By JAMES E. RICKMAN
Los Alamos

“Live Exponentially”?

I have no idea what that means, but it sure sounds expensive!

Yes, I get it: asking a company to come up with a community brand can be a risky endeavor. It certainly was a costly one, so I understand that the County Council may have been somewhat reluctant to admit at a public meeting that the out-of-town consulting firm’s community-marketing slogan was astoundingly bad.

But don’t we expect our community leaders to have the intestinal fortitude to stand up and admit the truth? Instead, all seven of our councilors—I suppose in an effort to try to “stay positive” and not admit that the county taxpayers had spent $55,000 on a dubious exercise—meekly accepted the stupid slogan, like children being forced to wear Aunt Clara’s awful, itchy, pink bunny pajamas just because.

“Live Exponentially” does, indeed, conjure up all kinds of images, but as someone who pays attention to trends in the PR realm, I’m skeptical that the images our new brand might convey are the right ones. Bacteria colonies grow exponentially and even those without a scientific background can grasp the consequences, inside or outside of the Petri dish.

I’ll spare everyone more snark, because I know a branding exercise is no easy task. That fact alone, however, does not constitute good reason to accept a bad brand. The wrong brand can have lasting implications for a community, and I’m disappointed to see that our County Council—some of whom are seeking election to another term—lacked the gumption to call a spade a spade, even when it was abundantly clear from the discussion that several had reservations.

Perhaps now that someone has pointed out that the emperor is walking around naked, and is sporting a tiny wanker and a dirty bottom to boot, others in the community can laugh and demand that our leaders employ the good sense to not let our community’s image suffer exponentially.