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The 'I (heart) NY' logo dates back to the 70s.
The ‘I (heart) NY’ logo dates back to the 70s. Photograph: New York Daily News Archive/Getty Photograph: New York Daily News Archive/NY Daily News via Getty Images
The ‘I (heart) NY’ logo dates back to the 70s. Photograph: New York Daily News Archive/Getty Photograph: New York Daily News Archive/NY Daily News via Getty Images

What should your city's slogan be?

This article is more than 9 years old

From the ubiquitous ‘I (heart) New York’ to Seattle’s ‘Metronatural’ and the classic ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’, cities love a slogan. Can you do better?

Check out the best ones

The 10 worst city tourism videos

Cities can spend a fortune on branding and promotional slogans – but they don't always go to plan.

Edinburgh's attempts to rebrand as "Incredinburgh", at a reported cost of £300,000, were scrapped. The city of Leeds got some stick a while back when it was noticed that "Leeds. Live it. Love it" bore a startling resemblance to "Hong Kong. Live it. Love it!" (The advertising agency insisted it had come up with the slogan independently.)

In the US, Atlantic City swapped its slightly risque "Always turned on" in favour of the more direct "Do AC!", while Omaha, Nebraska dropped "Rare, well done" and the Alan Partridge-esque "Aha, Omaha" for the indisputable "O! is for Omaha".

Clearly a lot of thought goes into this branding business: the official tourism website of the South Korean city of Daejeon says its slogan is derived from the initial letters of interesting, tradition and science, and so symbolises its role as a centre of cutting-edge technology; the handwritten font, meanwhile, "expresses the image of an open city, a city of variety, and a future city in an interesting and sophisticated way", while "avoiding an authoritarian and conservative attitude". Bright colours help with "emotional commmunication" and evoke images of blossoming flowers.

The slogan? "It's Daejeon."

Think you can do better? Share your own city slogans in the comments below or on Twitter using #sloganiseyourcity. Sell us what your city is really like – but remember to keep it clean (even if your city isn't).

More on this story

More on this story

  • What makes a city a city - and does it really matter anyway?

  • Quiz: can you identify these world cities from their logos?

  • 'It's not about the nicest city': readers respond to our city brand ranking

  • The 10 worst city tourism videos

  • British developers rushing to copy New York should be wary of its mistakes

  • Postcard-perfect: the big business of city branding

  • The world cities with the most powerful brands - get the data

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