O! Winston Salem: City reveals new slogan
By Phil Glynn
News Editor

> February 16, 2001

What would you say if you found out that “Winston-Salem offers a dynamic community with a special blend of old and new?” The city thinks that your response might be “O!”

The city unveiled its new slogan at a gala event Feb. 7 at the Stephens Center. The slogan was presented as part of a play narrated by Mayor Jack Cavanaugh titled, A Fable of O.

The slogan, “O! Winston-Salem. Now that’s Living!” came out of a broad-based project headed by Carrie Sizemore, the city’s director of director of marketing. Sizemore and a group of city and business leaders came up with six slogans and them submitted them to over 20 focus groups for consideration.

“The ‘Now that’s Living!’ slogan came up in all of our focus groups,” Sizemore said. “That was the one that everyone thought best describes the community.”

The groups were made up of neighborhood associations, local corporations, civic clubs and a group of university students. The students were members of a class taught by Mike Horn, an adjunct lecturer of English.

The other slogans that went to the groups for review were: “Winston-Salem, life beyond the ordinary,” “Winston-Salem, Life extraordinary,” “Winston-Salem, when you’re ready for life,” “Winston-Salem, your city for life” and “Winston-Salem, life is good.”

Sizemore said that response from the focus groups was relatively the same across the board. There was overwhelming support for the final slogan while the others received some criticism.

“People were saying that the slogan had to be something that was believable,” Sizemore said. She said that the groups felt like some of the slogans made the city out to be something that it wasn’t. “It’s pretty ordinary here, but that’s not a bad thing. We have the best of all worlds.”

Sizemore said that the slogan was targeted at current residents of the city rather than a tool to attract people here. She also said that the slogan was intended to reach the 18 - 34 age group. Sizemore feels that the slogan’s “bold and in-your-face” nature and appearance will appeal to that demographic.

John Earle, a professor of sociology who first moved to the city in 1963, was not so impressed with the slogan. “It doesn’t turn me on,” he said. “It just doesn’t speak to me.”

Earle claimed that he did not want to put down efforts by city leaders to change the image of the city. “It’s not that Winston-Salem is not a good community that is not progressive in many ways, there’s just not anything that out of the ordinary here to attract young people.” He said that as it relates the city’s efforts to revitalize downtown and overhaul its image, the slogan wasn’t sufficient.

He did say that slogan or no slogan, Winston-Salem had a great deal to offer its citizens as far as education and the arts. Earle also said noted the possibility that other leaders have been unable to come up with better ideas.

Junior Emily Wilson, a citizen of Winston-Salem, was unimpressed with the new slogan. “I think that the city should spend money doing other things beside coming up with slogans,” she said. “There should be something to describe first.”

A statement from the city’s marketing department said that the intention of the initiative was to “create a positive upbeat image about the community that everyone can associate with.” Sizemore said that some businesses have already contacted her office about using it to market their products and attract clients.

The total cost of the project was $65,000 for media placement, focus groups, printing design and other costs. The logo was designed by the Woodbine Agency.