I don’t know what to say….I’m speechless……you could have paid my 7 year old 5 bucks and the critters would have looked better too.

Hey, it’s not just a squirrel … I think I see grass under the NY .. and what’s that squiggle before the “I” ?

[...] always makes to itself when confronted with overpriced art -”My kid could have done that!” In fact they’re already saying that over at Tribble: It’s an outrage to say the least, and it’s your tax dollars at work. Honestly look at the logos [...]

Seriously - someone at NYS Division of Tourism should lose their job over this. Saatchi & Saatchi should have to provide a very detailed accounting of their $17million bill, be sued by the State of NY, and then they should be publicly humiliated in some way.

It’s crap like this that keeps public perception of our industry in the toilet.

[...] agency Saatchi & Saatchi love New York? They just took $17 million from the city to add a squirrel to the famous I Love New York campaign of the 1970s. [Tribble Ad Agency] Some say the secret of Harvard’s success is its rampant grade inflation [...]

Hey now, let’s not overlook the snow effect. Now people can know that there are squirrels in NYC AND snow! Awesome.

This is why big agencies blow.

It’s actually not that much money compared to typical advertising/media budgets, which go from 10 to 100 times what New York State had. The $17 million is probably the overall budget, a small part of which was spent revising the logo. 75% of the money probably went towards buying the advertising space (newspaper ads, magazines, tv air-time etc) and the rest towards producing the ads, which the logo probably only appears at the end or bottom for 5% of the time/space. At the end of the day, if the ads bring more tourist to New York, especially wealthy europeans, and they spend buckets of money, then it totally makes sense.

The economy is crashing. People are homeless. Families trying to eat. People are trying to stay afloat. 17 million can help so many Un-frickin-believeable.

And it’s people like wburg that wants us regular folk to buy that Hoop dream! Get outta here if you really expect me to believe that $17 million was “needed” to do that? I could go on. But it’s a waste. There needs to be more regulatory oversight. bottom line.

[...] the 50 page PDF to see it in it’s full glory. So not only do you get the $17 million dollar “New Squirrel Logo” you also get a 50 page PDF file telling you where you are not allowed to post [...]

I’m gonna go out on a limb (limb… tree limb…squirrel… get it?) and assume that the $17MM was for far more than a logo redesign. Even $500,000 would have been an insanely high budget for logo work.

Seeing as how this is actually a newspaper that, on occasion, performs investigative journalism, how about you give them a call and see what the $17MM was supposed to cover?

Peter
http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/
Recommending books so good, you’ll stay up reading past your bedtime. ;)

I’m going to agree with Peter here. Saatchi & Saatchi have been working on the I ♥ NY campaign for a while now. While I am not impressed _at all_ with the logo work (you can find yet a third variation on their Fall Getaways site), I find it hard to believe that this is the result of $17M and I think it’s kind of shoddy reporting (mostly on the part of the Times, UK) to assume so without anything to back it up.

Personally I haven’t been able to come up with a budget for NY State’s Tourism campaign, which probably should be of public record, but perhaps someone else can.

[...] I came upon the redesign (or re-imagining, perhaps) of the I ♥ NY logo and started on a trek across the internet trying to [...]

This is some of the most inane and irresponsible “journalism” I’ve ever seen. Are people truly so ignorant that you believe $17 million was spent on a logo? Come on people, be smart. As one of the posters said, the tweaks to the logo would have represented a miniscule part of the budget. The bulk of any ad budget goes to the media buy - unfortunately funding irresponsible journalists. Tourism drives millions of dollars in tax revenue and employs hundreds of thousands of people. So the State is not supposed to be competetive and try to attract tourists? Get the facts people before you make idiotic comments like “They spent $17 million ona logo? I could have done that” Duh.

Seriously. Congratulations on being the Bill O’Reilly of ad critics. Pathetic.

“Advertising Agency Saatchi & Saatchi, which squirreled away part of that money to making the same Logo that was already created in the 1970’s”

Dear GG and GG Clone,

We never said all 17 million was for the logo.. clearly you guys squirreled away only part of that money for recreating a logo that existed 30 years ago….

