New Colorado Springs 'Live It Up!' Logo To Be Discarded In Favor Of Community-Sourced Design (UPDATE, VIDEO, VOTE)

A recent Colorado Springs campaign to re-brand the city concluded yesterday after seven months, $111,000, and the coordination of hundreds of people. The result? Colorado Springs's new tagline is "Live it up!"

UPDATE:

The Colorado Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau has determined that "after mixed community feedback" following the brand launch, they will begin a new logo design process. A Dec. 9 press release makes clear the "Live it up!" tagline will remain, but the associated logo will not. Residents of El Paso, Teller and Fremont Counties are invited to submit concepts according to specific guidelines. Submissions must be in by noon, January 6, 2012.

Tucker Wannamaker and Marcus Howard, the two behind "Rebrand The Springs," a Facebook page opposed to the original "Live it up!" concept, told The Gazette they supported the new plan. “I think it’s an incredible step and I’m excited to see what we’re able to come up with," Wannamaker said.

EARLIER:

The project was paid for by the Colorado Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) in an attempt to appeal to residents, businesses, and visitors. Stone Mantel, an 'insights consultancy' in Castle Rock, Colorado, spearheaded the project.

"Everybody wants our city and region to be successful and this brand expresses that," said Mayor Steve Bach to the Colorado Springs Business Journal.

Added Doug Quimby, chairman of the Colorado Springs Regional Economic Development Corp, "We've never really tried to brand ourselves before. Others have created it for us, and some of those were negative." The Gazette reports another tagline option was "Spring into..." but "Live it up!" tested better with focus groups.

In contrast to the fanfare surrounding the brand launch, some have been less than impressed. A Facebook group titled "Rebrand the Springs" asks the CVB to bring in local designers to replace the new logo. The group, which applauds CVB's efforts, states:

We don't doubt [the branding exercise] was valuable, but most everyone is in agreement - the logo sucks. It doesn't reflect what Colorado Springs is, unless we're all playing little league baseball circa 1993.

The Denver Egotist, a marketing and advertising blog, takes the criticism a step further:

Horrible design, horrible writing and generic to the bone. A quick search of tourism slogans finds at least 7 other cities with the tag "Live it up." Apparently, this is what happens when someone in government "knows a guy" who can develop a "brand." There's gotta be a more skilled group down there that could have done this thing some justice.

Quick Poll

What Do You Think Of The New Colorado Springs Brand?

Great! Captures the essence of the region.

OK. Not the best, but not entirely off the mark.

Terrible! What were they thinking?

Undecided

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Comments

[caseyblab]

06:47 PM on 12/12/2011

Looks like xeroxed KlipArt. Truly truly bad.

[Mark Montgomery]

05:03 PM on 12/12/2011

Funny thing about that logo representing the Springs is the gender indeterminate couple.

[Malfoy]

03:22 PM on 12/12/2011

Urban sprawl definitely. They give the developers free reign to build cookie cutter houses with the same earth tone paint. Should look even more ugly in a few more years.

What I don't understand is why they allow that quarry to continue to deface the foothills, just south of the Air Force Academy. It's really an eyesore, or more apt, a bleeding ulcer. You'll notice its air brushed or omitted from any post cards. There's another eyesore that's a remnant of another quarry operation just north of Garden of the Gods. The reclamation of it left it a flat, sheared off mountain ridge. Tragedy of the commons in action.

[Mark Montgomery]

05:00 PM on 12/12/2011

I know. I live right below that thing. They have mismanaged the mining and now it's too hazardous to work there - so there's that. I've always thought that there are people in the Springs of a conservative mindset that would haul Pikes Peak down one truck load at a time if they could get away with it - that is if you couldn't make money off of it from tourism. Come to think of it that's probably what's saved Pikes Peak - the zoo of people paying to go to the summit. No tourists = no Pikes Peak.

Imagine if there was coal in them thar hills - there wouldn't be anything left of them thar hills.

[WayneCM]

09:09 AM on 11/29/2011

This new branding is a "fail" Springs is a city in conflict. SDS, possible militrary decline, high violent crime rate, religion, conserative v. liberal, and it goes on. This brand needs to die early and go back
to the drawing board. Just an outsider looking in.

