00:00
Anytime you roll out a new design, to me it feels like you should expect 60 to 70% of people aren't gonna like it. Because most human beings were just averse to change. So this was a case where 97% of people hated it. So I think at that point, you're not going to revive this corpse. Instead, it's over.
00:24
Hey everyone, welcome to A Change of Brand, a show featuring behind the scenes stories of rebrand, glory, drama, or disaster. I'm your host, Blake Howard.
00:39
Today I want to tell you a story about a nice little town on the Tennessee River in North Alabama and how its brand went south in a heartbeat. The city of Florence recently announced a rebranding effort that included a new design for the city logo. But that new design has not been well received on social media. You could say many are giving it an F. Officials say the new logo they chose is supposed to represent the people's passion and love for the city as well as a sense of amazement and
01:09
News 19's Addison Willman went to the streets to hear what the people think about it. Spoiler, they were not thinking happy thoughts. It's rare we get to cover a change story that went down in a blaze of glory like this, but there are important lessons to be learned, especially for those of you in the trenches of placemaking and branding. Cities, states, regions, and countries have been concerned with their image or reputation since the dawn of time.
01:37
However, as mobility and globalization increased throughout the 1950s, the competition for tourism and tax dollars followed. The need to invest in your brand as a place with the hope of increasing revenue is at an all-time high. You know, there are many bright stars and success stories in this category. New York City's famous branding as seen on scores of yellow taxis driving throughout the city comes to mind, or Melbourne, Australia's trendsetting identity made famous by
02:06
Various graphic textures filling in the rounded M shape. Or a little more obscure would be Helsinki's modern Coat of Arms logo. Place-based brands have the power to change the game for a destination, but getting them right is tricky. There are two huge problems to overcome. First of all, municipalities aren't known for their efficiency or quick decision making, so dealing with their dysfunction in a branding project can be downright painful.
02:35
Secondly, to capture the essence of a place into a single brand mark, typeface, or symbol is extremely difficult. Places represent many feelings and ideas to various people. Finding something that is universally relevant and not super cliché is almost impossible. And related to this point, like a scene straight out of Parks and Rec, getting feedback from locals on any new design work will get downright nasty.
03:05
And that's exactly what happened in the charming city of Florence, Alabama. In fact, it would get so bad that an investigative report revealed a deeper scandal at the heart of the project. And today, towards the end of the episode, I'm going to be as bold as to say I think there was a way to not only save the work, but also to truly help the city of Florence with their brand challenges.
03:28
But before I give away any secrets, let's get more backstory on Florence and what led up to this 2022 debacle. Here's brand strategist Tracy Clark with our briefing.
03:46
Close your eyes and picture the city of Florence. Can you see the Statue of David? Do you smell the fresh pasta? Or maybe you hear the Vespa scooters flying by. Florence, Italy is probably the first Florence that comes to your mind, known for being the capital city of the Tuscan region. But there are actually 29 states in the U.S. that have a city named Florence. In a country where Florence is already overshadowed by the Italian city, it's no wonder a small town in Alabama wanted to set itself apart.
04:16
Aside from being the most populated of cities named Florence in the U.S., this northern Alabama town carries the honor of being the birthplace of the father of blues himself, W.C. Handy, as well as legendary producer Sam Phillips, the one who discovered the king of rock and roll himself, Elvis Presley. Even to this day, Florence is still the beloved home for blues, folk, and country artists alike.
04:39
In 2021, the city of Florence embarked on a branding project that they hoped would showcase the modern feel of their beautiful town. Its previous logos all featured a Fleur de Lis, which was a nod to both its title as Alabama's Renaissance City and the official emblem of Florence, Italy. However, the council wanted something that better represented residents' love and passion for the city. The idea of rebranding the city wasn't a foreign concept.
05:06
For two years, a local designer ran a social media campaign called Rebrand Florence on Twitter and Instagram, revealing new potential logos for the city every two weeks. But it fell on deaf ears, and in 2015, it went silent. When the mayor's office finally decided it was ready for a change of brand, Florence residents rejoiced, eager for the new look to reflect their much-loved local hub of arts and culture. Months of work and many resident surveys later,
05:35
The city was ready for the reveal. You'll wanna stay tuned for this full story.
05:47
The City of Florence 2022 new logo was controversial for many reasons, least of which was the polarizing olive green color with a classic navy for the color palette. It also used a sand serif typeface that certainly feels more modern than a traditional city seal. It also debuted a really beautiful decorative illustration of the Flora d'Elie made out of a fish and leaves. It's quite stunning actually. Part of the rollout included a live for more message which is also perfectly fine.
