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How to choose a city slogan and a city logo - The role of verbaland visual identity in city branding, with examples fromHungarian citiesÁrpád Ferenc PAPP-VÁRYBudapest Metropolitan University, Tourism and Business Faculty, Marketing Institute,Nagy Lajos király útja 1-9., Budapest, Hungary, [email protected] and logos may be the most tangible elements in the marketing and communications of a city. Both are really good if theycapture the character and story of the city, distinguish it from other places, and are capable of inspiring tourists, investors, and,not least, locals.However, if slogans and logos are ordinary and meaningless, they may do more harm than good. ”The colourful city”, ”Thelivable city”, ”The friendly city”, ”Explore (city)”, ”A city that’s different”, or ”In the heart of Europe” are slogan efforts thathave been used a thousand times before and will only make their user look ridiculous. Similarly, a logo that is overcrowded withtoo many elements at the same time is likely to become an incomprehensible montage, thus does not contribute to theimprovement of the townscape. The same is true for logos with an oversimplified little sun shining, carrying no clear message.Therefore this study first examines what elements make a good slogan. What aspects should professionals consider when creatinga slogan? What do the examples of American cities tell us, and what can we learn from Hungarian examples?In the next section, logos are discussed. What should we take into account when designing and approving a logo? How can itbecome a part of the entire visual identity? What are the typical examples in connection with it? How do Hungarian cities applythem?All in all, the question is: what makes a good slogan and a good logo in the case of a city?Keywords: city branding, city marketing, slogan, logo, verbal and visual identity1. Good slogansIf we are looking for the origin of the word ’slogan’, we must travel back to Gaul in time and space. Gallicpeople used the word ’sluagh-ghairm’ as a battle cry. (Healey 2009)Although we do not use the word as a battle cry anymore, we can be sure that ”similarly to brand names, slogansare an extremely effective tool for the development of brand equity” – as Kotler, the ”Pope of Marketing” andKeller, one of the most famous experts of branding said in their book Marketing Management (2006, p. 378.).They also highlight that ” the role of the slogan is to provide a reference point or clue to customers in order makethem understand what’s behind the brand, and what makes it special.” (Kotler-Keller 2006, pp. 378-379.)However, it is not easy to define what makes a good slogan. The author of this article summarized its aspects inhis book The power of brand names (Papp-Váry 2013): It ’grabs’ positioning It has a clear message and communicates the ’story’ of the product It is attractive and includes ’consumer and customer’ advantage It carries a positive connotation (or at least it is not negative) It is inspiring: it urges us to buy the product, or get more information about it60
It is relatively short (not longer than 5 words) It differentiates: it is unique, original, and different from competitors It can be used and sustained on a long term, you do not have to replace itIt is easy to memorize and repeat It harmonizes with the logo It is catchy and witty Clients –and colleagues – like it.Of course we rarely find slogans that meet all the above criteria. However, we still feel that the most famousproduct/service slogans comply with them: Apple: ’Think different’ Nike: ’Just do it’ L’Oreal: ’Because I’m Worth It’ M&Ms: ’Melts in your mouth, not in your hand’ BMW: ’The ultimate driving machine’ KFC: ’Finger lickin’ good’ Avis: ’We try harder’ Volkswagen Beetle: ’Think small’ The Independent: ’It is. Are you?’ 7UP: ’The Uncola’ De Beers: ’A diamond is forever’ California Milk Processor Board: ’Got milk?’We may also notice the slogans of the following brands: Intel, Gösser, HBO, Calgon. ’Intel Inside’ ’Gut. Besser. Gösser.’ ’It's not TV. It's HBO’ And of course: ’Washing machines live longer with Calgon’And what is the common point in these four slogans? They all include the brand name itself.This does not necessarily mean that only slogans following this pattern could be successful, but it is not at allsurprising that David Ogilvy said in his book Ogilvy on Advertising (2001, first publication: 1983) that the headlineof an advertisement should contain the brand name if possible. Paul Arden, a former creative director of theSaatchi&Saatchi advertising agency, also voiced a similar opinion (2003).Although they suggested this for advertisement headlines, their statements are just as valid for slogans – or evenmore: ’Today, Tomorrow, Toyota’ – the Toyota slogan says. ’The Coke Side of Life’ – as Coke suggests. ’You’ve been Tangoed’ – said the slogan of the Tango fruit (primarily: orange) juice brand, whoseadvertisements featured a giant orange man with a tendency to surprise unsuspecting people. ’A Guinness a day is good for you.’ – If the slogan declares that it is good for us to drink it, then we mustdrink it. The slogan was first used in a campaign in 1928, and the reason for creating it was that is wasoriginally recommended as a medicine. (Haig 2003, p. 201-203.) Later it remained a beer, and the dailyportion was also omitted from the slogan, so it became ’A Guinness is good for you’. ’Australians Wouldn’t Give a XXXX For Anything Else’ – the slogan of the Australian XXXX beer says,making use of a wordplay with XXXX that might cover a well-known (swear)word. ’Come to Marlboro Country’ – a slogan accompained by the world’s longest running advertising campaign,where we could see a cowboy enjoying his freedom.61
’Winston tastes good like a cigarette should’ – sang Fred and Barney, the two main characters fromFlintstones, in a period when the placement of tobacco products was not yet forbidden in cartoons. ’America Runs on Bulova’ – the humble slogan of the watch brand Bulova suggested that the first TVadvertisement of the world was associated with them, and, of course, it featured a watch. ’Nothing runs like a Deere’ – John Deere tractors referred to their reliability with this slogan. ’Why Slow-Mow When You Can Flymo’ – Flymo is a lawn mower brand. ’Fly the friendly skies of United’ – Without the term ’of United’, the identification of the airline using theslogan would have been much harder. ’There’s Hertz and not exactly.’ – That is, there is Hertz car rental, and the rest, which are not as good asthem. Of course the slogan was justified by the fact that Hertz was a market leader for quite a long time. ’No FT, No comment’ – the slogan for the financial daily Financial Times. ’Beanz Meanz Heinz’ – That is, Heinz means beans, or, to be more precise, canned beans. True, they havealso been producing ketchup and a variety of other products since then. ’You work hard, you need Right Guard’ –Right Guard deodorant is recommended for people working hard. ’If it’s Madewell, it’s well made’ – This is an excellent message in the case of ladies clothing, as thewordplay suggests that ladies buying Madewell clothes will be well-prepared. ’Bubble Yum. Number yum in bubble gum.’ – Suggesting that it is the best bubble gum, but refers to it as’number yum’ instead of ’number one’. ’Marmite – My mate’ – Excellent choice for a food product. ’Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline.’ – a brilliant slogan by Maybelline cosmetics suggestingthat the lady was either born beautiful, or Maybelline made her a beauty. ’Do you.Yahoo!?’, that is, ’Are you using the Yahoo browser?’ – composed with a rhyme in a more wittyway, and this is true even if Yahoo is basically dead. ’Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet.’ – Associating happiness with Hamlet cigars. ’Don’t just book it. Thomas Cook it.’ – That is, do not only reserve your trip, but use the Thomas Cook travelagency to book it. ’There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard.’ – Although it is acomparatively long slogan, with related advertising spots built on the same scheme, it was imprintedsuccessfully in consumer’s minds (X product – at price, Y product – at price, Z product – at price,and finally, something that is not a product – priceless). ’Nobody was ever fired for buying from IBM’ – said IBM’s slogan some time ago. Although no officialslogan was based on the idea, and it was not included in any of their advertisements, their salespeople spreadit by word-of-mouth marketing, or, we could say, guerrilla marketing. The argument proved good enough tomake buyers responsible for IT investments choose IBM.2. International examples, city slogansAs I have pointed out above, one of the roles of a slogan is to ’grab’ positioning.Of course, positioning must be defined before a slogan is created. This involves the consideration of threeaspects (Ries - Trout 1997, Papp-Váry 2011):1. What are the strengths of the product/service, or the city?2. What do ’customers’ need?3. What is the positioning of ’competitors’, that is, other cities?Based on the above, the following positioning sentence must be defined: ” is the only product in the productcategory that is different from its competitors in ”In the context of cities, this means: ” (name of the city) is the only place (in the specific country or county)that is different from all other cities in . and . (in that region)”.Again, it is important to note that this is not the slogan yet, but a strategic idea describing the uniqueness of thecity.62
Good positioning also has a positive influence on city development and the improvement of citycommunications. However, if there is no positioning, the outcome is meaningless slogans. (See e.g. Baker 2007)It is worth examining what kind of city slogans we see in the United States, which may be called the cradle andleading country of branding.Several rankings of city slogans have been created, but most of them included the same slogan in the firstposition: ’What Happens Here, Stays Here’. The sentence is a great match for a city famous for its nightlife, and,especially, gambling. Of course, the city is Las Vegas.Even for Las Vegas, it took long to find this slogan. (See Pride 2004). Before that, they used slogans such as: ’The American way to play’ ’No one does it better’ ’The entertainment capital of America’ ’Las Vegas is Las Vegas’The latter may have sounded overly confident, as if the city slogan had nothing else to say about Las Vegas.However, it was a good idea to include the name of the city. It is no wonder that some experts say that the currentslogan (’What Happens Here, Stays Here’) would sound better this way: ’What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas’.The inclusion of the city name in the slogan is justified by the fact that several cities that made the Top 100 listof slogans used this solution (See Tagline Guru 2011): ’Only in San Francisco’ (San Francisco, California ’Cleveland Rocks!’ (Cleveland, Ohio) ’Keep Austin Weird’ (Austin, Texas) ’Experience our Sense of Yuma’ (Yuma, Arizona) ’Newark, on a Roll’ (Newark, New Jersey) ’You Can Do Better in Can Do’ (Cando, North-Dakota) ’Livable, Lovable, Lodi’ (Lodi)The latter two are also interesting in another sense. Cando utilized the wordplay originating from the name of thecity (”Can Do”), while in the case of Lodi, the alliteration makes the slogan unique and easy to remember, even if a”livable and lovable city” is more of a cliché.The slogan of Tombstone, Arizona uses alliteration and some sort of wordplay together: ”The Town Too Toughto Die”.Cities with names carrying possible wordplay are lucky. Besides the abovementioned Cando and Tombstone,examples include: ’The City Was So Nice They Named it Twice’ (Walla Walla, Washington) ’Where Chiefs Meet’ (Meeteetse, Wyoming)It is at least as favourable if the character and positioning of a city provide a starting point: ’Where Yee-Ha Meets Olé’ (Eagle Pass, Texas) ’The Aliens Arent’t the Only Reason to Visit’ (Roswell, New Mexico) (Referring to the extraterrestrialevents taking place around the city) ’The City That Never Sleeps’ (New York City, New York) ’The Sweetest Place on Earth’ (Hershey, Pennsylvania) (Referring to the chocolate brand) ’The Richest Place on Earth’ (Virginia City, Nevada) (The city was famous for its silver mining in the 1800s,and used to be the richest city in the United States) ’Where The People Are Warm Even the Weather Isn’t’ (Andover, Kansas) (Referring to the big tornado in1991) ’City with a Mission’ (San Gabriel, California) (Referring to Gabriel Archangel, the eponym of the city, andthe famous Catholic mission there) ’It’s not the end of the world but you can see it from here’ (Bushnell, South Dakota) (Referring to thelocation and small size of the city)63
