Branding Campaign Marks Albuquerque With a “Q”
Published Mar 28, 2008
The Q is everywhere, including the ABQ Shopping Center in Albuquerque.
Most marketing and branding campaigns aim to get the word out; in Albuquerque’s case, the goal is to get the letter out.
Albuquerque is all about the Q.
The city is using Q to brand its green initiatives. Q Bar is a high-end watering hole at The Albuquerque Hotel in Old Town. ABQ Uptown, a new lifestyle center with apartments and shops, uses a large, neon Q in its signage; the Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau highlights the letter in its logo and publications, too.
The hope is that Q as a nickname is catchier than ABQ or Duke City, two existing monikers, says Mayor Martin Chavez.
Graphically, Q is a “great, simple, nice short way of referring to Albuquerque,” he says.
A bonus – in the Spanish pronunciation of Albuquerque, the q’s are very prominent, making the shorthand reference a nice nod to the city’s heritage.
The city now marks any vehicle that uses alternative fuel with a prominent Q. In May 2007, Albuquerque sponsored the Q Jam Music Festival and Environmental Sustainability Fair, with high-profile performers such as Jonny Lang and Joan Osborne.
Normally, advertising experts create manuals and specific standards that spell out how to position the brand.
Not so with the Q.
“We call it a unibrand,” says Debbie Johnson, CEO of Rick Johnson & Co., an ad firm working with the city. “It has to be so flexible and so variable and so evolutionary.”
And that’s been the history of the Q, which simply started springing up in signage over time.
Chavez said he started to notice the letter more and more and seized on the idea.
“It started coming from different directions and it was a nice fit,” he says. “It just emerged.”
As with all brands, the Q has its detractors, including avid bloggers. Anti-Q T-shirts even showed up on the street, a development Johnson takes as a form of compliment. After all, the idea is flexibility.
“The mayor wants everyone to Q in their own way,” she says.
Story by Pamela Coyle
Photo by staff
Current Weather Conditions In Albuquerque, NM (87102)
Cloudy, and 42 ° F. For more details?
Click here...