06:17
However, the issues really start here with the wordmark, and some creative play with the letters. To the right of the capital F for Florence is an exclamation point made out of the O and the L from the word. It's a nice little visual discovery, and I bet when the designer first found that gem, it felt like an aha moment. Unfortunately, when the wordmark snaps down to just a standalone F, it reads as an F with an exclamation point.
06:47
Perhaps it's better explained by Florence resident and YouTuber Big Daddy Rich on his video reacting to the change. They, they said, you know what? The name Florence is just so awesome. I think it'd be best if we just take the L and put it above the O. It's just, I mean, you can't make it up. It's just awesome.
07:14
I mean, it either if you look at it either says like Florence with a L above the O kind of spelt weird or it says, Elf rents. Okay. Cause it's got the explanation part. So it's a elf rents. That'd be more like it. Elf rents. Don't just take big daddy's words for it. Be sure to go see the change for yourself at a change of brand.com.
07:42
Unfortunately, I don't have a first-hand account of how all of this came to be. No one really wants to do an interview about a project that didn't go so well. But I am going to do my best to stitch it all together for you. And buckle up, like a hot August day in Alabama, it's gonna get salty.
08:02
In late spring or summer of 2021, an employee in the mayor's office was tasked to lead a rebranding effort for the city. Now, it's worth noting that the mayor of Florence, Alabama, Andy Bederton, was relatively new to the job. He had been elected just a few months before. An RFP or a request for proposal was supposedly posted online or published per the city's policy to make the project of rebranding available to anyone forbidding.
08:31
Interestingly enough, we don't know when that RFP was posted. The actual document isn't dated. Included in the RFP, however, was the goal of quote, assisting the city through a strategic branding strategy to promote unity to the general public, to update the city's image, and to be used in marketing efforts for the city. End quote. The mayor's office collected any and all responses and made a recommendation to the
08:59
for which firm would be the best for the job. According to the mayor's office, no one in the Florence area actually submitted a bid for the project. So they selected Tatum Design, a reputable design firm based in Birmingham, Alabama, about 120 miles to the south. And I can see why. Tatum has some really nice and clean work and is one of the more qualified groups in the state. In fact, they've helped develop branding for other cities in Alabama, including Huntsville and Auburn.
09:29
Tatum, however, was the sole firm recommended to the City Council for the project. On July 29th, District 6 Councilmember Jimmy Oliver raised concerns by sending an email to the Mayor's office about why the city wasn't looking locally. But the response to his email assured him that no one was as qualified or as comprehensive as Tatum. Go with the best person for the job was the consensus, and Mr. Oliver didn't press the matter further.
09:56
In August of 2021, a contract with Tatum Design was signed and approved by City Council for the logo, tagline, and website, which would cost approximately $100,000, $25,000 for the branding, and $75,000 for the website. So Tatum got to work. They began with research and an extensive community survey. Eventually, they produced a document with key themes for the brand. The look needed to be beautiful to reflect the Tennessee River,
10:26
downtown Florence, the parks, historical character, etc. The tone needed to be friendly, like the welcoming, small and tight-knit community that it is. The spirit needed to be vibrant to show the growing and thriving life and creative culture found in Florence. Based on those themes, and I'm sure many other factors, or Tatum produced three or four different directions for the updated City of Florence brand identity. And here's where things start to get interesting.
10:53
Sometime after November 9th, 2021, those directions were presented to City Council in Birmingham, not Florence, as a way to avoid any media attention in the local area. And I'm sure City Council listened as Tatum pitched the ideas and then they debated the merits of each. The Council unanimously selected the F with the exclamation direction and gave the green light for the unveiling. Which must have been wildly shocking or at least surprising to the Tatum team.
11:22
Maybe they threw that one in as a wild card, which creative teams sometimes do. It can serve as a decoy for everyone to react negatively to, or it can be a bold and courageous buoy for the team to fight for. So on January 25th, 2022, at the Historic Shoals Theater, following an introductory video, Mayor Andy Bederton, wearing a classic blazer shirt, striped tie, and khakis, took the stage to reveal the City of Florence's new logo.
