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Ok, 2 options.

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Friendmonton said:
People need to understand that branding and city marketing is about way more than just a slogan. Slogans are a relic of the past and they’ve limped along as a concept for decades.

Festival City.
Gateway to the North.
City of Champions.

Who really cares? Nostalgia for old slogans isn’t a strategy (to paraphrase Carney).

The most recent example is Calgary’s slogan debacle. Time and time again slogans fail. One sentence will never reflect/impress/speak to everyone.

What’s needed is a bottom-up, organic, grassroots effort by multiple stakeholders that leverages a mix of stories, visuals, events, and attractions.

Make Something Edmonton wasn’t a bad effort but today we need something more, especially for EcDev, and not just a slogan.
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Yes, but a slogan should be authentic and capture something unique. For instance yes, we are a festival city, but hey many other cities have festivals too and many of them are nice, large and interesting too.

In the past, we boasted about being a City of Champions, but last time I checked other cities have won the Grey Cup instead for a long time now. Also, the boasting was out of character and other places found it off putting when our sports teams were doing better. It might have made a few people here feel better about themselves, but it grated on people from elsewhere with the implied superiority.

It is good to have a slogan to give a quick sense of some identity and we have really struggled to find that identity. Calgary still successfully leans into the old west, which is part of its history and charm, although its current slogan is not about that any more, which I find very pablum and confusing. Yes, many other cities including us have lots of blue skies too. Maybe it would have been better if they stuck with the Heart of the New West one.

However, I feel a good slogan is just one part of branding and marketing. I feel the mistake our city, which frankly I feel is inept at marketing is making, is yet again thinking there is some magic slogan that will solve all our marketing problems. Nope! Sure, pick a nice slogan, but then also do all the hard work that needs to be done instead of falling back on the slogan like some sort of security blanket.
 
IanO said:
2014 article...

nationalpost.com

Edmonton (once again) pondering replacing its fabulously out-of-date city welcome signs

'You say "nice sign, must be a modern, cool place, obviously they care about what other people think,"' he said. 'The Edmonton ones just look old and dated'
nationalpost.com nationalpost.com
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Oh for goodness sake, can we just replace the old signs with something nice and newer and not turn it into some huge navel gazing exercise or expensive boondoggle.

The reason our signs are so out of date, is because we actually haven't seemed to be able to do this so far. Other places can get things done efficiently, lets just try do this it too for a change.
 
David A said:
Oh for goodness sake, can we just replace the old signs with something nice and newer and not turn it into some huge navel gazing exercise or expensive boondoggle.

The reason our signs are so out of date, is because we actually haven't seemed to be able to do this so far. Other places can get things done efficiently, lets just try do this it too for a change.
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Yeah, forget about the slogans for now and just get nicer signs like what they have in Leduc and St. Albert
 
David A said:
It is good to have a slogan to give a quick sense of some identity and we have really struggled to find that identity. Calgary still successfully leans into the old west, which is part of its history and charm, although its current slogan is not about that any more, which I find very pablum and confusing. Yes, many other cities including us have lots of blue skies too. Maybe it would have been better if they stuck with the Heart of the New West one.
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I think Calgary’s western theme for its branding suits it well, and it needs to stick to it (i.e. undo the Blue Sky rebrand). And if we’re going with directions for our branding, I agree with you that Gateway to the North is a good theme. It’s unique to us as the northernmost major city on the continent. It evokes a sense of exploration. Plus, it ties into our history well - a major outpost for the fur trade, the hub for settlement of the Prairies, our military history (and if Canada takes its defence commitments seriously, our military future), the Gold Rush (who cares if it was contrived) and the Oil Sands boom (the real (black) gold rush). I think that brand should continue to play a role in economic developments, especially with asserting our military power over the North, winter tourism (aurorae, cross country skiing, hockey is major), resource extraction (still important, regardless of the need to diversify).
 
The_Cat said:
I like the sign on the Yellowhead (west of Victoria Trail) with the Edmonton skyline. I think that one works just fine.
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I tried following the Yellowhead on Google Maps but I couldn't find any "Welcome to Edmonton" signs. I went WB from east of the Henday to 50 St.
 
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