Bumpy road for new slogan

Public survey begins on proposed new slogan Peterborough -- Where Roads and Rivers Meet

The city will soon be asking citizens to weigh in on the proposed new tagline for Peterborough.

The tagline is Peterborough – Where Roads and Rivers Meet.

At City Hall on Monday, the local advertising and marketing agency BrandHealth unveiled the tagline to city councillors.

There was no debate about it – councillors simply received it for information.

It’s all part of a plan to rebrand the city, and the tagline is meant to replace the current one (Peterborough – It’s a Natural).

Alan Seabrooke, the city’s CAO, said in an email conversation on Tuesday that the city is about to seek “public review and reaction” to the tagline.

There is now a survey on the city’s website for the public to complete.

“BrandHealth will review reaction from the public and determine whether they make any changes,” Seabrooke wrote.

Then they will be expected to bring a tagline and logo back to council, Seabrooke added.

Council could debate and ask BrandHealth “for other ideas”, Seabrooke wrote. But the firm is “top-notch”, and council has paid for their services.

“I would assume we would take their advice – but ultimately, council has the last say,” he wrote.

Some people said on Tuesday they didn’t like the proposed new tagline.

Sofie Andreou, a social media and digital marketing specialist, called it “cold.”

“It’s a very cold tagline – it doesn’t embrace the soul and passion of our residence or our innovative businesses,” she wrote in an email interview.

Rosemary Ganley, an Examiner columnist, said she also found the tagline cold.

“It’s just not something you can warm to very easily,” she said.

David Goyette, a communications consultant and municipal affairs columnist for The Examiner, said the tagline misses that mark because it lacks emotion.

“It does not invite, urge, challenge or inspire,” he wrote in an email. “It does not instill pride of community.”

At the meeting on Monday, Coun. Dave Haacke said that ‘Where Roads and Rivers Meet’ made him think of the flood of 2004.

Then again, he said that was his first thought upon hearing the slogan on Monday.

On Tuesday, Coun. Don Vassiliadis had time to consider it. He said he likes the idea of using Peterborough’s long-time nickname: the Electric City.

“I like the concept of Electric City – I like the energy,” he said, adding that it alludes to Peterborough’s history.

Former mayor Sylvia Sutherland said she didn’t think much of Peterborough – Where Roads and Rivers Meet.

The current slogan is preferable, she said: “’It’s a Natural’ made the point better.”

Former mayor and long-time councillor Jack Doris said he didn’t really like the proposed new slogan either.

“It doesn’t really reflect the heart – or what the city’s about,” he said.

“They should market Peterborough as the greatest city in the world in which to live,” he said. “It’s such a beautiful, cosmopolitan city – welcoming to everyone.”