However, cities in the US do not only provide good examples. Two slogans that do not really differentiate, orinspire: ’The City Different’ (Santa Fe, New Mexico) ’Something to Remember’ (San Antonio, Texas)Based on the slogans above, we can state that it is always good if a slogan is characterized by factuality andmusicality. (See Hildreth 2013)If an advertiser manages to find an interesting fact, then it should be included in the slogan. However, it is alsoimportant that such facts must be real facts, that is, it should feature real information. Two examples:Some time ago London used to use the slogan ’Visit London: it rains more in Rome’. (This assertion may befact-checked: the annual amount of rain is actually higher in Rome.)The choice of Yubari, a Japanese town was the following slogan: ”No money but love”. (The town actually wentbankrupt in 2007. They hired an advertising agency who found an exciting fact: Yubari had the lowest number ofdivorces in the country. Therefore the slogan ”no money but love” turned into a kind of positioning that served as abasis of business. The mayor held a press conference and announced that Yubari is the city of happy couples. Theyalso established a small office, where locals and tourist couples could ’reinforce’ their marriage. Shortly, the numberof couples visiting the city was 3000. To make the idea come alive, they also created a mascot for the city, calledYubaru Fusai – as the word ’Fusai’ means debt and married couple at the same time. However, the most excitingpart of the story was the local support that the idea received. Within a short time, they offered Yubari Fusai brandedbooks and notebooks, produced a CD with a selection of lovesongs, and also sold branded chocolate and beer.However, the most popular part of the concept was the Yubari Fusai mascot – which is no wonder in a countrywhere people are so fond of Hello Kitty. The slogan ’No money but love’ resulted in a lot of press coverageincluding TV, radio, newspapers and online. The city received several encouraging positive comments in the thedigital space, and many people googled its name. Quite many of them also visited the place: in Yubari, tourismincreases by 10 per cent each year, and the campaign received several awards at the Cannes advertising contest.Incomes are also increasing, therefore the city debt is decreasing. Of course, if the debt was over, they would alsoneed to replace the beginning of the slogan ’no money but love’.Besides factuality, the other important aspect is musicality. ”Quite plainly, the way the words sound. Rhythm.Cadence. Tone. Timbre. Vibrato. Phrasing. When it comes to a slogan, these things matter a lot. ( ) It’s what yousay and the way that you say it.” (Hildreth 2013, p. 222. )But let us return to the USA and slogans – even if the following examples are not traditional slogans. The reasonis that several American settlements have been accompanied by nicknames in the past years, decades, centuries.Sometimes these are more popular than the official slogan, and it is always an advantage if a city possesses one: New York: ”The Big Apple” Las Vegas: ”Sin City” Los Angeles: ”La-La Land” Philadelphia: ”The City of Brotherly Love” Liberal, Kansas állam: ”The Land of Oz” Miami:”Vice City” Detroit: ”Motor City” Chicago: ”The Windy City” Salem: ”City of Witches” Houston: ”Space City” Huntington Beach: ”Surf City”3. The slogans of Hungarian citiesIn the light of the above, it may be useful to examine what slogans are used by major Hungarian cities. This timeour approach is the other way round, performing the slogan test – which means that we see a slogan, and tell thename of the city that comes into our mind.64
