Where's The Beef?

The latest thing whipping everyone up into a frenzy on the Hartford scene is the Hartford branding effort being undertaken by the MetroHartford Alliance. It's an effort whose intention is in the right place, but it's an effort that is unduly expensive and far too drawn out. These days people seem love the idea of marketing and branding. Go hop around Twitter for awhile, every third person appears to be a VP of marketing or branding for some sort of company.

Having a fancy consulting firm, two years of deliberations and endless surveys are appropriate for the marketing of some products. For the city of Hartford it is not. That type of marketing that needs that sort of effort is the marketing of soda, insurance, potato chips, and toothpaste. Products that are widely consumed and for which there are many similar options. When a company is battling it out for a small slice of market share and millions of dollars in sales result in a 1% move in market share, that's when you spend years and thousands of dollars on marketing your brand. 

Coca-Cola is perhaps the best marketed company on the planet. It is so ubiquitous that Coca-Cola people will tell you that after "OK" "Coca-Cola" is the second most recognized phrase in the world and they are probably right. On a recent CNBC show about the iconic soda retailer one of their executives said that the company reaped an extra couple million in sales in a month simply by changing the two liter plastic bottle from a plain bottle to the classic contoured Coca-Cola bottle shape. Coca-Cola spend millions annually on building their brand, that's how they convince the globe to buy their soda rather than the many other easily and readily available options. 

Hartford doesn't need that kind of marketing operation. It's not necessary. Enlist a handful of local artists and designers. Have a contest. Let people submit their logos and slogans and then pick one. There is no need for the sort of drawn out process that this has become.

Everyone knows Hartford has an image problem. A logo and a slogan isn't going to change that. Hartford's image problem is due to twenty dead bodies before August. Hartford's image problem is due to vacant buildings, abandoned lots, understaffed police and open air drug markets. 

Hartford has a bad reputation. There are those who never or rarely come into town who have nothing good to say about Hartford. They can be found on the Hartford Courant's comments section. It's a mystery to us what motivates these people. There isn't anything wrong with not liking cities or not wanting to live in one. To each their own. In fact we can state without even knowing where these commenters are sitting that we probably wouldn't want to live where they live. Almost assuredly.

We just don't feel compelled to seek out their local papers and blast every story with negative comments. We don't have the time or the inclination to do so. We assume that these people are independently wealthy successful individual that have accomplished everything else in life except commenting on a news web site. Has to be right?

Then there is the group of Hartford residents that don't just enjoy living here. They love it so much one might be lead to believe that the streets of Hartford were paved in gold. Insinuate that Hartford might not be a world class city? Blasphemy! You're likely an ignorant bigot! Suggest that perhaps, just perhaps, Hartford doesn't have everything to offer that neighboring cities like say, New York or Boston might? You'll be held in contempt and chastised for your lack of an open mind. This is not also not a realistic nor useful way to look at things.

There's nothing wrong with not being a world class city. By definition there can only be so many of them and for all the advantages these cities have they also have disadvantages that smaller cities don't have. Hartford happens to be located right in between New York and Boston. That fact is going to lead to inevitable comparisons between Hartford and those two. No rational person would argue that Hartford isn't inferior to those two cities in many respects. I mean one is NEW YORK CITY, widely considered one of, if the not the world's top city. Let's be realistic here. It's not the end of the world. Hartford is not a world class city and nor does it need to be to be a good place to live.

This is a small city that over the last twenty years has seen a mayor found guilty of several serious charges, nearly had the public schools taken over by the Federal government, had Federal law enforcement come into town to help stop the gang warfare, and lost the one professional sports franchises and a good deal of downtown business along with it. These are facts. Hartford has a ton of problems and they sure didn't start because Sad City acknowledged them. People don't get shot in Hartford just because the Hartford Courant covers shootings. As much as some might wish, pretending that sadly obvious problems don't exist won't make Hartford a better place.

At Sad City we have over a decade combined of living in Boston, New York and Los Angeles. In many respects Hartford doesn't compare to them. But Hartford does have some advantages over those cities. Hartford is affordable. Hartford is small, it's easy to get around. As much as one might miss the ease of traveling by subway it can take a long time to get to and from different parts of Boston and New York. Don't even get us started about "traveling" in Los Angeles.

While it may lack in size Hartford still has a diverse population and that usually means tons of good food. For all the exploring we have done we are still finding new surprises and new food places. We have never been bored in Hartford. As we were telling one of our friends last weekend over a beer at the Spigot, we've found the time in Hartford to be more enjoyable than the other cities we lived in.

We do feel a little bad being critical of the whole rebranding effort. Maybe we'll even be proven wrong and to be honest, we hope that is the case. While it is a laudable effort, it just seems that a lot of time and effort went into a slogan and logo when Hartford needs so much more.

Hartford needs more jobs. Cheaper rents downtown to attract young professionals to live there. Cleaned up vacant lots and abandoned buildings. Either more police or a better policing plan or both. We really would have loved to say "no" when we were asked by a friend on Friday "is it likely that someone will get shot in Hartford this weekend?" That fact that we had to concede that the answer was in fact yes probably should tell us all that all time and money are more needed elsewhere.

As Colin McEnroe might say "Hartford, the city that needs you!"