NO ONE HAS EVER ACCUSED BROWNSVILLE OF ORIGINALITY...

 

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

We heard that the bushmen in Queensland Australia were up in arms (spears?) about Brownsville's use of their BTX airport code for their new "brand" but that their government had the country locked up and there's nothing to do but bide their time.

And in our rush to emulate Austin (although we're nothing like that city), we merely changed the "A" for a "B" . Some of our local luminaries are so smart they might just be dangerous.

And the Burleson, Texas folks are not happy campers either with their BTX branding. We don't know which "municipal menso" came up with the logo idea, but "a group that came together" doesn't cut it.

They, in fact, toiled mightily to come up with their logo and brand.

The city website states that "the branding process began in November 2018 when Civic Brand was selected by a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process for the city’s branding project. CivicBrand began meeting with elected officials in February 2019 and spent the following months meeting with council members, BISD marketing team, County Commissioner Howell, industry leaders, small business leaders, residents, city staff, Burleson Chamber of Commerce representatives, teens and Joshua ISD leaders, as well as touring city-owned facilities, tourist attractions and businesses. 

A branding survey was opened to the public from June 20 – August 15, 2019. A total of 1,814 responses were given for the survey. A Branding Town Hall meeting, which was open to the public, was held on September 2019 and in November CivicBrand met with the branding committee, city staff, city council, community stakeholders and hosted a teen-targeted town hall meeting in partnership with the Mayor’s Youth Council to review proposed fonts, colors and moodboards. 

In January 2020, CivicBrand hosted nation-wide online testing of the proposed logo and design elements. The updated logo and brand principles were approved by the city council in March 2020." 

Aqui fue al chingazo.

Brownsville has a way of randomly  redefining itself every so often. First it was "The Crossroads of the Hemisphere," then it was "On The Border by the Sea." And who can forget the Wal-Mart copycat "Ignite Brownsville" that the city paid $140,000 to a firm who employed former State Rep. Rene Oliveira's cousin David. 

This smells like city government piggy backing on federal funds to "rebrand" itself, again.

Remember when the city – pushed along by former city commissioner Debby Portillo – tried to ram the ignite logo down our throats? It was met with general disapproval and the idea was dropped, but not before money ended up in the hands of the sham artists from Austin.

After all, it's Other People's Money (OPM). Here we go again. How long before we attempt another stab at "originality," at public expense, of course?