By Merrie Spaeth, KERA 90.1 commentator
Dallas, TX – Dallas has decided we need a slogan - as part of an image - and that this is more important to our ability to attract conventions, jobs and economic development. Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow asked his readers to suggest ideas. They weren't pretty, and included suggestions like "Dallas - A Step Back In Time," or "Dallas - It's All Done With Mirrors."
Words suggested to rhyme with Dallas included "callous," "malice," and well, "phallus."
I admire the ad agency hired to pull this rabbit out of the hat - The Richards Group - but the best slogans, the best images - are real. Like San Francisco, "City By The Bay," or Chicago, "The Windy City." Nashville - "Country Music Capitol." Denver - "The Mile High City." Real images don't have to be - really real. Take Los Angeles, "City of Angels?" But that's what the name means, in Spanish.
It's hard to just manufacture a slogan. Did you know that Fort Lauderdale is the "Venice of America?" Or that Cairo, Georgia is the "Okra Capitol of the World?" Did you care? New York's "The Big Apple" worked because it existed long before it got written into the tourism ads.
Invented successful slogans are very rare. Houston's "Houston's Hot" was the rare exception and of course, it was true.
Dallas has a moniker, "The Big D." It doesn't mean anything, but it's achieved the first task of a slogan. It's recognized. In 1984, I was having dinner with Sam Lefrak, the New York real estate mogul, who asked where we were moving after our stint in Washington. When we answered "Dallas," his wife immediately said, "Big D."
Does Dallas have an image, or something which can be leveraged? As an independent Texan - that means, I came here by choice from somewhere else like those original Texians - I think we do.
I never would have started my little company somewhere else. "Dallas Can" is already the name of the academy for former dropouts, but it's the kind of slogan which could energize us in a number of areas.
Dallas invented itself. Take DFW Airport, the economic engine for the region. A vision 40 years ago about what could be created in the dusty emptiness between Dallas and Fort Worth. Dallas has lots of problems, and lots of potential, but "can" we forge a consensus to take advantage of them? Re-doing the Trinity River Basin, re-energizing downtown, and upgrading our schools? I think we can.
The perimeter of downtown Dallas is already reinventing itself. The State Thomas area and surrounding neighborhoods are well into the process of rebuilding themselves. Our regional transportation mess, driven by DART's success, is lurching toward the future. Hey, that could be the slogan: we're "Lurching Toward Tomorrow."
My advice is to stick with the "Big D" and concentrate on that top five priority list and show the country and the world we "can" do it.
Merrie Spaeth is a communications consultant in Dallas. If you have opinions or rebuttals about this commentary, call (214) 740-9338 or contact us through our website at KERA.ORG.