For any established institution to undertake a rebranding project is a pretty big deal and to do it twice in two years is a risky proposition. Any momentum you have gained with the initial rebrand stands to suffer a little bit with a second rebrand. On top of that, changing the name and then changing it again so soon after will give some people an impression that the magazine is not stable or lacks direction. In the magazine’s defense, due to some big internal changes, I can attest to the fact that they are now probably more stable than they’ve ever been. With the recent changes as well as the editorial changes that took place a couple of years ago, I think the overall content and presentation are better now than they’ve ever been.

While I don’t like the idea of rebranding so hot on the heels of another rebrand, my real issue isn’t that they’re changing the name again, but what they’re changing the name to. Great Lakes Bay Regional Lifestyle Magazine? Really? I have to admit that I am surprised that Tri-City drank the Kool-Aid on this one. When the local communities first unveiled “Great Lakes Bay Region” as the new name for the regional brand, I wasn’t particularly wowed by it. I think the name is way too long, doesn’t lend itself well to certain applications, and I don’t much care for the logo. In branding terms, that’s three strikes against you.

Right away, though,you saw a lot of businesses jumping on board. Public radio quit calling it the Tri-Cities and started using the GLBR moniker. Newspapers quickly updated their style guides to push the new regional brand. My problem with the magazine changing their name, though, is that I think they are the first business to make the regional brand a part of their identity. In effect, they let somebody else name their business. And until then you are saddled with a magazine name that’s as long as an entry in the dictionary.

I don’t think you’re ever going to see an everyday person on the street refer to this region as the Great Lakes Bay Region. As I’ve written about (at length)—it’s just not a great name. There’s no tongue appeal to it. It’s not sexy. It’s just…wordy. Try slipping Great Lakes Bay Region into casual conversation. It’s not easy to do without sounding like you’re selling something. What happens in a few years if this brand doesn’t catch on and people just stop using it? Do you change your name again?

This name change just seems like they are trying to fall in line with what the regional chambers of commerce want. Why let somebody from outside dictate what your identity is? What’s next? Give the chambers final editorial approval on the articles and ads? We’re not talking Woodward & Bernstein here, but tying a publication too tightly to local business interests takes away any appearance of journalistic integrity.

I think Tri-City would have done well to just leave it alone and keep their name. Or, if they are really committed to rebranding, take some time and actually come up with a solid identity. There are some really talented and creative folks working at the magazine, they could come up with something great if they were given the opportunity.

It’s awards season. In the past five weeks or so, we’ve seen the Grammys, Independent Spirit and Academy Awards shows all come and go. I didn’t win anything.

Awards aren’t limited to the entertainment industry, though. There is also a local award called the Ruby Award. It goes out to like a dozen or so local people who are all making significant contributions to the community. I didn’t get one of those, either. And I never will because it’s only for people under 40 and since I am turning 40 in about a month, this was the last year that I would have been eligible. Shut out of the Ruby Awards? Was it because I don’t make a significant contribution or am I just not under 40 enough? I guess we’ll never know.

On top of all of these awards which I will not be winning, there are graphic design and advertising awards—hundreds of them, maybe even thousands—and I won’t be winning any of them, either. 

Do I feel bad about it? No, not really. I just got thinking about it because almost every day I get another mailer from another organization reminding me of the deadline to enter a design in this contest or that. Some of the awards are legit—I’m looking at you Clio, Addy and Communication Arts—and some are not. Well, it isn’t that they aren’t legit, but many of them come from organizations you have never heard of before. And every year there are more and more of them. They are like award factories.

The business of charging people to enter design competitions in return for an award is becoming a very big business. It’s starting to remind me of the Who’s Who scam…you get a free listing in Who’s Who in Animal Husbandry or whatever. And for just $15 you can include a photo. $25 more and you get a copy of the book. It’s the pay-to-play aspect that I don’t care for.

If you go to many designers’ sites, you will to see them trotting out their awards. And I don’t blame them, they’ve earned the awards. Moreover, they paid for them. With entry fees running $85 and sometimes more, it gets expensive pretty quickly. That’s part of why you see the bigger agencies winning more awards—they can absorb that cost in their overhead because it’s a much smaller percentage of their monthly budget. Even a couple of entries a month would be a big chunk for us—realistically the $150 covers my electric and internet bills for a month. 

Don’t get me wrong, trophies are nice to look at, but does anybody really pay attention? If you go to a large ad agency, one of the first things you see when you walk in the front door is the trophy case. At Integer we had a big case filled with Addys and Clios and so forth. It makes for a nice show if you’re doing the dog-and-pony, but does anybody really know what these trophies are? Maybe I will go to the thrift store and buy a bunch of old bowling trophies and just put them up on display in the studio.

I only mention any of this because if you are looking to hire an award-winning designer, I’m not your guy. 989 Design is a small studio and there are just the two of us working here. It’s not like a few entries is going to break the bank, but I don’t see that the benefit outweighs the cost. What’s the best thing that happens when you win an award? You get the respect of your peers, which would be nice, but I don’t really need that sort of approval, except from my clients. And I suppose that if someone were hiring a designer based on how many awards they’ve won, they probably aren’t the right fit for 989 Design. Seems a little uptight and that’s just not our style.

I’d rather just keep doing good work and doing our best to keep our overhead low. Our goal isn’t to be a cheap design studio because that isn’t what we are, but keeping our overhead low gives us a little flexibility when it comes to pricing our projects.

If a no-cost competition comes along, maybe we will send something in. In fact, now that I think about it, I have entered one design competition in my career. It was a no-cost-to-enter competition sponsored by a paper manufacturer. I have never printed on a particular stock just to be able to enter a competition, but I happened to use the right stock and I was really proud of how it came out. A few months later I received a package in the mail that informed me that I was, in fact, not a winner. I thought maybe I’d get an honorable mention or something, but not even that. I remember being really disappointed about it, too. 

Regarding the image above: I did not draw or create the bottle cap image. I came across it years ago and was not able to find the original source of the art. I wish I had because I’d like to give credit where credit is due, but I guess I’ll just have to settle for not taking credit for someone else’s work.