Welcome to the PHL

[mixiboi]

New branding is always exciting..but will it stick?





Does new 'PHL' brand represent your Philadelphia?

[Naveen]

I stopped watching about 18 seconds in when they showed the people clapping their hands.

[Gladys]

PHL already means the airport.

ugly rusty iron logo?

um... more wasted money.

don't these people do focus groups?

if so where the **** do they find them?

[dogoagogo]

More and more I've found people referring to destination cities by their airport designations. MSY, ATL, ORD, SFO. It kind of makes sense the way modern travel is.

And don't we all love TLAs?


I was somewhat struck by the social themes. Rich white b*chez with shopping bags, dou**ebags in hoodies, a little diversity in the high school student group I guess, but that can't be helped.

For some reason those skinny white rich chicks really pissed me off. LOL

Oh and "street life" showing inside RTM? As much as I love it, I sure don't consider that "streetlife".

I don't hate it at all, but I don't like it. Then again, it's not for US (Philadelphians), it's for everyone else, and they'll never "get it"

[mixiboi]

ugly rusty iron logo?

IT comes in multicolors....

[BarryG]

How come all of the shots in the "vibrant street life" section have no people on the street?

Also it's too long.

Interesting that it is sponsored by VisiPA but not GPTMC? Does the PHL in the sponsor list mean the airport?

The Convention Center should do no promotions without GPTMC's involvement.

[mixiboi]

The Convention Center should do no promotions without GPTMC's involvement.

Yeah I know I get a headache that we have two(THREE?) different tourist/visiting promotional organization....But then it hasn't harm us, and our brand is still the dominated by this:




Not that these have the new ugly USA tourism logo...

[Gladys]

still is reminiscent of an iron stencil - really not happy, reminds me of a broken down industrial city.

[ScottBudman]

Horrible

[BarryG]

Yeah I know I get a headache that we have two(THREE?) different tourist/visiting promotional organization....But then it hasn't harm us, and our brand is still the dominated by this:

It doesn't help... GPTMC could do a much better job than the Convention Center, and probably more cheaply as well. These videos are targeted at people booking conventions, a creative and engaging ad like the ones GPTMC produces could be a real stand-out. This video, like other ones I have seen from the Convention Center, doesn't capture anything about what makes Philly worth visting outside of the historical stuff.

[Jayfar]

Yawn.

I think they should hire Garrett Brown (a Philadelphian better known as inventor of the Steadicam™ and for his Molson Golden Ale voice-overs) to reshoot the Philadelphia: Get To Know Us campaign of the 80s that was brilliantly executed, but hardly aired.



There are shorter and longer versions too.

Garrett Brown Bio - Filmmaker and Inventor

[radiocolin]

Someone has stolen the left side of the "P"

[Gladys]

Someone has stolen the left side of the "P"

exactly, also sounds like the cw - cheap ass tv

[supersupper]

The modern Table of Periodic Elements is up to 118, but this video shows only 114. Not a great way to exhibit our educational level.

And why is Philly a stand-in for element #113: Uut, commonly known as Ununtrium. ?

It was Discovered in Russia, BTW. But.... Apparently these guys cinched the deal and Japan became the first country in Asia to name an atomic element.



Not sure what that has to do with Philly, but what the heck. Lets give them a rocky round of applause.

[lucidinnature]

What 2 bit agency came up with this crap?!?! Like Barry said, 'vibrant street life' shows... err, none?!
So many opportunities.
Freedom, democracy, america? Guess they couldn't wander down to 5th and market to maybe, ummmmmm, i dunno... taken a picture of the liberty bell or independence hall?
outdoor life and sports? I guess our stadiums or rittenhouse square or fairmount park couldn't be photographed that day.
accesible and friendly shows a cold and unapproachable building?

This thing is an f'n joke. Looks like something a dippy blonde would make in the art school just because she thought it'd be cool since she watched all the fashion runways and figured she could also get into some form of art.

IT comes in multicolors....

[BarryG]

What 2 bit agency came up with this crap?!?! Like Barry said, 'vibrant street life' shows... err, none?!
So many opportunities.
Freedom, democracy, america? Guess they couldn't wander down to 5th and market to maybe, ummmmmm, i dunno... taken a picture of the liberty bell or independence hall?
outdoor life and sports? I guess our stadiums or rittenhouse square or fairmount park couldn't be photographed that day.
accesible and friendly shows a cold and unapproachable building?

