Columbia's new logo
Columbia's previous logo
Farewell, Famously Hot.
Columbia’s tourism bureau has overhauled the city’s brand, tagline and logo, casting aside the way it’s marketed the city since 2008.
The new brand: Columbia SC.
The new tagline: The Real Southern Hot Spot.
The new logo: a light red block "C".
Almost a year and a half ago, the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and Tourism undertook a rebranding project, hiring two out-of-state companies to help it research and rethink the way Columbia is marketed outside the region.
Sample ad for Columbia's new branding campaign
The first, San Francisco-based Destination Analysts, studied who comes to Columbia and why — and whether the city’s brand has been helping. They were paid $50,000 [online copy corrected], mostly using taxes paid by hotel guests.
The second company, Austin, Texas-based Foxtrot, analyzed the research and designed a new logo and brand. They were paid $100,000 [online copy corrected], one-third of which came from a state tourism grant and the rest of which came from private funding, like hotels.
The blocky red “C” that’s the focus of the new logo was inspired by the red bricks that make up many old buildings in Columbia — with the white interior lines meant to echo the white mortar between bricks. An “heirloom tomato” red and navy blue are the main colors for the rebranding.
“It’s not a flashy logo,” says Andrea Mensink, director of communications for the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and Tourism. She says the city needed a more easily visible logo for billboards, T-shirts and convention nametags. “We wanted a simple workhorse.”
As for the new tagline, it came from a careful study of the way Columbia is currently marketed.
A sample ad from Columbia's new branding campaign
Famously Hot is a victim of its own success, Mensink suggests, looming larger than “Columbia, South Carolina” and the occasionally used tagline "The New Southern Hot Spot" in people’s minds.
“What happened was Famously Hot was the catchy component and kind of overtook the brand and became the brand,” she says. “Which is a good thing, and it did a lot of good, but if we tweak it just a little bit it can make the ‘Columbia SC’ a stronger message and let the tagline kind of support the brand instead of becoming the brand.”
To that end, Mensink says, the research firm suggested that “Famously Hot should and can live on locally. … When the customer gets into market, then they can experience the brand in-market.”
But the visitors bureau won’t be using the Famously Hot brand or logo anymore to market the city outside the region.
Events like Famously Hot New Year and Famously Hot SC Pride wouldn’t need to change their names, says Mensink. Nor will the bureau demand that the many local groups that have incorporated the Famously Hot logo into their promotions make immediate changes.
“We are not expecting anyone to switch that over right away,” Mensink says.
The Famously Hot campaign was designed by local marketing firm ADCO at a cost of $70,000 back in 2008.
While the phrase still draws jabs, it was something of a sleeper hit. In a description of the campaign, ADCO wrote: “[T]he meme is so familiar and so accepted locally that puns based on it have become common, and are immediately understood. … Free Times in Columbia did a cover story about the history of alcohol in the capital city, and headlined it, ‘Famously Drunk.’ Everyone got it.”
Previous city branding efforts and slogans have included “Where Friendliness Flows,” (2004-2008) “It’s Happening Now!” (1998-1999) and “A Capital Place to Be” (rolled out in 1991).
Mensink says that ADCO recommended at the time of the Famously Hot rollout that the bureau take another look at the brand in about 10 years to see if it needed a refresh. It’s been nine years.
Among the bigger behind-the-scenes changes being made as part of the rebranding is a collapsing of the complicatedly named series of entities that run tourism for the city — the Columbia Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports & Tourism, the Columbia Regional Sports Council, etc.
Now, they’ll all come under the umbrella and name of Experience Columbia SC. (Though the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center will continue under its current name.)
The entire campaign is aimed at making it easier to market Columbia.
Destination Analysts’ research found that Columbia is in a difficult position — literally — because it’s close to so many other well regarded tourist destinations.
However, Mensink says, the research found a lot of potential visitors who were interested when they learned what Columbia has to offer.
The new campaign will emphasize Columbia’s “unexpected energy.” A working philosophy for the campaign, Mensink says, is “Look forward to the unexpected urban South.”
As for the shift from “The New Southern Hot Spot” to “The Real Southern Hot Spot,” says Mensink, “We’re not new anymore.” She says it also captures the fact that Columbia is “a laid back, relaxed, friendly genuine place” with “no pretense."
Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin praises the work that went into the new branding.
"Columbia will always be Famously Hot — in more ways than one," Benjamin says. "The Real Southern Hot Spot is a natural extension and expansion of the brand that we've worked to build together over the last decade and I know that it's based on extensive research with potential visitors and meeting planners, as well as local partners. I'm also excited about the Block C that will represent this great region for years to come."
The visitors bureau has also reached out to One Columbia for Arts and History about future marketing collaborations with local artists, using the block “C” as an outline that could be filled with visual art, photos of musicians, etc.
Lee Snelgrove, director of One Columbia, says using the logo in that way could be helpful to both the arts community and the visitors bureau.
“This idea of it as a container is really useful for artists, arts groups, cultural entities, to see themselves within the picture of the larger brand,” Snelgrove says, “It will help us tell the story of Columbia outside of Columbia and how artistic we are.”