11:52
After him, a very dapper looking Travis Tatum, the founder and head of Tatum Design, took the stage to explain the overall creative process. The photos and videos from the event are limited, but they do show branded koozies on display as gifts and several expressionless onlookers staring in silence. However, the audience was active. As many people do, they started taking photos of the new branding and sharing it out on social media. From their angry Facebook posts,
12:21
raged like the mighty Tennessee River after a 100-year storm. Essentially, all hell broke loose. This was about the time I caught wind of the change on Facebook myself. A long-time friend, former client, and creative colleague of mine, B.T. Harmon, is from Florence and posted a scathing review of the work. And let me be the first to say that I can almost guarantee that there is way more to this story. In fact, I reached out to Tatum Design to get their take, but I didn't get a response.
12:50
which is also understandable. So I reached out to my friend BT, the one from Florence, who posted about the rebrand that caught my attention. He is an incredible storyteller, speaker, writer, and overall creative, and I thought it would be fun to get his take. Yeah, so I moved to Florence when I was a young kid, maybe five, lived there through the age of 22, was there all the way through college. I mean, Florence is, it's just quintessential small town, USA, and with, you know, a strong Southern flair.
13:17
very conservative, very religious. So it's all that, but you know, there's also, there's like a surprising sort of art and music scene in that area. You know, there's across what we call across the river over in another town called Muscle Shoals. You'll find Fame recording studios, which there was a documentary that came out years ago, but Fame has been around forever. Aretha Franklin recorded there, little Richard Allen Jackson, Demi Lovato more recently recorded at this little recording studio in Northwest Alabama.
13:44
You know, currently Jason Isbell is a popular artist who's from there. Billy Reed is a pretty well-known fashion designer based out of Florence. So, so yeah, it's this odd hodgepodge of like traditional Southern conservative energy, but this kind of undergrounds kind of vibrant art scene as well. BT went on to say that he loved growing up there and has fond memories of Florence. Like being downtown, watching the 4th of July fireworks where the nearby cliffs.
14:11
flashed with light after each burst and thousands of people hooted and hollered from the banks of the river. No doubt with Lee Greenwood blaring in the background. What was your initial impression when you saw the debut of the new City of Florence Alabama logo? So I didn't even know they were going through, you know, some kind of rebrand. I'm not super well connected. Obviously Facebook is my main link to Florence now because all my friends, family and
14:39
folks are on there, but yeah, so I get on there one night and I'm scrolling Facebook and person after person is barking and complaining about this new logo. And so of course I clicked around, I found the logo and I think my first reaction was just disbelief. Cause the first thing you see that the main sort of mark was a capital letter F with the letters L and the letters O next to it forming an exclamation point. And so I was like, wait a minute, is this like an F-bomb reference? And is this, you know.
15:08
Maybe this is satirical. Maybe this is something that someone has made as a joke. And, you know, I dabble, I'm a sort of a semi-pro designer myself. And so, listen, I like some edgy design. I like some design that pushes and gets people out of their comfort zones. But I was like, oh boy, this feels like a massive mess. It feels like they really, really got it wrong. Like it was a total calamity. I mean, it was absolute.
15:36
outrage and I don't say that lightly. I mean, people were, and listen, we're numb to outrage, right? Everybody's outraged about everything now. For those of us who were jaded, people were just irrationally, irrationally angry. I mean, I'm scrolling Facebook, people are calling for everybody to be fired. Let's fire the mayor, let's vote out city council. People are, of course, there's a conspiracy angle coming in, people calling for a full investigation. We've got to investigate how this went down and what could have gone wrong.
16:04
Of course then the meme brigade begins and just, you know, this flood of honestly just hysterical memes and jokes. But you know, as I was scrolling, I'm, you know, I'm kind of, I'm chuckling to myself, but there really were three main sticking points that I identified quickly. Number one, most people were shocked that the city would have spent $25,000 on this logo. And of course people were saying, you know, my child could have designed something better. The second thing that seemed to really irk people was that they did not hire
16:33
the design talent locally. They hired an agency out of Birmingham, Alabama, which again is about two hours south. And then I think the third big gripe was just this green. They used this chartreuse green color that it looks like if you can think of the vomit emoji, it's like the same green, just not a good green, just like it was miserable. So yeah, people were not happy, very angry, and I was shocked at how outraged people were. Speaking of outrage, it's time for a quick break.
17:03
But when we come back, we get BT's take on what went wrong, the rest of the Florence fiasco, and my idea on how they could have salvaged the project. All that and more after the break.
