

Come on Visit Manchester, let's be proactive and use the brilliance of the people who live here to come up with something more original. Our designers here would be happy to spend some time thinking about it, although I don't think it should be done in isolation.

Editors Update: If any designers want to have a crack at creating a logo they feel is more representative of the spirit of Manchester, email your creations to us at mcrlogo@i-com.net and we'll post the results here (and try and get them in front of Marketing Manchester too!)

Tags: Branding, Manchester

Discussion

Posted by Ben Greenwood on Aug 25th, 2011
While I see what you're saying - and I have no doubt the Manchester creative community could outdo that logo a million times over - when you're trying to start something like this it does make sense to use an instantly recognisable logo for people to rally behind.

Do like the challenge you've thrown out there though. :)
Posted by SEOsherlock on Aug 25th, 2011
Completely agree with the point about the design. We, as a city, are selling ourselves short creatively by plagiarising another city's design (not even a UK city). Get your designers to create a unique design and lets push it as an alternative ;)
Posted by Mike on Aug 25th, 2011
Hi Ben and Sherlock, Some of the guys here were really nervous about this post going up thinking I might be seen as overly negative towards a campaign that's generating a lot of positive feeling.
That was never the intention, I just think we could all do better, but I don't think it's a job for one agency.The digital community in Leeds has done a great job in setting up the Leeds Digital Festival the interesting thing was that it all started with a concept that lead on to crowdsourcing the design for a website and has just gone through a citywide competition to design the logo.It's a great creative solution, but I'm sure that Manchester could do an even better job if it put its mind to it.
Posted by Ben Gross on Aug 25th, 2011
I agree Mike. The thing that disappointed me so much about the riots was the copycat nature. I thought Manchester was better. An innovator not a follower. With this branding we're again following another city's concept. There is a lot of creativity in Manchester and I think we should have harnessed it.
Posted by Mindy on Aug 25th, 2011
Well, designers, there's your challenge. Send us something that you think better reflects Manchester, we'll post them here, and I'm certain Mike will do his level best to convince Marketing Manchester to consider a change that better reflects our city.
Posted by Phil on Aug 30th, 2011
I too, it must be said, love Manchester.

I can't understand the significance of the unrest in whether people love Manchester?

Isn't it a damn shame that such events must occur before people begin to start a positive campaign. In some respects it adds more significance to something that was built up irresponsibly by media (both online and offline).

Why don't we love Manchester more when things are good?

I think the logo should be changed too, we have plenty of amazing and highly talented designers. The logo should then adorn the city in a Banksy-esque rebellious crusade, cropping up all over (perhaps with QR codes, 25 to collect!?)

Well what have we got instead...

"Oh look, people have smashed up the city, people must not love Manchester enough. Ah ha! Lets steal New York's already tired logo, rehash it and throw it up on billboards. That won't look half-arsed and cheap at all, will it?!"
Posted by Anthony Logan on Oct 24th, 2011
Hi Guys, can someone email me your contact details, would be interested in having a chat about this issue with you.

Regards

Anthony Logan
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