March 27, 2007
Washington, D.C.: Insert Catch Phrase Here
On Sunday, the Post ran a story detailing the Washington, DC Convention and Tourism Corporation's announcement that they will spend $150,000 beginning this year to research and develop a new catch phrase for the city. We told you a bit about these plans, including the Tourism Corporation's effort to gather your opinions on the District through their Share Your DC survey, back in January. If you still haven't completed the survey, go ahead and take a minute to do so now.
New city slogans are all the rage, we're told, like the ubiquitous "What Happens Here Stays Here" for Las Vegas, or the much-derided "Metronatural" for Seattle. But we'd like to humbly submit that the Tourism board rethink this plan. Not the part about coming up with a new slogan for D.C. — "Washington, D.C.: The American Experience," is objectively boring. Just the part where they're going to throw down $150,000 to pick a new one. Why didn't you come to us, Tourism officials? Between our staff and commenters, we bet can come up with something perfect for the low, low price of only, say $50,000. Think of the savings. Think of the time you'll save. Think of the ridiculous DCist yacht party we could throw. It boggles the mind.
We stayed up all night working on some slogans, and encourage you to add some more to the comments. Some of these are somewhat serious suggestions. Others, not at all serious. We'll trust you to know the difference.
"D.C. Quarter" image from Modernhumorist.com
Washington, D.C.: But It's a Wet, Sweaty Heat
Washington, D.C.: Walk Left, Stand Right
Washington, D.C.: Kickball Capital of the World
Washington, D.C.: Better than Baltimore
Washington, D.C.: Democracy is Overrated
Washington, D.C.: Half-Smokey
Washington, D.C.: Capital of Culture
Homeland Security Alert Level: Fabulous!
Washington D.C.: 535 Representatives in Congress
Washington, D.C.: What Happens Here, Gets Out Pretty Much Everywhere
Washington, D.C.: Like Richmond, Except More So
Washington, D.C.: Wildly Underappreciated
Washington, D.C.: Technically Not Built on Top of a Swamp
Come for Washington, Stay for D.C.
D.C.: The Pentagrams in Our Street Layout are Purely Coincidental
D.C.: Remember Your 8th Grade Trip Here?
***
Also, some honorable mentions from the commenters at Matthew Yglesias' blog: Washington, D.C.: I Moved Here for Work; Washington, D.C.: An Hour From Baltimore; Washington, D.C.: 5 Percent Lawyers; Washington, DC: You Voted For 'Em.
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Why has no one made a bigger deal of this costing $150,000? I would think that the DC Governement could task all the city schools to come up with slogans for almost nothing. At least then it would be an idea from within DC and not something that some consultant came up with.
These are great! and the capital of culture is actually good. But i prefer the "fabulous" one
Washington DC: Half Rich, Half Poor, All Ugly
Washington DC: White House? Yep. White Mayor? Nope.
Washington DC: What happens here will be undone after the next election.
Washington, DC: So, I was riding the Metro this morning and God forbid, someone landed an Express on the third line or something - morons - so we were stuck at Cleveland Park for like, you know, 20 minutes or something, and then I couldn't understand what the operator was saying - wait, what was this about $150,000 again? Man, Metro sucks.
Washington DC: A Crapital Shi**y
Washington DC: Now With 30-percent Fewer Poor People
Washington DC: Because You Don't Know Any Better
Washington DC: POPO-WOW!
Washington DC: Check Your Gun, Wallet, and Dignity at the Door
Washington DC: Our First 10 Callers Will Recieve a Whoomp! There It Is! Teeshirt
Washington DC: Slave Revolt-Free for Over 200 Years
Washington DC: What Happens Here Never Makes it to the Grand Jury
Come for the Smug Sense of Entitlement, Stay for the Overpriced Tapas
Washington DC: Birthplace of Al Jolsen!
Washington DC: Because Buisness Suits and Sneakers Never Go Out of Style
Washington DC: We Make Guam Look Good
Washington DC: Everything you always wanted in a city. And less.
