According to the Atlanta Journal Brand Atlanta is looking for the City Council to release $7 million to support its marketing effort. The article quotes branding expert Tim Calkins:

You can’t market a product and get it out in front of people without money.

I disagree with the professor from Northwestern.

So do the good marketers at Google, SoaP, Tesla, and YouTube to name a few that pop into my head.

The problem with the Brand Atlanta campaign is that it is not based on the culture of the city and has no viral marketing effects built into it.

“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” was part of the common vernacular in some form to the point were the pharse started by one could be finished by another. It also built upon the sin city culture.

Atlanta is indeed the capital of the New South where opportunity and openness reign. But “Everyday is an opening day?” Harldy rolls off the tongue. No one outside the campaign uses the phrase except in jest. And it has no basis in the culture of the city.

It needs to be changed or the city should just keep that $7 million in the bank.