Closing in on "Capital of the Border" agency

"Capital of the Border" couldn't come as worse time in our region. The economy, shutting down the border to illegal entrants, the dwindling of traffic to/from Mexico because of the Cartels and the high taxes are all part of this regions demise. The name couldn't have come at a worse time.

Nah...too pretentious for El Paso. The "Big Burrito" says it all.

Is there anyone in El Paso's government who knows the difference between capital (as in death penalty), and capitol (as in seat of government)?

Interesting that while the news seems to be that this concept is still just a concept, there is actually a billboard using the phrase "El Paso: Capital of the Border" already on I-25 south of Albuquerque. Perhaps this is just a pilot project, but it works in my opinion.

Having driven this road many times for 15+ years, I have always found myself somewhat embarrassed by the City's history of past highway billboard efforts to market itself to vacationing travelers. Finally, it looks like we have something that could be a winner.

But does the city own the brand "Capital of the Border?" That's the question.

They didn't own "You have no idea" either. You can find the payment for that on the books.

This Dodson lady keeps taking us for a ride. I'm not sure she has much experience in this type of promotion.

Funny these two firms have been in El Paso since at least the 80's when I moved here with the Military. They've failed to brand the city dozens of times since then and yet we are hiring them again. Very smart.

I did notice that the community board put together to judge the initial round of submitters was very peculiar. Most of those men and women on the board were already doing business with these two firms.

My small firm was not invited... So sad for me. The city is quite easy to make money off of. They tend to pick silly slogans like "capital of the border."

and Sanders-Wingo used their "front" agency to come up with the now infamous Glass Beach "study", another waste of money. What was their slogan...."El Paso Not as Dirty as We Used to Be!"

Maybe Taco Bell will let them use "Run for the Border" slogan

"Capital of the Border." Lame. Uncreative. Uninspired. Retrograde. So 1985.

Here's a free slogan: "El Paso Rocks!"

It's simple, self-explanatory, uncontroversially grammatical -- and most importantly, highlights our great outdoors, weather, and rockin' music tradition (from the Night Dreamers to At the Drive In).

Someday, someday we'll get this branding thing right.

Last time this came up I offered this slogan - "El Paso...Six Feet from Paradise". But that was based on a year old ordinance. For something more topical lets try - "El Paso - The Capital of Taxes!" (texas) or "EL Paso - A part of Taxes like nowhere else!

Anthony,

that's awful. The key to a good slogan is that you don't have to explain it...

I was thinking a more fitting slogan for the times we live in.

Let's keep "Capital of the Border" and just throw the word "murder" right before it.

Branding has become the new neurosis for the new millenium.

You all need to read "OBD: OBSESSIVE BRANDING DISORDER" by Lucas Conley. I heard him on his lecture tour and asked him about city branding. He stated that when a city hires a "branding" firm it ALWAYS turns out to be a rip-off. Branding for cities is ineffective. It does nothing and is just a waste of taxpayer money. The list of cities and towns that have been fleeced by these illusionists is ever-growing and it looks like El Paso is next.

Get with the program El Paso. You've come down with a case of OBD.

DavidK

that's awful. The key to a good slogan is that it applies to the correct entity...tsk tsk
Juarez is the Murder Capital of the Border.
Not El Paso.

To James --
"Capitol" refers to the actual *building* housing the seat of government. "Capital" refers to the *city* where the building resides.

So the "Capital of the Border" is grammatically correct, but no less unimaginative.

For example...
"Capitol Hill is located in Washington, DC, the National Capital of the United States."

Gotta love English...

Branding El Paso will not bring visitors here. We need to continue to work on the "cleanliness and attractiveness thing." Our medians are looking great and there City is doing a good job of keeping them relatively clean. (Too bad we can't get rid of plastic bags! And too bad some people think rocks alone make an attractive landscape.) But back to the slogan, Capital of the Border... it's a bad idea and branding is a waste of money. I agree that the Dodson lady is sadly out-of-the-loop and will soon be in the pocket of a slick ad agency.

What we need is a real Economic Development Director.

Eh, I like it. Certainly a lot better than 'It's an El Paso Thing".

But why hire an overpriced firm when we have hundreds of talented marketing majors and graphic designers here at UTEP who could do 100x better job than this agency?

