“Let’s go branding…says the OC Board of Supervisors!” Yahoo, where is the rodeo and what cows do we put that hot poker onto? We warned them that this
was a dumb idea….that it was not going to be popular. We told them that companies like Saatchi & Saatchi or Ogilvy & Mather, even McCann Erikson….are required to care and tend to “Brands”. No, even our buddies Bill Campbell and Janet Nguyen bought off on this stupid expense to the county…..without even the most minimal chance of reward for this insignificant effort.
They put poor Orange County CEO Tom Mauk on the job, to find out how much changing every sign, all the stationery and every door placard in the county will cost to change out. How many months that will take will be interesting to watch..if nothing
else. What great minds thought of naming everything after “The Real Housewives of
Orange County”? You don’t need much imagination to figure that out. A simple lunch
with a low impact County bureaucrat and one or two of the Supervisors….with ego’s
bigger than their IQ’s…..might be a great start.
Call us dinosaurs with a solid regard for history, logic and common sense…if you
must dismiss us for being “behind the times” – but we don’t think so. Here we are
in the middle of one of the most explosive economic meltdowns in US history and our
elected officials are worried about the Orange County image? How about being more
worried about our investment portfolios, Public Pensions and Health Plans, paying
for employee raises built in to the current contracts, replacing retiring employees
with new rather than old employees with lucrative “independent consulting contracts”? How about worrying about the reductions and erosion in our tax base
and the fall of Assessed Valuations of Property throughout the County. How are we
going to pay for Public Services, Public Safety, Public Health Services and what
happens when the County goes bankrupt again? Just look to San Diego County if you
need a poster boy for the future of Orange County if we keep up the current nonsense.
Back to the issue at hand; changing the deck chairs on the Titanic…even changing
the name of the Titanic to Old Iron Sides….will not do the trick. Only hard work and a series of cutbacks will start the process. Vigilance and determination to meet the challenges ahead..without laughing it all off…….as if “the world” needed another colorful Happy Face? We implore the Orange County Board of Supervisors to listen to the huge majority of their constituents and put that new, bold, branding idea on hold for say….oh three or four years! We don’t need to rush to judgement do we? We do need to select a Big Ten Ad Agency…..don’t we? We want to do this stuff right.. don’t we? We are pretty sure that televisions shows get replaced every 2.5 years on average. We doubt seriously, we want to change the name of the county again, say in another 2.5 years….do we?
So, did you look at the county-wide reorganization that was part of this same item on the September 18 Supervisors agenda? Could be larger hidden costs and agendas in that one. As for embracing the OC this is silly – a couple of T.V. shows that could not be sustained, and the Tourism and Buiness Councils want to adopt this mantra for marketing purposes, and the Board goes along. This too shall pass. Isn’t Mr. Moorlach, who went along and supported this branding exercise, a hero or yours? When are we going to hear from Orange County, Florida, and Orange County, NY on this OC thing – this could be a battle equal to the one for the rights to Surf City!
*Good points all..Moorlach and
other OC icons have feet of clay….some do good stuff…other stuff….very flaky.
Correction on the date on No. 1 – I don’t know where I got September, it was March 18 (This past Tuesday, same agenda item that prompted the OC discussion and coverage)
Hello!
I’m obviously new to the blog and wanted to say hello. However, I also have a hypothetical question to ask.
I agree that changing stationary and road signs and such is a complete waste of money since they can’t do anything to attract new economic development here because those mostly affected are already here… but what if that weren’t the case?
Would you still be opposed to these changes if they worked in conjunction with a plan to increase tourism?
SMS
Purple Pagan….
Increasing tourism has nothing to
do with name changes. They have
not made a good argument that any
name change would increase tourism
to Orange County. What increases
tourism to Orange County are attractions such as Disneyland, Knotts and beach vacations for example. We could also suggest some great boot stores on 5th Street in Santa Ana…but we doubt
that changing the name of the County of Orange to “the OC” will
bring more shoppers there!
While the County Tourism Commission, Anaheim Visitors and Convention Bureau, and various Chambers, often plea for taxpayer funds to be devoted to promoting tourism, and frequenly succeed with those requests, to me this is a function of the private sector and public funds should not be provided for marketing this region to draw tourists, conventioneeers, etc. I am also very suspicious that private sector groups such as these are behind the push for the Board of Supervisors to embrace the OC identy in the belief that it will help enhance the visibilitly of this county as a place to visit. Gotta believe there is an agenda at work here beyond a majority of the Board simply coming up with and embracing the idea on their own. Then again, I am a suspicious type.
Ron & Anna:
I’m sorry. Maybe I didn’t ask the question corretly. Please let me rephrase: if changing the name was only one small part of a broader plan to increase tourism, would you still be against it?
SMS
Ron, Still waiting for the proof that Jack Croul is a developer. Why not just admit you were duped by the no growthers in NPB?