Home of the Beautiful Whitehurst Promenade, Day Spa, and Dog Biscuit Bakery (Opening Summer 2009)
Lincoln was Wrong: You Can Fool All the People All the Time
Washington, DC: The Marble City
Washington, DC: Monument City
Washington, DC: Broken Diamond City
Washington, DC: Where Attorneys Roam
Washington, DC: Where Politics is Life
$150,000 is not to "come up with" the slogan but the $$$ need to do the research (with focus groups and polling) to figure out something that works and is believable. You need to understand current perceptions about the city to figure out a slogan that help change/shape perceptions about the city, and the best way do that is through methodological research, not asking every DCist reader blogging in their underwear what they think.
Rob, $150K is not a lot of money, and is a miniscule percentage of the kinds of added tourism dollars a good slogan can prompt. There's no guarantee of return on investment, but the odds are worth taking. And being able to hold a firm accountable for results will result in a better product than polling a bunch of kids and letting some mid-level administrator decide the winner.
Rob, $150K is not a lot of money, and is a miniscule percentage of the kinds of added tourism dollars a good slogan can prompt. There's no guarantee of return on investment, but the odds are worth taking. And being able to hold a firm accountable for results will result in a better product than polling a bunch of kids and letting some mid-level administrator decide the winner.
Washington DC: The Wannabe State
Washington, DC: Not Northern VA (NoVA)
A friend of mine told me that she was moving up to DC, we went to school together in Southern Virginia, mind you and she's from VA Beach. Well... DC (to her) was Ashburn, VA..... She came to visit me, and I was giving her directions 14th st... etc and Said you know... in NORTH WEST?
And she said...
WHERE'S that...?
In DC, I replied... you know... the city, the district... Not NOVA...definitely not Virginia.
3 hours later she was at my house (it was around rush-hour, of course)
Washington, DC: The District of ColFUNbia!
Washington, DC: Home of that asshole from your high school debate class!
Washington, DC: Designed by L'Enfant for your L'Entertainment!
and of course, the TRUE motto of DC...
Washington, DC: So, who do you work for?
NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
Pretty sure that the tourism bureau isn't funded with tax dollars.
Washington, DC: Don't like the neighborhood? Wait ten minutes. . .
Washington, DC: Like making sausages.
Washington, DC: Northern sinning, Southern gossiping.
Your buck is here.(need red dot on map)
The buck stops here.
Metrofabulous!
DC Busted!
Politically Corrupt
Rain or shine, we got your dime.
I got towed in Washington, DC.
Rushhour or snow, check your car
I got the boot in DC
Parking Enforcement (in addition to CIA & FBI)
DC Blossoms
Only the Wealthy (Roy Orbison tribute)
Come for the Monuments, stay for the Portapotties
Monumental
Lincoln died here
Got Wealth
Only the Rich (Eat the Rich knockoff)
Washington DC: Hollywood for Nerds
Washington, DC: The Museums are free!
Washington, DC: For people afraid of tall buildings
Washongton, DC: All the taxes, none of the representation.
Also, I have to give props to "Washington, DC: Northern sinning, Southern gossiping." which is genius.
Washington, DC: Now with more guns than ever before!
Washington, DC: So what do you do?
Washington, DC: 2/3 of us can read
Washington, DC: Bitch set me up
Washington, DC: We're only here when Congress is in session
Washington, DC: Less homicides than Baltimore
Washington, DC: Humid in the Summer, freezing in the Winter, only a month's worth of really nice weather
Washington, DC: Where the lobbyists come out to play
Washington, DC: I promise you a police car on every sidewalk. (marion barry, ladies and gentlemen)
This is DC
You might think that you own it
A piece of South Africa on the Potomac
To the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam,
We understand the struggle, we're gonna drop the bomb
"...not asking every DCist reader blogging in their underwear what they think."
If only my office allowed it, Jim, if only.
washington dc: blood diamond on the potomac
Washington DC: Democracy Inaction
Washington DC: Crosswalks are for Sissies
Washington DC: I Do Not Recall
Washington, DC: A city of neighborhoods, each with a Ruby Tuesday.