In some cases, the answer is easy, because the slogan includes the name of the city: ’Me, You, Győr’ (”Én, Te, Győr!”): a previously used slogan for the city of GyőrIn other cases, the message is so unique and obvious (at least for Hungarians), that it can only be associated withthe specific city: ’The city of freedom and loyalty’ (”A hűség és szabadság városa”): Sopron ’The city of queens’ (”A királynék városa”): VeszprémBut do we know which city is: ’The city that unites’ (”A város, amely egyesít”), ’A city with open gates’ (”A nyitott kapuk városa”), ’The city of future’ (”A jövő városa”), ’The city of waters’ (”A vizek városa”), ’The city of grape and wine’ (”A bor városa”), ’The spa city’ (”A fürdőváros”), ’The friendly spa’ (”A barátságos fürdőváros”), ’In the attraction of centuries’ (”Évszázadok vonzásában”), ’My love at first sight’ (”Első látásra szeretem”), ’Where the family spends the vacation’ (”Ahol a család nyaral”)?Well, their names are (in the same order): Budapest Miskolc Szekszárd Tata Villány Eger Balatonalmádi Sárvár Zalaegerszeg BalatonboglárIt is not impossible to convey the message of these slogans. Sure, it is possible, but a greater amount of moneyand a stronger communications offensive is needed than in the case of slogans almost bound to the city, clearlyassociated with it.All in all, it is worth having a look at the examples of Hungarian cities, matching the slogans and citiesmentioned above, and adding further examples:Table 1 – The slogans of Hungarian citiesName of the cityThe original (Hungarian) versionof the sloganEnglish translationBaja’Mediterrán életérzés a Dunamentén’’Mediterranean feeling along theDanube’Balatonalmádi’A barátságos fürdőváros’’The friendly spa’Balatonberény’A Balaton zöld sarka’’The green corner of Lake Balaton’Balatonboglár’Ahol a család nyaral’’Where the family spends thevacation’Balatonfüred’A kultúra városa’’The city of culture’Balatonfűzfő’Tengernyi lehetőség’’Sea of opportunities’65
Balf’Egészség a Nyugat kapujában’’Health in the gate of the West’Békéscsaba’Ahol a kerítés is kolbászból van’,’A kolbász fővárosa’’Fence made of sausage’,’The capital of sausage’Bogács’Ahol nem csak a fürdőzés élmény’’Where bathing is not the onlyexperience’Budapest’A város, amely egyesít’’The city that unites’Csorna’A Rábaköz szíve’,’A Rábaköz fővárosa’’The heart of Rábaköz’,’The capital of Rábaköz’Debrecen’A Napba öltözött város’,’Abszolút Debrecen’,’Debrecen hív!’’The city clothed in Sun’,’Absolutely Debrecen’,’Debrecen calling’Debrecen and Hortobágy’Pusztán csodálatos’’Merely wonderful’ (anotherpossible translation: ’Wonderful inthe wilderness’)Dombóvár’Természetesen Dombóvár!’’Naturally Dombóvár’Dunakeszi’A mi városunk’’Our city’Eger’A fürdőváros’,’A barokk város’,’A Te történeted’’The spa city’,’The Baroque city’,’Your story’Érd’A virágzó kertváros’’The flourishing garden city’Erdőbénye’Bor, mámor, Bénye’’A good year in Bénye’Etyek’Budapest szőlőskertje’’The vineyard of Budapest’Felsőtárkány’A Bükk nyugati kapuja’’The Western gate of Bükk’Fertőd’A muzsika városa’’The city of music’Gárdony’A Velencei-tó fővárosa’’The capital of the Velence Lake’Gödöllő’A megújuló értékek városa’’The city of renewing values’Gyál’Az innovatív kertváros’’The innovative garden city’Gyöngyös’A szőlő és a bor városa’,’A Mátra kapuja’’City of grape and wine’,’The gate of Mátra’Győr:’Én, Te, Győr!’,’A találkozások városa’,’A folyók városa’,’Egészség, Kultúra, Innováció – Ajövő Győrben épül’’Egy város, ezer élmény’’Me, You, Győr!’,’The city of meetings’,’The city of rivers’,’Health, Culture, Innovation – thefuture is being built in Győr’,’One city, a thousand experiences’Gyula’A történelmi fürdőváros’’A historic spa town’Hajdúböszörmény’A hajdúk fővárosa’’The capital of Hajdús’Hajdúszoboszló’Az egészséges élet csak háromszó: Gyógyvíz, Napfény,Hajdúszoboszló’,’Hajdúszoboszló, a felüdülőhely’,’A reumások Mekkája, astrandolók paradicsoma’’There are just three things to makeyou a healthy fellow: medicinalwater, sunshine, and Szoboszló’,’Hajdúszoboszló, the recreationresort’,’The Mecca of rheumatics, the66
Paradise of bathers’Harkány’A gyógyító ölelés’’The healing embrace’Hatvan’Jövőnk öröksége’’The heritage of our future’Hévíz’Az élet forrása’’The source of life’Hollóháza’Hollóháza, ahol alkothatsz!’’Hollóháza, where you can create’Igal’Velünk gyógyul a világ, nálunkpihen a család’’The world is healing with us, thefamily is relaxing with us’Kaposvár’A lehetőségek városa’,’A legvirágosabb magyar város’’The city of opportunities’,’The most flowery Hungarian city’Kaposvár és Zselic’Kultúra a Zselic ölelésében aholaz élmény szembe jön!’’Culture embraced by Zselic where experiences come in yourway’Karcag’A Nagykunság fővárosa’’The capital of Nagykunság’Kazincbarcika’Színes város’’Colourful city’Kecskemét’Hírös város’’Hírös city’Keszthely’A Balaton fővárosa’’The capital of Balaton’Kisar’Vendégül látjuk’’We treat you’Kiskőrös’Élmény a Kunság