Earlier today, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and his right-hand yes-man, Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell, officially unveiled the new state logo and branding campaign that we first leaked to the masses a little over a month ago.
The live video launch from YouTube is currently not working (imagine that!), but if you want to check out a compilation of updated stock Oklahoma tourism footage complete with an uninspiring voiceover and royalty free background music, they released this launch video. If you don't want to waste 81 seconds of your life watching it, you can just view the logo below:
As we reported last month, "Imagine That" was used by the OKC Visitors and Convention Bureau way back in the 1990s. That's kind of sad. You'd think a OklaX super group composed of 100 local marketing and branding professionals working for free under the tutelage of government officials and well-paid Canadians could do better than a recycled two-word phrase from the 1990s that is often used sardonically in modern American conversation, but then again, this is Oklahoma we're talking about. We are just OK.
On a positive note, the logo mark is colorful and modern and will look pretty on a coffee mug at the airport, but it's also standard and forgettable. I don't think anyone from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters is going to look at the mark in five years and say, "Hey, that tall guy on the ski lift with the thick eyebrows over there is wearing a jacket with the Oklahoma logo! Let's go there for vacation!"
As an Ogle Mole pointed out, the mark also borrows heavily from the big bad book of logo clichés. Look at how it compares to these marks from an internet list of generic and overused logo designs:
In all fairness, our logo uses stylized arrow points instead of human hands. I guess that's a plus!
Anyway, The Oklahoman put together a video of the big unveiling, along with a press conference from Stitt and Pinnell. The dynamic duo drops laughable quotes like, "We feel like we came up with a world-class brand" and it's a "Top 10" brand. Basically, they lied, ignored the truth and told people what they wanted people to hear, just like any good brand does. Imagine that.
