What could be more inherently i then changing the name of something while keeping everything else exactly the same. Restaurants, bars and businesses do it all the time in this damn city. Coincidentally this is what a local businessman, Case Lawrence, suggests Fresno do to itself in an op-ed in the Fresno Bee. To wit:
Fresno has just such a problem. Our name — our “brand” — is simply too far gone. It has too much negative baggage to ever be salvaged. The time has come to scuttle it and start fresh with a clean vessel.
Number one: naval metaphors don’t work. Ever. Don’t use them, please. Number two: Fresno has a lot more problems than a branding issue. What Fresno needs is people willing to dig in and do the hard work to over come the sprawl, the complete inadaquecy of public transit, the unconscionably high unemployment, the lack of education and a complete dearth of high salary jobs. A makeover in the branding department ain’t gonna cut it and even you do it then you have the monumental task of letting everyone know it’s not “Fresno” anymore. At least people know what and where Fresno is now, fix the underlying problems and the image issues will remedy themselves.
Mr. Lawrence calls this rebranding idea a “Game Changer” when what it really boils down to is a superficial approach to deep-rooted problems. A “Game Changer” would be investing millions into a public transit system that works or creating a jobs program that educated those without high school diplomas and put them to work at jobs that actually pay a living wage or offering incentives to high-tech or service-based companies that provide the type of salaries and professional class that Fresno needs if it’s ever going to become more than an overgrown farm town. Fix these things first I say, then worry about the brand. Otherwise you’re just, to steal a phrase, putting lipstick on a pig.
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