SMYRNA, Georgia — The city’s new logo, unveiled as part of a rebranding effort, has gone over about as well as a tax increase.
“Quite possibly the most boring rebrand I’ve ever seen,” one commenter posted on the city’s official Facebook page.
“No character and a waste of $80,000,” another said. “Extremely disappointing to see this extremely forgettable logo represent our city.”
According to a Facebook post from Mayor Derek Norton, the city paid $75,000 for a 12-month comprehensive rebranding effort, not just a logo.
“I’m hoping this is a joke,” one poster said. “This logo doesn’t represent our amazing city. Please bring back the old logo.”
City officials have been needlessly coy about the project. The process has been criticized on sites such as Reddit, but city officials have privately defended their decision not to widely promote the rebranding or invite local marketers to join the process.
“This is awful. Did a toddler on Canva make this?” one poster quipped.
The city adopted the new branding as part of the city council’s consent agenda during its Monday meeting, which members approved. The city quietly replaced the logo on its Facebook page at 4:13 p.m. on Jan. 7; as of this morning, the old logo remained on the city’s webpage.
“Smyrna went from city to LLC,” another posted. Be careful. If it’s a home-based LLC, the city will levy a fee for the privilege of working out of one’s home, even if it’s a single-member LLC.
Here’s an alternative logo Sightseers’ Delight developed for consideration:
