Only 20 years of progress?

The Downtown Phoenix Partnership is at it again. The people who brought us "Copper Square" now have plastered billboards around downtown and on I-10 celebrating "Downtown Phoenix: 20 Years of Progress."

20 years? How about 150? Yes, DPP is in its twentieth year of existence, but downtown Phoenix existed long before there was a Downtown Phoenix Partnership.

And all we have to celebrate is 'progress?' I'm all for truth in advertising, but 'progress' is a pretty weak thing to brag about. That word practically buys into the mentality that some suburbanites here still cling to-- that downtown was a ghetto that has marginally improved thanks to the presence of a couple ballparks. How about something a little more positive-- like '150 years as Arizona's urban capitol,' or something to that effect?

New downtown Phoenix marketing effort misses the mark

The Downtown Phoenix Partnership can’t seem to get out of its own way. After the partnership made the right call in abandoning the silly Copper Square “brand” for downtown, it followed up by unveiling an odd-looking logo and an unintentionally ironic billboard marketing campaign.

I won’t go into the logo (you can decide for yourself at downtownphoenix.com), but the billboards are an unfortunate waste of money. The signs are in several places around central Phoenix, and probably elsewhere, and show a panel of three pictures and the slogan “only in downtown Phoenix.” The problem is that the pictures are generic glamour shots of smiling kids and adults that look like they could be anywhere.

The Downtown Phoenix Partnership needs to scrap this first wave of billboards and roll out others that identify and depict the unique places and people of downtown—you know how many suburbanites still have never heard of Cibo, much less have no idea how to pronounce its name?— and stop trying to make downtown look like everywhere else.

The Downtown Phoenix Partnership just doesn't get it

Does the Downtown Phoenix Partnership just enjoy publicly demonstrating its irrelevance?

I'm not sure how else to explain the DPP's move this week to (finally) abandon the ridiculous "Copper Square" brand name-- only to announce plans to pick another name to replace Copper Square.

Just what we need: another nickname for downtown that no one will ever use.

Here's a thought for the DPP: save your money. Or, if you've got $100K to blow on downtown, how about fixing some of the narrow and cracked sidewalks, providing shade, or adding some bike paths somewhere? But don't waste your members' money on renaming a place that already has a name-- downtown Phoenix.