#me and ed clasping hands around Hating Marketing with a Passion

[battle-of-alberta]

So I'm back at the newspaper research and while 2009 has a lot of things I'm familar with since I was an age to pay attention more to the news, there's also a lot of hidden gems (and I'm starting to notice that a lot of them appear in Todd Babiak's column, lol. thank you todd i liked your book)

here's such a gem on Edmonton's branding that encapsulates why i struggle so much with Edmonton-ness and also has a glimpse of an alternate reality where we had a silly slogan.

Here is a bit of "Citizens to give voice to our unique stories" from the Edmonton Journal on May 14, 2009.

he said what we we all know but don't say out loud

honest to god todd this is what i've been Saying

ICY HOT ENERGY!!!!!!!!! WE HAVE ICY HOT ENERGY! ARE YOU HEARING THIS RIGHT NOW!

on a related note, I'm starting to put the pieces together about why our branding was simply "EDMONTON" in white font on a black background next to a maple leaf in 2017:

remember..........

it sure does Todd it sure does <3

anyway you understand why i am so "ugh" about perceptions of edmonton and how i have to bite my tongue every time i say where i'm from and the reaction is either ??? or "OH, THE WEST EDMONTON MALL!" - it turns out it's a shared feeling.

anyway our current branding i think is still Original Since Way Back and while i find it a little silly, especially in light of the fact that "authenticity" has been a trendy buzzword over the last decade or so, I do have a little fondness of it like. yeah. it's edmonton. we know what we're about even if you don't. hahahaha.