“The Gas City” Stays!
The Gas City? - Original Photo by Mitch Woods via Flickr
To those of you who haven’t been following this, several weeks ago, Mayor Norm Boucher told the Medicine Hat News’ Amanda Stephenson that he was thinking of trying to re-brand Medicine Hat; he described that the current slogan and marketing might not be giving us much credit in terms of recognition. He also brings up the point about how Medicine Hat is ranked 82nd out of 157 best places to live in Canada which he postulates might be a matter of “how we sell ourselves”.
There’s been a huge uproar over this in both the comments section and in the Ticked Off & Tickled Pink sections on the Medicine Hat News. The majority of which are personal assaults against Norm Boucher – real mature, guys/gals.
Released today in a Medicine Hat News story by Amanda Stephenson, the slogan will officially stay “The Gas City” after the much criticism against the change. The votes against the change was unanimous by the Medicine Hat Aldermen who meet last night to settle the fate of the slogan.
While I understand the heritage and long standing culture behind the slogan, does it really represent what Medicine Hat is now or where it is going in the future? If we are keeping it for the sake of tradition then what’s the point of a slogan that doesn’t describe the place that you live accurately. I originally moved here from Regina, “The Queen City” and even though I am attached to the slogan and heritage behind it, It doesn’t represent it anymore – its slogan, like Medicine Hat’s becomes functionless nostalgia. I’m a little bit torn on the whole thing.
Rebranding the Gas City – Medicine Hat News
Gas City slogan to stay – Medicine Hat News
Mitch Woods’s Photostream @ Flickr
July 8th, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Sean says:
The funny part about Regina is that the slogan isn’t branded coming into the city, there’s just the cheesy twin tower line with ‘Regina’ on it.
“We are the Gas City — we will always be the Gas City.” – What happens when tradition and gas run out? The Depeleted Gas City? Maybe some bad reference to the Teepee?
I guess things could be worse… We could have a rebranded slogan akin to Moose Jaw’s of “Surprisingly Unexpected” after a notable Regina designer walks around the city and is somehow surprisingly unexpected? http://www.moosejawforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=1859&p=1
July 8th, 2009 at 1:06 PM
Dusty says:
I doubt the actual circumstance of the current environment has an effect on whether the name/slogan changes.
Did you know …
“…the communities of Grassy Lake and Bow Island had their respective names mixed up. North of Grassy Lake the confluence of the Bow River and the Oldman River form an island called “Bow Island”, and just south of Bow Island a low depressional area was called “Grassy Lake”.
… and Medicine Hat Media’s logo has got the “bad reference to the Teepee” covered.
July 13th, 2009 at 9:14 PM
Kilovolt says:
The slogan should change from ‘The Gas City’ to the ‘Power City’ , as the city is producing power and exporting it into the North American electrical grid.