This is about 15 years too late. The opportunity to roll this out was there for the taking when NAFTA was put into effect. Now trying to push a positive image with all the negative national media attention on the "Border" is going to be an uphill struggle.

"Branding El Paso will not bring visitors here."

I agree, nor do I think we should be spending money to bring visitors here beyond the normal converntion services. This reallly isn't a tourist mecca with the ambience of, say, Tucson or Santa Fe. Juarez isn't Acapulco, even if it had a beach!

But it is a business and military destination and will grow as such. How would you brand that? Because it is relevant.

This "brand" will not get people to come to El Paso. Calling it Mexico City on the Border or New York City on the Border will not generate tourism. Albuquerque has invested in "Albuquerque: It's a Trip." They wasted their money. I don't visit the Duke City because of that slogan. I go there for the excellent collection of bookstores and restaurants, the restored Old Town and the cool new Uptown. And some terrific museums. (BTW, anyone know what the slogans for Paris or Rome or London are? Thought not.)

But if the new "brand" means that "El Paso - Snoring Allowed" will no longer be the billboard slogan, that's perhaps a modest improvement.

The best use for this money would be to clean up downtown and the highway margins! US54 on the north side of El Paso looks like a trash heap!!!

Let's put aside for a moment the clumsy way in which Mr. Pittle tried to assume his role as the clandestine insider "working the ropes" to get his firm awarded the coveted title of "brander of El Paso." It's apparent he gummed it up, upset the group with the magic gruel of city funds, alienated other design groups who were justifiably perturbed at not being invited to submit their ideas, sent out an illogical email to explain his actions, hid behind the gilded curtain of Chico's Tacos, and otherwise stepped on everyone's toes including his own to try and land the contract.

All that being said, the city is going to use his branding theme, which is his idea, his concept, his creation, his effort, his product, and strip him of that and hand it to someone else to use it? Regardless of how clumsily he handled himself in lunging for the podium, it does not seem fair to hand off his concept to another firm to "market." The person or company that came up with the winning concept conceivably would have the understanding of the concept to market it as it was intended. It's like a painter being relieved of his brush and someone else resuming the painting. This does not seem fair to Two Ton, regardless of who he angered with his actions. He came up with the idea, and should be the one to market it.

But what is it exactly that the Convention and Visitor's Bureau does? They have graphic designers, marketers, a huge national network, a team of public relations professionals, and quite a respectable budget. So, why does the city have to pay someone else to do a job that the city already has the resources to do?

The CVB seems to be the entity in perfect position to do something like branding and marketing El Paso, but they were not utilized. This means the city either lacks faith in the CVB's abilities, or has extra money to burn by tossing it out like confetti to their media faves.

And as far as the "Capital of the Border" brand; it's the closest attempt I've ever seen to represent what El Paso is, but it's still a 5 out of a possible ten, for a variety of reasons. Plus, with the new batch of city reps coming in, it will most likely change again. This would be amusing if our tax money was not being used so cavalierly.

Congratulations to Two Ton for the labeling victory, you should have been given the opportunity to pick up the marketing contract as well, regardless of your backdoor dealing that accompanied this debacle. And a GIANT question mark to the city's CVB marketing department. Isn't this the sort of thing you're supposed to be doing? It would save taxpayers money for your time and resources to be spent on marketing El Paso, and thereby would have eliminated the need to dangle the carrot in front of other hand-selected firms, which created the suspicion of favoritism that is now clouding this endeavor.

Step up the plate CVB, or let's use your budget for things that actually produce results...

PS: "Who is the Walrus" and "I am the Walrus" are two different identities, not the same person, though I mostly agree with his/her assessment, with one exception: I don't think "capital of the border" is silly, it's just not quite vetted enough to be effective...

Please don't feed the walrus. He's starting to make sense! Now HUSH.

"'The Time Has Come,' the Walrus said, 'to speak of many things....'"

Snazzy catch phrases for El Paso come and go with tiresome regularity.

In five years, no-one will remember "Capital of the Border" despite the $100,000 wasted on Pittle and god knows how much more on Wingo or Mithoff.

El Paso -- Snoring Required.

Identity Crises!

What a Rip Off!

Pittles for Brains!