From hip hop to mainstream flop

It's vague. It’s passé. And it's the acronym for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

(Sniff, sniff, sniff)

I smell a flawed branding campaign!

Brand Atlanta announced that it will spend $2 million on re-branding the city of Atlanta by referring to the southern metropolis as "ATL." The term "ATL" became part of hip-hop vernacular when Outkast wrote the song "Cruisin’ in the ATL" years ago. Plenty of other hip-hop stars and athletes refer to Atlanta by it’s three-letter acronym.

But does that make "ATL" suitable for a widespread branding campaign?

Ken Bernhardt, a member of Brand Atlanta’s communication committee, tries to explain: "It's not the airport and it's not hip-hop. What ATL is supposed to elicit is the meaning of the brand, Atlanta, meaning 'opportunity, optimism and openness.' When you see the Coke bottle, you think Coke. It's an identifier of the brand. ATL should elicit everything that you think about when you think about Atlanta, which hopefully in the future will mean the three O's."

The part that bothers me most about Brand Atlanta's campaign is that trendy vernacular changes so fast in hip hop circles and "ATL" is already worn out like a vinyl record. And if you're going to lift something from a certain demographic and push it mainstream, it's imperative to have the support of the originating demographic to champion the brand message.

Somewhere right now, Andre 3000 is chuckling.

Comments

[Matt]

Amen!