szívében’’Experiences in the heart ofKunság’Kiskunhalas’A csipke városa’’City of lace’Komlóska’A Zemplén gyöngyszeme’’Pearl of Zemplén’Makó:’Virágos, vendégszerető kisváros aMaros partján’,’Nem csak hagyma’’Flowery, hospitable small town bythe Maros River’,’Not only onions’Mátrafüred’A Mátra nálunk kezdődik’’The Mátra starts at us’Mezőkövesd’Matyóföld szíve’’Heart of Matyó land’Miskolc’A nyitott kapuk városa’,’Hello Miskolc’,’Miskolc, a Te helyed’’A city with open gates’,’Hello Miskolc’,’Miskolc, your place’Mórahalom’Mártózzon meg az egészségben!’’Immerse in health’Mosonmagyaróvár’Virágzó város’’Flourishing city’Nagykanizsa’Nagy álmok, nagy lehetőségek,Nagykanizsa’,’Mindig egy lépéssel előrébb’’Big dreams, big opportunities,Nagykanizsa’,’Always one step ahead’Nagykőrös’A megújuló város’’The renewing city’Nagykörű’Magyarország cseresznyéskertje’’Cherry garden of Hungary’Nyírbátor’A Sárkányok földjén’,’Hit és egészség’’In the land of dragons’,’Faith and health’Nyíregyháza’Nyíregyháza többet ad, mintgondolnád’,’Hit és egészség’’Nyíregyháza gives you more thanyou would think’,’Faith and health’Ópusztaszer’Lépj be a múltba’’Enter the past’67
Orfű’Színezd újra az életed’’Recolour your life’Paks’Az együttműködés városa’’The city of cooperation’Pápa’Egy kicsit mindenki pápai’’Everyone’s a little bit of Pápa’Parád’Palócok központja’,’Palócok földjén’’The center of Palócland’,’The land of Palóc people’Pécs’A kultúra városa’,’A mediterrán hangulatok városa’,’Határtalan város’,’A tudomány fővárosa’,’A modern művészetek városa’’The city of culture’,’The city of Mediterraneanimpressions’,’The borderless city’,’The capital of science’,’The city of modern arts’Sátoraljaújhely’Zemplén fővárosa’,’A megvalósuló álmok otthona’’The capital of Zemplén’,’The home of realized dreams’Sárvár’Évszázadok vonzásában’,’Kristálytiszta élmény’,’Élmény és tradíció’,’Együtt pihen a család’,’Gondtalan pihenés’,’In the attracion of centuries’,’Crystal clear experience’,’Experience and tradition’,’The family is relaxing together’,’Carefree relaxation’Siklós’A vár városa’’The city of the castle’Siófok’A nyár fővárosa’,’A Balaton fővárosa’,’Itt kezdődik a Balaton’’The capital of the summer’,’The capital of Lake Balaton’,’Lake Balaton starts here’Sopron’A hűség és a szabadság városa’,’Sopronban mindig történik’valami’,’A Kékfrankos városa’’The city of freedom and loyalty’,’Something is always happening inSopron’,’The city of Blaufränkisch’Sümeg’A Pannon táj szíve’’The heart of the Pannonlandscape’Szarvas’Kőrösök szívében, legendákföldjén’’In the heart of the Kőrös Rivers, inthe land of legends’Szécsény’A fejedelmi város’’The princely city’Szeged’A napfény városa’’The city of sunshine’Székesfehérvár’A királyok városa’’King city’Szekszárd’A jövő városa’,’Az élhető város’,’ ahol feltöltődsz!’’The city of future’,’The livable city’,’ where you recreate’Szentes’Szabadság Szentes Szeretem’’Freedom, Szentes, I love it’Szigetvár’Civitas invicta’,’Az ország déli kapuja’’Civitas invicta’,’The Southern gate of the country’Szilvásvárad’Otthon a természetben’,’Ahol a természet átölel’’At home in the nature’,’Where nature embraces you’Szolnok’A Tisza fővárosa’’Capital of the Tisza’Szombathely’Szent Márton városa’’The city of Saint Martin’68
Tapolca’A barlangok és vizek városa’’The city of caves and waters’Tata’A vizek városa’’The city of gardens and waters’Telkibánya’Hívja, várja, visszavárjaAranygombos, Telkibánya’’Aranygombos and Telkibányainvites, welcomes and awaits youagain’Tihany’Az élmények szigete’’The island of experiences’Tiszakécske’A napfény és a vizek városa’’The city of sunshine and waters’Tokaj’Ezer éves történelem’,’Fehér borok, színes kultúra’’Thousand year old history’,’White wines, colourful culture’Tolcsva’A kastélyok városa’’The city of castles’Vásárosnamény’A Bereg szíve’’The heart of Bereg’Verpelét’Bor és a nóta városa’’The city of wine and song’Veszprém’A királynék városa’’The city of queens’Villány’A bor városa’,’Villány, természetesen!’’City of grape and wine’,’Villány, naturally’Zalaegerszeg’Első látásra szeretem’,’Zalaegerszeg, a Göcsej kapuja’’My love at first sight’,’Zalaegerszeg, the gate of Göcsej’Zalakaros’Titkunk vizünk’’Our secret is our water’Source: Collection by the author for a tourism project in 2017It should be noted that some items on the above list