Since my media nodes, and time, are naturally limited I failed to get any sort of inside scoop, but How Do reports a number of interesting factoids, including:

• Finch was originally to be awarded the pitch without it being put out to tender, resulting in some understandable consternation from other agencies in the region

• A second pitching stage saw three agencies bidding for the roll-out of the branding and launch, using the logo already designed by Finch

• An original strapline reading ‘Alive with Imagination’ was removed when it met with ‘a pretty poor reception from everyone unfortunate enough to have seen it’.

• A number of companies competed for various components of the brief, which seems bafflingly complicated.

• Phil Redmond has had nothing to do with the branding. He is apparently in a huff after disagreeing with the direction of the branding.

I think I’ve got all of that right, the pitching process seems rather labyrinthine to me. From what I can work out the branding is handled by Uniform and the website by Ripple Effect.

Additionally, the whole brief cost around £100K according to How Do, which was less than the initial £150K bandied around.

The site also indicates the thinking behind the rebrand, from a council document in late 2008:

A council report released last week detailed the motivation behind the re-brand, noting how successful rival cities were at positioning themselves on one quality or brand value (eg “Paris is romance, Milan is style”).

This leaves me to wonder what the soundbite from this rebrand actually is. Are we still going with Liverpool – Third Best?

I’m happy to start off the debate about what it should be here and now. Feel free to join in.

Liverpool – Better Than Manchester

Liverpool – Ey Mate!

Liverpool – Now With Massive New Shopping Centre

Liverpool – Home of Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall

Imagined conversations on Liverpool new logo:

“So, we need a logo that mixes the old with the new, the vibrant with the classical, old architecture versus the new architecture. The Beatles AND The Wombats, The Cavern AND Cream, Protestant AND Catholic, Liverpool AND Everton, Yosser Hughes AND Danielle Lloyd, Yin AND Yang, forward not backward, blue and, er, light blue.”

“And we need to have some horrible tower blocks in it for, y’know, business and shit.”

“How about a two-tone pictures of some cool Liverpool landmarks, plus those shit tower blocks?”

“Wouldn’t that look like the Thames TV logo?“

“Yes. But lets get some slebs in to tell us what they think of it. Say Abby from The Zutons, that bloke from Cream, some woman who owns a boutique and the director of the School for Tropical Medicine.”

“What have they got to do with it?”

“Absolutely nothing, but we’ll call them brand ambassadors and say they form a wide cross-section of Liverpool society.”

“Love it! OK, I’ll send this down to design. By the way, how much are we going to charge for this?”

“Oooh. 50 grand? Plus £20K for research. There’s a recession on after all…”

OK, in all seriousness there’s nothing to get hugely worked up about here – unlike Liverpool’s ‘Third Best’ slogan – I’m irritated that Liverpool is apparently now being branded with those bloody tower blocks, which amount to rich people’s playthings, and the font is obviously rubbish.

But although it’s traditional to have a punt at new logos (this one’s by Finch, who did the 08 logo), as any rent-a-gob can sound off about a scribbled logo, I don’t doubt the value of branding and marketing. But £70,000? Really?

If Liverpool Vision had any sense it would have launched a competition for graphic designers in the city to submit their own and give the winner a grand as a prize.

The result would be just as good and £69K could instantly go on something more sensible – a statue of Craig Charles perhaps?

Edit: There’s a new website up all about the new 09 branding. I don’t want to be pointlessly snarky, so I’ll offer up the following without comment:

So who are we? We’re genuine. The only front here is the waterfront. The only airs we put on are the tunes we play. Say what you mean, that’s what we say.