Posted in Oh, Portland!, tagged Powell's, Powell's City of Books, Powells.com on July 1, 2010| 2 Comments »
For the next three months you can have your picture taken with every Portlander’s true love, Powell’s Books. They’ll even put your name up on the marquee, and then email the photo to you. Free. At Powell’s City of Books downtown.
Try to do this in real life and you’ll be flattened by Burnside traffic.
Instead of my name, I had my motto for the day put up on the big sign.
– Doug
Posted in Oh, Portland! on May 12, 2009| Leave a Comment »
OK, terminally hip potential employees. Next time ID Branding comes calling and you have any doubts about whether you should move to Portland, read this and drool.
– Doug
Posted in Oh, Portland!, tagged Columbia River Crossings, I-5 bridge, Portland bridge on April 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »
One proposed design for the new I-5 Columbia bridge
I so totally agree with the comments on the web site, PORT, our city’s site for art news, about the sadly unambitious (and aesthetically wretched) design for the new bridge over the Columbia. As PORT says, we could have something amazing, like the Hadid design they posted, which I’ve swiped and put below. Come on, Portland, there’s a reason we’re not called Beaverton.
– Doug
A bridge designed by Zaha Hadid
Posted in Brand Culture, Oh, Portland!, tagged Place Branding, Portland!, Sam Adams on September 30, 2008| 2 Comments »
A recent report from Mayor-Elect Sam Adams cites a lack of “brand awareness” as one of the key reasons Portland, OR is losing out on global business. This report was based on a recent trip to China with the National League of Cities to explore sustainable business opportunities. Sam’s observation that Portland lacks “brand awareness” is insightful and raises the question… what is Portland’s brand?
Portlanders are very protective of our culture as evidenced by bumperstickers proclaiming “Keep Portland Weird”, and our unusually high level of civic engagement. We value protecting our natur
al beauty (and bounty), individual self expression, and an entrepreneurial spirit. These values, and others shared by Portland’s citizens, have shaped this city from the physical environment to the people who continue to move here. People are drawn to Portland because of the culture and natural environment, and these two are intrinisically connected.
One of the challenges Mayor-Elect Adams is realizing is that Portland has not been good at articulating these aspects of our city that make up the Portland Brand. Who’s responsible for the Portland Brand? Yes of course the citizens, but someone must then be responsible for expressing that brand to the outside world.
Sam, will you take the charge?
Matt
ID-ology 