Washington, DC: Sardines and Pork'n Beans
$150K is not a lot of money, and is a miniscule percentage of the kinds of added tourism dollars a good slogan can prompt
Well, I'll bite. Washington DC's already in most people's consciousness anyway and people either have a desire to come here to see their government and patriotic sights, etc., or they don't. Exactly how much "tourism dollars" does a "good slogan" actually generate for a place like DC? And is it the slogan that does the trick, or it a ubiquitous campaign built around the slogan ala "I Love NY" or "VA is for Lovers" - of which the "good slogan" is really just the necessary first part but you really need to spend the beaucoups advertising bucks to drill it into peoples' brains? I'd be interested to know how all of this is really supposed to work.
Washington, D.C.: Where other people vote for your neighbors
Washington DC: In On The Kill Taker.
Welcome to Washington. Your money is welcome here.
Washington DC: A certified business location.
Washington, DC: Capitol of Punked
I think this one comes from JFK?:
Washington, DC: Northern charm and Southern efficiency.
ANYTHING is better than that video with Laura Bush & various pols singing "of thee I sing" off key 5x in a row. Here is the BRIEF version:
http://www.washington.org/index.cfm?blnNavView=True&idContentType=667&idCurrentPage=18
on TV it plays over & over recycling the same shots. Poor roberta Flack, click on her face.
Washington, DC: This buys you 15min.
Washington DC: It's like Hollywood, but uglier.
*thanks Nerds
Washington DC: It's like Hollywood, but uglier.
*thanks Nerds
How about:
Washington, D.C.: We'll f@#k you sideways!
Washington, D.C.: You think you know road rage? Think again.
Washington DC: Mistakes Were Made
Washington, DC: Awaiting Congressional Approval of Motto
I do see some value in a slogan. DC is slowly coming into it's own as a city separate from the monuments. It's high time we got busy promoting that. We're not looking for Mom and Pop Tourist from Idaho, who are going to visit the monuments then hurry back to their Northern Virginia hotel. We're trying to lure people that would actually come here for the entire city experience.
"Washington DC: Mistakes Were Made"
We have a winner.
Washington, DC: We've got Aides!
Washington, D.C.: The City You Have, Not the City You Might Want Or Wish To Have.
Washington DC: It's black and white and gay all over!
DC: Living really undermines your faith in Government.
DC: It's obvious we shop at Filene's!
DC: Because Mini-burgers and Yuengling is a balanced meal
DC: The Potomac's stopped killing fish since '97.
Washington, DC: Where the gentlemen yield, but the bus drivers do not.
I like "We've got aides" a lot.
How about:
Washington, DC: It's Transientastic!
or
Washington, DC: At Least We Don't Have Investment Bankers Around.
I vote for Take 4's:
Washington DC: The Wannabe State
And I'll add:
DC: Feel Like Bustin' Loose
DC: Just Go Go
I feel like it needs to be something that people who think that they are clever can look down on, but that most people will initially think is a little bit silly even though they will come around to embrace after 5 or 10 years.
It can't be a lame joke, sorry.
It needs to be:
WASHINGTON DC!!
If you think this is totally stupid then it works, because I promise you you will love whining about it and mocking it. Further, people from Idaho will think it is 'weird' for years until they are more familiar with the internet.
It could go something like this: "The Nation's Capitol: WASHINGTON DC!!". Sweet, eh?
This is pretty close to MikeB, but
Washington DC: Your tax dollars inaction.
or I like the classic
Washington, DC: Northern charm and Southern efficiency.
WASHINGTON DC: "THAT BITCH SET ME UP !"
AND MANY OTHER TERRIBLE MARIONBERRY-ISMS
"Washington, DC: Awaiting Congressional Approval of Motto"
I like this one.
But it'd be better if it read "Awaiting congressional approval of FY07 funding in which we hope the requested money to develop a slogan won't have been struck so that we can submit a RFP and hope to get at least 4 prequalified bidders to create a slogan, which slogan* will then need congressional approval prior to being adopted in, oh, 2013. If all goes well.
*slogan must not mention our lack of representation, else it may be considered lobbying and the funding will not be approved.