17:36
Just before the break, we started to get BT's take on what happened with this fiasco. And I get all the negative reactions to the work. That's not that uncommon. But I was curious if BT even felt like his hometown of Florence needed to invest in branding work to begin with. Florence is like a lot of small towns right now in America. Things are hard. There's a this concept of brain drain where you know you're
18:00
Kids graduate, they go to college, then they leave their small town to get jobs in bigger cities. And so, you know, towns like Florence, they're always looking for ways to stay fresh. They wanna find ways to attract young talent, to attract families, and obviously attract industry to keep the economic tax base popping. And so, you know, I assumed this was an attempt at, again, just refreshing their general image. The old logo, they had a sort of a pre-existing logo. It really was more of like a kind of a seal concept.
18:29
And you know, to be honest, didn't look great in my opinion. It was pretty dated looking, a lot going on, very busy. You know, there's a slogan on the seal that says Alabama's Renaissance City. You know, Florence is named after Florence, Italy. And so, you know, I'm just thinking like, no one's real inspired by the fact that we're claiming to be Alabama's Renaissance City. You know, most people's affinity for the Renaissance era, not real strong, particularly when the younger generation. So.
18:54
You know, I certainly agree with their intent, which was, Hey, we need a fresh, new image and icon, something that feels younger, a bit more youthful and can position us in a just a more relevant way. Yeah. What about the new identity was working for you? Was there anything in there that you feel like, Hmm, that's pretty good. I kind of like that. Well, I did like that. It was a totally bold departure from the previous existing look.
19:21
The previous logo was like a seal. It was like Hunter Green with this sort of muted gold, which felt very like 1990s to me. There was a lot going on. It was very busy. So I liked that this new icon was, it was simpler. It was more stripped down, a little more minimalistic. I liked that they, with, you know, kind of a more of a modern youthful look. I mean, there's always a debate with logos. Do we do a, you know, a sans serif font or a serif font? You know, serifs are more traditional and they communicate.
19:50
very solid traditional things and sans serifs are more modern and youthful. And so, you know, I liked it. They went kind of the sans serif route where it felt more youthful. So again, it's like they were, they were heading in the right direction and then the execution just didn't, it didn't follow. The primary crime committed in this whole, this whole mess was the rollout, how the logo was presented to the city. Honestly as mom in my mind was the most grievous mistake made.
20:19
And so in my mind, that's where they went wrong is the communication aspect of it was not tightly controlled and it allowed the public to just eat the concept alive. The images began floating around social media with zero context. There was no explanation of process, no explanation of reasoning behind it. And so because there was no meaning, human beings are going to human being. We're going to create meaning where there is none. And so it just opened itself up to a big mess. And somehow the big mess continued to unfold.
20:49
About 48 hours after the logo publicly debuted at the Scholls Theater, a petition was created on Change.org to remove the logo, and it quickly received 4,000 signatures. It must have worked. A few days later, on February 1st, the City Council voted to terminate the remaining contract with Tatum Design, but it was split a 3-3 tie and that vote was moved to a future date. Two days later, on February 3rd,
21:15
Mayor Bederton starts to distance himself from the new logo and stresses that the original logo will still be used for official capacities, and the new logo won't even appear on city vehicles. However, the local media wasn't finished. This was the most exciting scandal to happen in Florence since the ransomware scare of 2020. They weren't just going to let this slide. Two weeks after the new logo had debuted,
21:41
Mayor Bederton announced there was no need to terminate the branding contract with Tatum since their work was complete. However, he mentioned they were evaluating their options for going forward and will seek the input of citizens and local officials from here on out. Additionally, they put the website project on hold, canceling that contract with Tatum. The mayor thanked the firm and complimented them on being courteous and professional through this entire endeavor. And I'm sure Tatum was thrilled to just cut bait and get out. I know I would have been.
22:12
He then went on to say that the city welcomes Tatum to submit a proposal for the future update when they were ready to move forward. Two days later after the mayor's announcement on February 10th, a local private school, Mars Hill, released the winners of their student logo competition announcing they had heard the city might be on the lookout for a new one, and hat tip to Michaela Kopok for taking home first prize with her monoline bridge badge design. And just when you think
22:39
this story had been milked for all it's worth. It is just a logo, by the way. Matt Crochel from Way 31, the local ABC affiliate, broke this story wide open. The box delivered Wednesday hundreds of pages of information and for the first time, the request for proposal document released for public review.
23:00
It's not dated or referenced in any emails I reviewed, but was included in the open records release Way 31 submitted days after the rebranding rollout flopped.
