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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

New brand identity strategy for Haringey

"I am in"

Discuss.

CDC
Haringey Councillor
Liberal Democrat Party

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update to mark the 'soft launch' (click to enlarge):—

The £20,000 film, The Haringey Story

Tags for Forum Posts: I am in, Local Government, brand strategy, folly, identity, nonsense, vanity, waste of money

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As a little light reading this works quite well, being a compendium of mutilated spelling, grammar and syntax (for those of us educated long enough ago to recognise such things).  I also enjoyed section 6.2 which provides a laugh a line for those of us with actual experience of dealing with Haringey Council.  Had this document appeared on 1 April I would have applauded the writer.

However, on the assumption that this is the final version and not a draft, it raises more serious issues.  Used as a recruiting tool, for either employed officers or elected representatives, this would effectively screen out anyone who might actually be of any help to the poor beleaguered residents of the borough.  No competent professional with any common sense will be able to parrot this kind of stuff (apologies to any parrots reading this).

That any amount of money should have been spent on producing this kind of nonsense at any time, let alone when draconian cuts have been made to the Adult Social Care budget, is unacceptable.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time - unless the people you are fooling are yourselves.

I'm in - the same planet but a different world. 

"Haringey is much more than just a place. It’s an attitude."

This did actually make me laugh out loud. And they do sound as if they're trying to move away from the inconvenient idea that they deliver services.

Spot on SarahC.  I think the phrase was "achieving outcomes rather than delivering services", or something similar.  My copy of the corporate plan (if this was the source) was consigned to the recycling bin some time ago so I cannot supply the reference but it did occur to me at the time that it was pretty shameless to actually put this in print.

I have attended several consultation meetings at which advocates were present.  I believe that I did not need an advocate to help me convey my views so much as an interpreter.

"Human: We make it easy to deal with us. We ask our customers what they think
and listen to what they say. We are aware if our impact on others. We build trusting
relationships. We are honest and supportive.

Ambitious: We push boundaries. We compare our performance with the best. We
continually improve.  We are curious and innovative. We loo
k for different ways to  do things. We are brave. We embrace change.

Accountable: We take responsibility. We deal with things without being told. We
keep our promises. We give credit where credit is due. We spend taxpayer money
as carefully as we would our own. We solve problems. We all do our fair share."

These are simply NOT TRUE. What planet are they on to think that a simple rebranding will improve things. There needs to be a radical change to the council's on high attitude, to the all round ineptitude and the way things are done and to how they treat people who live and work locally with far more up-front HONESTY!

Heather, what I dub the yoof/graffiti style seems to be developing into something of a London genre. Not endorsing it mind.

Remember this (above) from 2012?

Then, the inclusion of "London" was understandable – not convinced it needs to be on a logo for Haringey, as though we can't remember the name of the city in which we live. Maybe it's intended for international developers' benefit.

As I've mentioned before, the psychologist Abraham Maslow wrote: "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail".   Putting it another way, people tend to reach for the tool or particular skills they know well or are comfortable with. Whether or not they are appropriate or effective.

The "I" who writes - or puts his name to this report - is Cllr Joe Goldberg.  To save you the irritation of viewing his Twitter account, the first item on his self-description is "Brand Strategist". So JoeGo's logo and the rest of the £86k down the toilet is his hammer.

Yeah, I can see that some people will find it a great joke. Reading the report helpfully posted by Clive Carter  I'd really like to laugh. Or at least smile.

But this time I can't.  Because over and over again, the Council wastes scarce public money on JoeGo's dubious vanity projects.  And with this latest gormless inanity, justifying it with an insulting gobbledegook report which could come straight from Pseuds' Corner in Private Eye Magazine.

Unlike Private Eye , it's not funny. It's heartbreaking.

And Michael Anderson, the waste of money is now mounting up to several hundred thousand pounds.

"C'mon,",  my friends said.  "You gotta laugh".  Pointing out:

What good is sitting alone in your room? Come watch Joe Goldberg play. Wasting our money isn't so funny, specially when he's nothing to say.  So turn off the frowning, time for some clowning. Send-up the Cabinet, old chum. Time for a spoof,  hooray!      (Click on the photo to enlarge.)

IF only the Council Leader had known about this, I'm sure she'd have put a stop to this foolishness.

The 'Cabinet Member' responsible for the re-branding said to me this mourning that this rebrand could last 10 years (and therefore the cost per year would be a mere £8,600). However I much doubt it will last as long as the ghastly current one (seven years).

A colleague thinks the new one could last no more than 12 months.

I'm not sure the jokey, primary-school style has been thought through. It has as less gravitas than many a self-employed person's logo. Is it really going to appear on parking-tickets, letters from legal and any serious communications?

I expect the perpetual Good-News-Machine will begin pumping out how wonderful is the new logo from Monday.

Perhaps Haringey Pravda will feature an in-depth investigation into the development of the brand identity. Including how happy all the staff are to wear the new Labour-coloured logo-pins badges (£2,489 worth).

It occurs to me that there's another thing which JoeGo and his minions may not have thought through. A neat little design could be copyright; but not the the name Haringey.  So simply typing two or three words above each other in different fonts would not be protected.

So here's my little design which people can modify as they like. And Clive, if you want to change the colour you're welcome to substitute LibDem greige.

The Koberites can select any shade of blue they fancy.

Although it took me all of fifteen minutes, I'm waiving my £40k fee.

Very nice Alan. I may produce something myself too.

It would also be a "soft launch" (minus the £20,000 promotional film and with 'Bring-your-own-badge") hopefully for Monday. Again, pro bono.

Clive, perhaps the writing style of letters will change to fit in with the new logo
"Hi, it would be great if you could join us in court on 27th at 2:30. Bring cakes and a lawyer!. Lots of love, The Legal Team"

Marvellous suggestion, Michael. The new relaxed friendly warm outward looking human Haringey.

Motto: We're spending your money just like it's our money. Party on!

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