Manchester in fury over log

The Manchester design community is up in arms over an image and slogan launched for the city by promotional body Marketing Manchester.

Manchester group The Chase won a proposals pitch against Coley Porter Bell and local groups Hemisphere Design and The Creative Lynx Partnership, but its designs were sidelined in favour of ad agency McCann-Erickson’s marque “we’re up and going”.

Marketing Manchester chairman Sir David Trippier says: “Designed to reflect the spirit of Manchester and its people, the promotional identity was developed in one of the biggest consultation exercises ever seen in the city region.”

However, a letter sent to Marketing Manchester and signed by dozens of figures from Manchester’s cultural community calls the image “little more than dull”.

The letter, initiated by Nick Johnson at Johnson Urban Development Consultants, adds: “It is not that we were not consulted. It is that we were then ignored.”

Marketing Manchester chief executive Elizabeth Jeffreys, who received the letter, says: “This is a chance to meet the design community and address these concerns.”

The Chase’s slogan “Great Britain. Greater Manchester.” which is meant to reflect the region’s confidence and wit, has been relegated in the campaign and its typeface changed.

The two slogans will be used separately or together, with The Chase’s work appearing locally on letterheads, and McCann-Erickson’s design acting as a “campaign call”, says Jeffreys.

The Chase creative director Ben Casey says of McCann-Erickson’s slogan: “It sounds like a dated phrase you would expect from some bad commercial.”