The distinctive new promotional logo and bilingual slogan of the Montreal Metropolitan Community (MMC) is being ridiculed by some of the citizens from the 82 municipalities that make up the region.
The stylized M logo, in a number of different colours, and slogan—“Greater Montréal Room to make it real” or “Le Grand Montréal L’espace pour de réaliser”—have been a year in the making at a cost of $487,000.
The slogan and logo refer to the physical space where you can grow a business while enjoying a good quality of life and access to nature, green space and waterways, according to Laurent Pepin, a partner and senior vice-president at National Public Relations, which helped developed the slogan and logo.
“It can be used in different contexts such as economic development, culture or tourism,” said Pepin. “It’s part of the region’s umbrella branding to bring investors into the Montreal region. Once here, it’s up to them to decide which municipality they want to invest in.”
But several letters to The Gazette felt the logo and slogan were a waste of money, which could have been put to better use. And an editorial from yesterday on the topic headed, “Greater Montréal: Room to try again” questioned the cost of the cost of creating the logo and slogan.
“Four-hundred-and-eighty-seven thousand dollars would, as our readers have already started to suggest, fill an awful lot of potholes—or buy an awful lot of crayons, which appearances would suggest, were what was used to draw this cheerfully chubby little “M” in all its multicoloured glory.”
Yves Charette, economic development co-ordinator for the MMC, dismissed all the negative comments, pointing out the $487,000 was the total cost, including focus groups, strategy and branding and not just the cost of designing the logo and slogan. He also said it was an investment that will last 20 years and that the branding tested positive at National’s Toronto and New York offices.
“The colours can also change texture. For example, one colour could be replaced by a black and white checkered flag to promote the Formula 1 race,” he added, although Montreal was recently dropped from F1 calendar next year.
