Public Hammers New Colorado Springs Image Video
The new Colorado Springs image video unveiled by Mayor Steve Bach on Tuesday is not going over well with the online community.
On his personal Facebook page Wednesday, Bach made it clear that the Economic Development Corp. and Convention and Visitors Bureau paid $111,000 for the branding image “Live It Up” and the video. City government did not pay for it, just helped unveil it to the community.
The mayor unveiled the brand and the more than three-minute video at a news conference Tuesday.
Online, the video’s come under attack with hundreds of people calling its quality terrible and complaining it does not capture the true image of Colorado Springs.
A community Facebook page called Rebrand the Springs sprang up against the new image video, too. Some on the page complained that the video was put together by a company outside of Colorado Springs. They argued that local companies could’ve used the money and done a better job.
Also, there is no mention of Colorado Springs being home to the United States Olympic Committee. The mayor has said there would be a renewed push to market Colorado Springs as the home of the USOC, yet it is not in the new image video.
Early Wednesday on Bach’s Facebook page, a video of the mayor presenting the video was posted, and the video itself was posted there, too. Two staff members of KRDO Newschannel 13 posted questions asking about the lack of a USOC presence in the video, but the comments were deleted without a response.
UPDATE: Late Wednesday, City Communications Director Cindy Aubrey contacted KRDO Newschannel 13 and said a communications employee posted the video on the mayor’s Facebook page, but it had to be removed. Aubrey said it was removed because, “the way it was written made it sound like the city government paid for the video, which we didn’t.” We asked about USOC questions, and she suggested we ask the Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is behind the branding and the video.
On Wednesday, KRDO Newschannel 13 learned more details about who paid for the branding campaign, and it appears that no property tax or sales tax revenue was used — which was a concern of many residents who dislike the new logo and slogan.
The Convention and Visitors Bureau, according to president Doug Price, paid the fee for the consultant used and for two-thirds of the research conducted by a cross-section of the community. Most of the CVB’s budget is funded by a local lodging and car rental tax, with the rest coming from private funds.
El Paso County and the Economic Development Corporation each paid $5,000 for the balance of the research, with that money also coming from private sources.
KRDO Newschannel 13 would like to know what you think of this video. Watch it here, then please leave us your comments below.