[GirlOutWest]

07:05 PM on 11/28/2011

They are never going to live down the Fundamentalist that have overtaken the Springs. I know so many people that don't want any part of that city. It is too bad that extremist have take it over as there are some wonderful things there...the Broadmoor, the CS Zoo is great and the vistas as well.

[CharlieinDenver]

06:06 PM on 11/28/2011

They paid 100 K for that? Well, at least now I understand why they have financial problems. Obviously, their leadership lacks both taste and common sense.

[caseyblab]

06:49 PM on 12/12/2011

Maybe Doug Bruce nabbed this job. Kind of looks like his style.

[Spencer Ole Swann]

06:15 PM on 11/21/2011

I have lived in the Colorado Springs area for 62 years and I thought I had seen it all. This new logo would be fine for a town in California or Florida not a beautiful place like Colorado Springs. General Palmer and Spencer Penrose must be rolling over in their graves. No wonder the country is such deep caca. Too much media and not enough common sense. $111K. . . .you have to be kidding! Why didn't they have a competition in the grade schools in town for a design? They surely would have had better concepts and no cost. This design firm is too wrapped up in the "Branding" craze. Unbelievable. Duh!!!!!!!!!!! That is short for dull!

[dengal]

12:58 PM on 11/21/2011

wow the springs is rebranding with a same sex couple on their logo - didnt expect that but good for them, with the added tag line of "live it up"
genius! and funny

[Harpro208]

02:38 PM on 11/20/2011

Wouldn't "Pray it up" or "Mine! Mine! Mine!" have been more appropriate?

[armywifee]

09:19 AM on 11/19/2011

Disappointed by the lack of originality.
Then again there really isn't much exciting stuff going on in this town.

[psgdesign]

08:36 AM on 11/19/2011

As a graphic designer I wonder how much the branding firm's hands were tied by the clients stubbornly insisting that the firm incorporate his/her own ideas. Where they failed was educating the client on good design and branding strategy. This is the worst logo I have seen in a long time. It looks like clip art on top of clip art and the typography hierarchy is totally out of and inconsistent with what they were trying to achieve. The slogan is so trite that it makes me suspect that it was some non-marketing person's idea. Bite the bullet and start over from scratch. Colorado Springs already has a terrible image around the country, this brand only reinforces that. I have to give the agency the benefit of the doubt.

[zombywulf]

05:29 PM on 11/18/2011

The Springs, "where you can wear you sheet and jack boots in public and be proud to be a National Socialist."

[Jeoff Horgan]

03:49 PM on 11/20/2011

Not sure where you get that. The Springs is the most conservative city in Colorado.

[zombywulf]

04:00 PM on 11/20/2011

think about it for a while

[Turtleposer]

09:27 PM on 11/22/2011

Yes, and that's why zombywulf's description is spot on.

[RebrandTheSprings]

07:12 PM on 11/17/2011

Springs residents who are frustrated about the design are trying to do something to create a brand we can all be proud of. Check out the project: http://www.facebook.com/RebrandTheSprings

[bradkevans]

05:42 PM on 11/17/2011

Yes, those are white people in the logo (big surprise) but I'm thinking it's two men. Did Ted Haggart Design this logo when he was high on meth?

[Frank the Tank]

10:20 AM on 11/18/2011

Yes, and while he was having sex with a little boy.

[Justdontgetit]

02:27 PM on 11/18/2011

He has never been accused of sex with a little boy. He had sex with a male prostitute. There is a big difference. The 2nd, which would really be none of our business except Mr. Haggard preached against gays.

[Susanna Gross]

03:55 PM on 11/17/2011

Live it Up is a song by REO Speedwagon off the album "The Earth, A Small Man, His Dog And A Chicken" released in 1990 The lyrics go like this:

Live it up, and let it go
Your time is up before you know
In a world full of wonder
Don't let your troubles pull you under
You're telling me your life is tough
And what you need is stronger stuff
Well you can live under sedation
Or get up and cause an overnight sensation

Woah, live it up
Life is what you make it
Woah, live it up
It's right there for you to take it

You sit and watch your MTV
You dream away in a fantasy
If you don't dig the situation
Then get a guitar and rock the nation

You can't hold back once you light the fuse
And if it feels alright, then let it roll
You got nothin to lose

Woah, live it up
Life is what you make it
Woah, live it up
It's right there for you to take it
Words & Music copyright Jesse Harms