may not be inaccurate as several cities (for example, Győr)change their slogans at short intervals. In other cases, cities use different slogans on their materials for variouspurposes, using mutltiple slogans to target different groups such as tourists, investors, etc. There are also examplesof slogans created specifically for EU projects, for example, ’Faith and health’ in the case of Nyíregyháza andNyírbátor. Sometimes we do not even know if a slogan is the official motto of the city, it was created by the tourismdestination management (TDM) organization, or someone just uploaded a video on Youtube with a slogan thatbecame popular afterwards. In any case, using too many slogans has a negative effect on the city brand: it isconfusing for tourists and investors, and even worse in a sense, it also confuses locals.But let us take a closer look at the slogans themselves.First we must examine the question if the slogan of a city should include the word ’city’ at all, because if there isone thing that we know (almost) for sure about a city is that it is a city. Is it a reason to leave out the word ’city’, oris it a reason to include it? Both arguments are logical in a way.69
Illustration 1:Examples of Hungarian cities with slogans including the word ’city’:Veszprém: ”The city of queens (A királynék városa)”, Kiskunhalas: ”City of lace (A csipke városa”, Szolnok:”Capital of the Tisza (A Tisza fővárosa)”, Szekszárd: ”The livable city (Az élhető város)”, Balatonfüred: ”The cityof culture (A kultúra városa)”, Paks: ”The city of cooperation (Az együttműködés városa)”, Szécsény: ”The princelycity (A fejedelmi város)”, Verpelét: ”The city of wine and song (Bor és a nóta városa)”, Gödöllő: ”The city ofrenewing values (Megújuló értékek városa)”, Győr: ” One city, a thousand experiences (Egy város, ezerélmény)”, Mosonmagyaróvár: ”Flourishing city (Virágzó város)”70
Illustration 2:Although we realize that it is a city, this slogan by Budapest, the capital of Hungary,does not say much about the city: ”The city that unites (A város, mely egyesít)”Another common practice besides including the word ’city’ in the slogan is to associate the city with a greatergeographical unit, county, region, river, lake, etc. This kind of slogan is based on the notion that the city is lessknown than the geographical unit it is associated with.Illustration 3:Another common solution is to create a slogan presenting the city as the ’heart’ or the ’capital’ of a greater, moreknown geographical unit:Kiskőrös: ” Experiences in the heart of Kunság (Élmény a Kunság szívében)”, Mezőkövesd: ”Heart of Matyó Land(Matyóföld szíve)”, Siófok: ”Lake Balaton starts here (Itt kezdődik a Balaton)”, Balatonberény: ”The green cornerof Lake Balaton (A Balaton zöld sarka)”, Gárdony: ”The capital of the Velence Lake (A Velencei-tó fővárosa)”4. The role of logosGood brands do not only use good slogans, but they also have good logos and – in a broader sense – good visualidentity. Wally Olins, the author of the book On B and goes as far as to state that ”logos are the heart of brandingprograms” (2008, p. 30.).Others quote Confucius: ”A picture is worth a thousand words” – referring to the role of logos that is greaterthan that of brand names in their opinion.71
But they are wrong. On the one hand, the text of the original saying by Confucius says ”A picture is worth athousand gold pieces”, which means that visual appearance plays an extremely significant role, but words (includingbrand names, that is, city names and associated slogans) are even more important.On the other hand, if we take a look at the origin of the term ’logo’, we realize that it comes from the Greekword ’logos’, whose original meaning is ’word’. This suggests that the role of logos is no different than displayingthe name in a visual way (Healey 2009, p. 90.)Of course we may also find counterexamples such as Apple, Shell, the Red Cross, Nike or Starbucks, where youdo not even have to write down the brand name, because you can identify the brand based on t
How to choose a city slogan and a city logo - The role of verbal and visual identity in city branding, with examples from Hungarian cities Árpád Ferenc PAPP-VÁRY Budapest Metropolitan University, Tourism and Business Faculty, Marketing Institute, Nagy Lajos király útja 1-
