Orlando: Where the Unimaginative Set up Shop

Those trusty Windy City ad bloggers at AdFreak took note of my locale's lame attempts at driving tourism. Let's start with the "magical" city logo. Looks like something from a stage set for a 1970s Tony Orlando and Dawn (TOAD) variety show. Neon. Beveled. With stars! Neat-o! Someone please take the pirated Photoshop off that computer. Or was that the freeware "Disney-Starry" font?

But the real kicker is the city slogan the Orlando Travel and Vistors Bureau just decided on. Get ready....here it is...“Orlando: Built for families. Made for memories.”

Arrrgh. So I sent them a too late note this morning, basically offering them free use of a much better slogan. They replied promptly with this:

Thank you for your interest in the Orlando area. Sorry we are unable to accept any advertising slogans or marketing concepts from outside companies or individuals. We are under contract with an advertising agency that manages our marketing campaigns and slogans.

Seems to me the agency is getting the better deal with that contract. "We can give them anything and they have to use it."

Contracts like that one were made to be broken, and don't give me that "unable to accept any advertising slogans or marketing concepts from outside companies or individuals" crap when I know your agency was behind this free and ill-advised study.

Everyone's an advertiser.