Great use of Tax Money…

[...] this little bit of news on saatchi & saatchi’s attempt to “revitalize” the I (heart) NY logo. YIKES. I would love to know which egotistical I-am the-shit creative director thought this was [...]

This whole story is bogus. Everyone loves a story about government negligence but this isn’t one of them. the $17 million is the whole I Love NY budget-a paltry amount to spend relative to other states- and is not the amount spent on some logos which aren’t even a prominent part of the campaign. just go to the i love ny website. this money goes towards advertising. and if anyone thinks the state shouldn’t even be spending on this in a time of fiscal crisis, then they don’t know why the campaign was launched so successfully 30 years ago in the first place.

The story is not bogus, part of that 17 million went to adding a Squirrel to an existing logo. Of course Saatchi & Saatchi won’t answer my calls when we ask for clarification on what part of that 17 million was to adding the Squirrel… our bet is that it’s a bigger figure than you think…. considering *roughly* the same Squirrel is on istockphoto… and the 3ed grader skillset of cutting and pasting takes roughly 30 seconds. Total billable hours + production should be on or about 2 dollars…. go ahead and argue the point that the logo is an impressive work of art that deserves massive dollars spent on it… we would like to hear it.

People it’s not just a squirrel. There is a little black thing in the upper left corner too. That’s what $16,999,900 went toward. Not to mention the grass that makes it look like there’s a problem with the bottom of the logo.

Come on, it’s naivety for anyone to think that $17million has been spent on “dusting the letters with snow” or “adding a squirrel”. The money was most probably spent on a campaign that will grow tourism in the State of New York and in turn surely this will create job opportunities and other positive outcomes. Footballers cross hands for more than this, surely if it has a positive impact it’s money well spent. I personally think that Saatchi was given a hard job, adapting one of the world’s most iconic logo’s to promote such a variety of attractions and areas without losing the look of a logo that has always been seen to promote New York City, good on them, I think the changes to the logo are a great concept and the simplest things in life are sometimes the ones that work the best! Unfortunately the only people to blame here are the media, this story is an example of shoddy journalism on someone’s part, only telling half the story, you have to ask yourselves who really are the ones lining their pockets? Another great example of the media blowing everything out of proportion and only printing half the facts.

I have to agree with MJ, this is a seriously bad bit of reporting, it’s just ignorant for anyone to think that adding a squirrel is all that has been done. Irresponsible journalism to blame again. And shame on those who take out only what they percieve to be the negative elements to re-create the story.

In response to GG’s post:
“This is some of the most inane and irresponsible “journalism” I’ve ever seen. Are people truly so ignorant that you believe $17 million was spent on a logo? Come on people, be smart”

- Does it matter if it was responsible journalism or not? All people are going to read is “$17 million spend on lackluster update of NY logo” and people will be highly upset that $17 MILLION of their tax dollars went to a BS logo update.

“Tourism drives millions of dollars in tax revenue and employs hundreds of thousands of people. So the State is not supposed to be competetive and try to attract tourists?”

- Yes, tourism drives millions of dollars blah blah blah…the only thing is, it’s not some redneck city in Wisconsin, it’s freakin NEW YORK, 99% of the tourism is in NEW YORK CITY! This happens to be one of the biggest, most tourism congested cities on the planet! For the love of God, you have Times Square, Broadway, Wall St., the Statue of Liberty…even Ground Zero is a tourist attraction! I don’t think the city needed to spend $17 MILLION on updating a highly well known, 30 year old logo with a squirrel…if anything, I’d stop going to the city because their all so damn stupid over this. And if I was a New Yorker, I’d be upset that my tax money went to a silhouette of a squirrel as opposed to, I don’t know, a bigger police force?? Better fire response systems?? Homeless Shelters!!! Take your pick.

