‘C’ brand fails to click
Criticism of Cambridge’s new brand has been relentless but sections of the business community have come forward to defend its inception.
Feedback on the Cambridge Edition Neighbourly page bagged the brand as being one which had no connection with the town, did not show cultural diversity and used ‘‘corny’’ wording.
People also hated its use of stock imagery, instead of sourcing photos of Cambridge people and places. Some had identified an image used in one of the examples, from an overseas website, while others managed to track the same image to dreamstime.com, a stock image site.
Commentators were also upset an Auckland firm was used to design the brand when there were businesses in Cambridge which could do the job.
Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, Waipa District Council and Destination Cambridge were behind the brand’s $11,000 development.
Chamber president Phil Mac- kay is among the town’s business leaders bold enough to defend the brand, which features a multicoloured capital C above the word, Cambridge.
He was pleased to hear there was discussion on the brand and encouraged the conversation to continue.
Mackay, also the owner of Rouge Cafe, said he would use the brand for his own business.
Destination Cambridge chief executive Roger Gordon, in a written response, also defended the new brand, as did Chamber of commerce chief executive Tania Witheford.
Cambridge design companies questioned why Big Ideas Auckland was contracted to work on the project.
Taryn Lyford, director of Black Fox Creative in Cambridge, said she applauded the initiative but thought the brand should have been designed locally, a sentiment shared by Hanson Creative owner Andrew Stevenson.
Out of 72 people who voted in the Cambridge Edition Neighbourly poll, 86.1 per cent ticked the box: ‘‘No, doesn’t do anything for me’’.