23:10
That's the RFP. The city says local marketing companies never saw because of a quote miscommunication in publishing it in the Times Daily. The newspaper now says they never received it in the first place. But what's clear after reviewing emails from the mayor's executive assistant, the employee charged with moving the rebrand forward. Tatum Design was on the short list from the very beginning. Only one other company was contacted to make a proposal, but only Tatum's response was shown to City Council.
23:40
It was approved. There was an extensive community survey conducted and efforts made is seen in these emails from the mayor's assistant and Tatum's owner to keep the media from covering the process. A scheme to hold a meeting in Birmingham because local media likely wouldn't attend.
23:56
They wanted to keep this all a surprise. From the emails we can confirm, Tatum provided three different logo options for council to pick from. The unanimous decision for the F with the exclamation point gave the green light for the rebranding unveiling. And we all know how well that went over. What's missing in this set of documents are emails showing any communications direct from the mayor. Also missing any follow-up emails after the poorly received logo launch. We know the approved $25,000 for the project
24:26
from the general fund and to date the city has received an invoice for 10,000. As far as the now canceled contract for the new website using this rebranding, that was supposed to begin after the rebranding was complete. Now it's unclear who will do that work or when the city could see a new website. It's also not clear what they'll end up doing with this. I'm Matt Crochel, Way 31 News.
24:56
stay on this story wherever it takes us. As of right now, the issue again up for discussion at the Florence City Council's meeting next Tuesday night. In a shocking turn of events, it was discovered through hundreds of pages of documents released by the city to Way 31 that the RFP was in fact never published for local firms to see or bid on due to a quote miscommunication. Emails between the person leading the rebranding effort for the
25:26
and Tatum Design were also leaked. And that's where we learned about the suggestion to not meet in Florence to avoid the media. But it was also discovered that Tatum was always the lead firm for the gig. And this information isn't too shocking to me, however. It is very common for an agency to have the inside track for the work. CMOs or project leaders of any organization are sticking their neck out for the project to go well. So of course,
25:54
They want to use a group they admire or have had a good previous experience with. In this case, however, it's all just a little shady, and the information disclosed from the mayor's office when they were defending the work turned out to not be true. After the Way 31 story, the fiasco faded, and so did the new logo, like an old cat slinking off into the woods never to be seen again. The city removed the logo from its Facebook page profile history and the uninspiring
26:23
poorly designed city seal returned. While it's hard to know what really happened during the process or who is ultimately responsible, BT does have a theory. I think what happened is this is a case where the client, in this case, the city, they just sort of blindly trusted an agency. And while that's admirable in some ways, to kind of admit that, hey, we are the experts, we're not, you just do your thing. Obviously somewhere in the process, something went really, really wrong.
26:53
So do you feel like, like was this whole thing intentional? Was there a creative director or someone that was like, oh my gosh, this is so edgy, so radical. Like this will be great for the city. Or did they just miss it? Like did they never see that the shorthand was F? I listen, this is the million dollar question. I mean, to me, this is the resounding mystery in this great drama is what were they thinking? Was it intentional? Was it a complete mess?
27:23
Here is my theory. A lot of times a designer sit down to begin doing logo work. You know, there's like a sketch process and we're sketching, we're looking at letters and we're turning things upside down and sideways. We're making things larger. I think in that process, a designer tinkered with that F, the L and the O. And I think he looked at the O, he stacked them and thought, oh, it's like an exclamation point. And you know, I think that person thought, oh, this is brilliant. I think it was an issue of being overly clever. And Blake, you know, it's a classic trap.
27:53
for creatives, for creative folks. And we love things that are clever. And if we're the one that comes up with something clever and it feels like we're the first person to stumble upon this clever solution, boy, we get romantic about that clever idea real quickly. And it's hard to talk us out of it. And we get attached to it. In all my creative work that I've done with consulting and freelance, I have been victim to it as well. And honestly, I think that's what happened here. My gut is that they never connected the dots of the expletive. It was like...
28:21
F, well, that's the first letter of the town and this exclamation point, and it communicates enthusiasm and excitement and youthfulness and we think this is it. Because if they thought, you know, if it was intentional and they thought this was a cool and edgy thing to do, there's just an absolute disastrous assumption. Something like this, that's this edgy, that is a veiled reference to what arguably is the most vile word in English language, there's no way that's going to go over in even a, you know, highly massive metropolitan with
28:49
Uh, area with progressive thinking, you know, but it's certainly not over in a smaller town where sometimes change is not, you know, not adopted as easily or as quickly, I think it was an accident. I think it wasn't intentional and probably what happened is when you see the full word mark of Florence, you don't necessarily get the F right away. You just get Florence with kind of some unique wordmark treatment, maybe. And then.