In response to Chris: You have just proved WHY this logo needs to be updated with your comments! The I (Love) NY logo I believe represents the whole of New York State -an area the size of France! You are completely right, New York City has Broadway, Wall Street, The Statue of Liberty, 99% of tourism, which means the rest of the State, according to your figures, only has 1% of tourism! The City hasn’t spent $17millon updating a logo, the STATE has spent $17million on a major campaign in hope of making people like yourself aware that this logo was created to represent the State of New York, by enhancing it, the intention is to promote the fact that there is much much to New York than the tourist attractions that you mention in Manhattan. Surely if the campaign creates awareness for other aspects of the State, nature, skiing, etc (aspects that even as an American, you are obviously not aware of!) and encourages all those visitors to NYC to venture outside the walls of Manhattan, then this is a positive move for all.

You’re right on one thing, all people are going to read is “$17 MILLION of their tax dollars went to a BS logo update” - that’s why it does matter that it is made apparent that this is irresponsible journalism. Had someone done their homework and research, they might have explained what this logo truly strands for in an article before criticising the money spent to change it, so that people like you know the full facts before sounding off.

Chris, unfortunately you and others have missed the point again. I Love NY is a STATE brand. The headline on this story is INCORRECT as well if you google about the campaign. New York City isn’t funding this advertising campaign directly. It is also incorrect as you point out because the State obviously did not spend $17 million on a logo update as folks with an agenda would obviously like you to believe. I’m retired and don’t live in NYC or work for Saatchi but as a former state resident, believe it or not, there are other parts of the state that are tourism attractions and rely on tourists for their economies - the Finger Lakes, Adirondacks, Long island, Niagara, to name a few. In order to be competitive, the state needs to market itself for visitors against places like Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Jersey Shore, etc. and beyond - many of whom actually have larger budgets incredibly. Tourism is a huge industry and hotel revenues, restaurant revenues, attraction revenues, etc all contribute tremendously to the State - and city’s economy. It trickles down to all manor of workers - from taxi drivers, subways and even the corner hot dog stand. Tourism tax and visitor spending revenues help allow the funding of police departments, homeless shelters, fire response systems, etc. Bottom line, if tourism sinks in the state, so to do other aspects of the economy. I don’t understand your point about Wisconsin but thats OK. Are you really advocating that the State not spend money to market itself and be competitive for tourism? It’s a multi-billion dollar industry! With major revenues being lost through Wall Street, do you really advocate letting tourism die too? Now THAT would be stupid and short-sighted. Stop believing everything the media and bloggers want you to believe for their own agenda. The fact that you and I are reading this site and responding passionately is the point I guess for them. It’s all about business, no matter who is involved.

NY and GG — I know what I read… and I know what I wrote… it’s 100% accurate… it appears you don’t like it because it’s the truth… part of that 17 million went to redesigning at 3 decade old logo that didn’t need to be touched… as mentioned in the initial article.

GG stated “I Love NY is a STATE brand. ” really… so why is small business not allowed to use it.. are they not part of the state?

“Saatchi & Saatchi, which squirreled away part of that money ”

No one reasonably assumes that the full 17 million went to the Istockphoto lookalike Squirrel cut and paste.

What we are reasonably assuming is that this is a total waste of taxpayer money… not one penny should of went to that… the whopping 50 page PDF guidebook that Saatchi & Saatchi sent with the logo virtually stated a big F*ck You to to small business … and another big F*ck You to the iconic logo.

” Over time, I LOVE NEW YORK has become more and more fragile due to brand dilution and a need for a firm structure and a focused message.”

That sounds like a “F*ck you” to Eric Mower & Associates, who worked on the brand before Saatchi won it.

Then you have this tidbit, you can’t put the logo near anything like this…

ALL THE BUFFALO WINGS YOU CAN EAT $19.99
THE POTATO SACK RACES OF THE HUDSON VALLEY
HOT SUGAR DOUGHNUTS

Really.. so NY is only big business as you can’t evidently own a Doughnut shop and use the logo… that’s hot stuff… so really… who is this campaign to serve.. the businesses that pay taxes for it… or the big companies that benefit?

http://www.tribbleagency.com/?p=3155

To NY: “nature, skiing, etc”??? Ok, what is a squirrel, a bird, some grass and snow going to do to let people know that New York STATE!!!! has all these things? I have some news, you’re not the only state that has nature and skiing, etc…I look out my back yard and I see SQUIRRELS, rabbits, deer, birds…it’s not all that uncommon. Skiing? Have you ever heard of Vermont? My point is, when people hear “New York”, they always think of the city, specifically because the city is where the adventure is. Do you think a person from Philly or Washington DC is going to come to NY State to take in your breathtaking mountains and wildlife? I don’t think so. Besides, what else do you have to offer besides the city, the richy rich Hamptons, and Niagara Falls, another very well known tourist attraction that doesn’t need much advertising….the Love Canal?