This thing is an f'n joke. Looks like something a dippy blonde would make in the art school just because she thought it'd be cool since she watched all the fashion runways and figured she could also get into some form of art.

I don't like the video either but it does have Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, stadiums, Boat House Row and Rittenhouse Square. But I'm not surprised you missed them because the shots are so short and just look like generic "city" shots.

The main problem is that besides the Liberty Bell and a couple cutesy Old City shots, the video could be for any city because it tells (poorly) instead of showing.

[MarketStEl]

Beat me to it, Jayfar. That Patti Labelle song was really catchy and the video much more lively and engaging.

I didn't get what all this rhythmic clapping was about either. Seemed to me utterly pointless. I did, however, get the "accessible and friendly" message, since they put in some obvious shots ("accessible": guy in a wheelchair rolling up to the camera; "friendly" - well, make that "gay-friendly" with the Gayborhood rainbow-American-flag shot followed by a quick flash of a male couple).

So this video is three minutes of incomprehensibility interspersed with a few seconds of the obvious.

Frankly, the "PHL" branding is about the only thing I think may have potential here. Sorta like that city down South that people now refer to by its airport code - you know, the one you'll have to change in regardless whether you're going to heaven or hell. BTW, it's my impression that with the exception of LAX, only those cities whose airport codes are shorthand for the city rather than the airport name get this treatment. I haven't hard anyone refer to Chicago as "ORD" yet, or NOLA as "MSY." (Free associating: It's interesting how some airport codes survive their airports' renaming, like these two.) But if it works in ATL and STL, why not here?

As for confusion about tourism promotion agencies, BarryG fell victim to it. The Convention Center does no tourism promotion; the Convention and Visitors Bureau does. The Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority and the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (which I note has likewise rebranded itself "PHLCVB") are separate agencies. The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation - the folks who came up with both "With Love, Philadelphia" (a slogan I find less interesting than "The place that loves you back", the GPTMC's previous tagline) and the truly inspired "Get your history straight and your nightlife gay" - promotes tourism in the entire five-county region ("Philadelphia and the Countryside"). I believe that each of the four suburban counties has its own tourism promotion agency as well (Delaware County: Brandywine Convention and Visitors Bureau; Montgomery County: Valley Forge CVB; I think the ones in Bucks and Chester simply bear the county names). The reason for the duplication is that the county-based agencies also work to fill convention facilities in their bailiwicks with activity. Which brings us back to BarryG's confusion: The PHLCVB lands the conventions that fill the facility the PCCA runs.

[lucidinnature]

Sorry, I was just going by the stills since I was on my phone. Just watched the video, and I'm equally unimpressed.

I went to school for advertising, and I can plainly say that people have to know the rules of advertising before breaking them-and this one breaks all of them without seeming like they went to college.

First off-the several taglines should not be of the same font as the slogan; otherwise it confuses the viewer with too many messages. Additionally, the stills presenting the taglines need rememberable representations of their message. 99% of people outside philadelphia have no idea who the hell is on top of city hall, or that it is even a picture of city hall.

The repetition of images and the complete lack of our resources is equally unfortunate. Seriously, for street life they're showing umpteen photos of reading terminal market, while showing no busy streets? I could walk about on a cold ass day like today and get far better one off footage.

Then yeaaaaah. The clapping. A 6th grader making a family video for youtube could have synced the clapping up better than these folks.

Finally, they don't even believe in their own campaign. I could have let you know in 15 we were talking about philadelphia with closeups of cheesesteaks, the phillies, soft pretzels, amongst lesser known discoveries. Then the end should just be "Discover PHL" That's the slogan. "Discover Philadelphia. Discover PHL." Shows redundancy and that they never properly conveyed their message for the past 2:30.

I don't like the video either but it does have Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, stadiums, Boat House Row and Rittenhouse Square. But I'm not surprised you missed them because the shots are so short and just look like generic "city" shots.

The main problem is that besides the Liberty Bell and a couple cutesy Old City shots, the video could be for any city because it tells (poorly) instead of showing.

[annie]

Time Lapse Philadelphia

Cut this down and you have a better commercial for the city than Welcome to the PHL.

[Hospitalitygirl]

Time Lapse Philadelphia

Cut this down and you have a better commercial for the city than Welcome to the PHL.

That piece gets better with every viewing. It really should be used as a marketing piece.