29:18
Later on, they probably started to think, what do we do for a shorthand? What do we do on social applications? Well, let's just pull the F and the L O, you know, and that's how they missed it. And somebody on city council or whoever their client contact was loved it and. They went for it and probably it started to get some momentum and probably people said, Hey, don't you kind of see like this F in there?
29:44
but they probably just got dismissed because the project was rolling. And that's also what it can happen. Sometimes is there's a timeline and we got to get this done now, or we're not going to have funding for it next quarter. So we got to keep going with it. And somebody just ignored any of that feedback and thought, well, we just got to keep going. We just got to keep going. Okay. Let's wrap up this dubious disaster with some helpful takeaways. This is a case study and change management gone completely wrong.
30:11
The communication and launch plan for a place-based brand is everything. Giving the public clarity into the process and sharing rock-solid rationale for the decision would have helped soothe the storm. Typically on this show, we talk about how you should stay the course once you launch a rebrand and start to get some blowback. To take courage, remember the strategy, remember the rationale, stay the course! If Airbnb did it, so can we!
30:39
But in this case, changing course or at least amending the course was the right answer. And speaking of, here's how I think they could have salvaged this project. The full Florence wordmark is not too bad. As I mentioned, you don't really get the F explicative. You just read it as Florence and notice the L and the O are moving or a little altered. It was really all about the F! shorthand. If they would have just removed that from the visual identity system,
31:09
and replaced it with an updated version of the city seal or the fish they maybe just maybe would have had a shot to save it. I asked BT if the essence of the idea was right, you know like, is Florence best represented via an exclamation point? And while he doesn't directly think of it that way, he could see that being a good route. People are proud to live there, and perhaps city council
31:36
wanted to shake off the old sleepy retirement town perception by embracing the energy of Florence. I was also curious, how would BT fix it? Anytime you roll out a new design, to me it feels like you should expect 60 to 70% of people aren't gonna like it because most human beings were just averse to change. So this was a case where 97% of people hated it. So I think at that point, you're not going to revive this corpse. Instead, it's over. So...
32:05
Honestly, my first move to fix this process, number one, I think they should have apologized quickly. Just own it, admit that you missed the mark, show a little humility, and tell everyone you're gonna start over. But that never happened as far as I know. And again, it's not a good look for the politicians involved, right? I mean, none of us expect politicians to ever humbly own a mistake and ask for forgiveness. But no, that didn't happen. And so honestly, what I would have done at that point, I would have apologized, and then I would have scheduled like a funeral.
32:34
Like a literal, like this is one of those situations, Blake, where like you can actually turn this into gold if you're creative. Host like a little mock funeral on the town square. It's gonna be a week from now. We're gonna have food trucks and vendors and there's gonna be local beer and it's gonna be a charity fundraiser for this nonprofit and like make a joke out of it and like ceremoniously bury this logo. We all get a good laugh out of it. Everyone looks at you and says, wow, this wasn't a mistake, but they owned it. We're laughing about it and we're gonna fix it.
33:02
BT went on to say that after that mock funeral, he would have assembled a committee of local artists and tasked them with steering the RFP process, like a brand task force. Then once the work was debuted, they would be the ones to present it and talk about it and defend it. Part of probably why this whole thing turned into what it turned into is just the nature of designing for a city hood. It's not for the faint of heart. A hundred. Listen.
33:30
I think that's the corner, right? That's why I don't offer sharp criticism to this agency because Florence is a town of 40,000 people. That's 40,000 individual brands. You cannot have one brand mark that all 40,000 people feel like represents them. It's impossible. And it is an uphill battle. It's incredibly challenging. So shout out to all you design folks working with municipalities and things, because I think it's a really especially challenging gig.
33:56
Ok that's a wrap. Special thanks to BT Harmon for giving us his take on this story. To see more visuals from today's episode, including links to news stories and the Shoals Theater launch event, head on over to a change of brand dot com. If you liked today's show, share it with a friend and leave us a review on Apple podcasts. Today's episode was edited by Landon Osei Tutu. Fact checked by Jill Jeffries. Written in part and
34:24
produced by Brianna Belcher. Special thanks to Tracy Clark for the brief end and Rachel Jackson for today's artwork. I'm your host, Blake Howard, signing off.