To GG: “Are you really advocating that the State not spend money to market itself and be competitive for tourism? It’s a multi-billion dollar industry!”

Well if it’s a multi-billion dollar industry, why did the logo need a (very) slight overhaul in the first place? You’re already raking in billions of dollars! And the Founder is right, if this is supposed to be a huge reinvention, why can’t it be advertised anywhere where the average layman/tourist will actually walk by and look at? The bottom line is that Saatchi & Saatchi are a bunch of criminals that robbed you blind…you should feel like a fool, a cuckold. If you really feel that passionately about it, tell S&S no thanks, great job, we’ll see ya later, and come up with a real genuine updated design instead of putting the VERY ICONIC logo through Microsoft Paint.

And to every other New Yorker reading this, from city or state….face it, ya got ripped off!

To the Founder,

I’m sorry you are so bitter about the advertising industry in general. Not sure if you couldn’t cut it there or what the story is but as a semi-frequent reader/ but never a poster, I realize that is the point of this blog. Usually I get a laugh out of some of your stuff but your response here is non-sensical. “I know what I read?” So does that mean because the UK Times wrote something then it must be right? Sad. Hopefully you will watch the special Series, “The IFC MEdia Project” or read the story in today’s NY Times: Training a Gimlet Eye on the News Media and Finding Them Wanting.

I have no idea about saatchi’s brand guidelines and it is not my job to defend them or the state but if you are involved with the ad industry you know that is not uncommon to protect the brand. As it is, there are likely thousands of unauthorized usages of the I Love NY logo - just walk by any souvenir store or knock off vendors on sidewalks. This has been covered extensively in the media. What is wrong with them wanting to protect the usage of the logo? Anyway, don’t answer, as it will likely be an angry, expletive-filled post. I know you don’t like being disagreed with, but I do disagree wth you and I respect your right to your opinion.

Chris,

Have you actually seen any of the ads beyond the individual logos posted here? In the context of the ads, the logos probably work very well. I think the logos are cute and make you take notice. As far as your statement on NY State, I personally feel this is one of the most beautiful states in the country and people do want to go hiking in the Adirondacks, explore wineries in the Finger Lakes, go to the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, etc. etc. I know I’m likely arguing with an 18 year old kid, but you’d be pleasantly surprised by what NY has. Again, like the Founder, I’m sure I won’t change your mind, but I wish you wouldn’t just blindly assume the worst based on misleading reporting.

GG,

Honestly I am not the anti-christ you are making me out to be…. look I just think the project is a total waste of taxpayer money… you disagree… that’s fine…. just a difference of opinion.

Regarding if I would “cut it” there or not… honestly… I never worked here… or any BDA… but I do own an agency myself .. and generally our mission is to clean up BDA messes… .. I know what’s quality work… I know what’s not… in my opinion the ads and the guidelines put this squarely on the latter…

[...] The New York State Division of Tourism has spent $17 million with Advertising Agency Saatchi & Saatchi to refresh the 1970’s logo for the city. Whether or not the tax payers money was well spent only future will tell, but it’s hard to get impressed. Check out the other versions of the logo here [...]

Good answer, I am looking for the solution of the same question. Find the movies or mp3 you are looking for at rapidshare-provider.com the most comprehensive source for free-to-try files downloads on the Web

[...] from someone involved with the campaign, this is in regards to the 17 million dollar rip off that Saatchi is bilking the state of New York for. Because of course, the new logos and surrounding campaign are worth 17 [...]

[...] of Tourism included in the review. Much anger at rebranding effort within state tourism industry. The $17,000,000 dollar logo redesign and campaign is facing a hostile [...]