Saddle up, pardner. It's branding time at the ol' Oneonta corral!
On Aug. 5, a new branding logo will be revealed to all at a special ceremony at the Oneonta Theatre. Branding is the idea that a community should have a slogan, logo or saying that is concise, sharp and so focused so that the image of the community comes immediately to mind.
You know, like "Ithaca Is Gorges!" Yes, Ithaca is gorgeous, and its gorges are part of the city's lure. A nice play on words, that one is. Or Lake Placid's "Home in the High Peaks." Sweet.
Of course, some have unintended meanings or ancient references. Troy long ago shed the moniker "The Collar City" for the much more Chamber of Commerce-friendly, "Home of Uncle Sam." And the best Niagara Falls could do, with all the glory it had to work with, was "The Cataract City." Why it chose to use the old, obscure waterfall reference instead of something evoking more grandeur is beyond me. I mean, I see "The Cataract City" on a sign and it tells me I am in a city where everyone has bad eyesight!
So I can't wait to see what The Glen Group, the New Hampshire pros hired to brand us, comes up with for Oneonta. I just hope they remember that the shorter, the better.
Advertising Age Magazine tells us that the most memorable slogans of all time have been ones just three little words long. They are "Just Do It," "We Try Harder," "Breakfast of Champions," "Diamonds Are Forever," and the immortal "Where's the Beef?" You all know these companies, don't you?
Three words. Powerful. Heck, even Nancy Reagan's much-maligned three-word anti-drug message, "Just Say No," is now getting a much-appreciated second look.
Now, back to our brand.
A concise saying to describe our area, huh? It'll be quite a task if they choose to go the "three-word route." I mean our area has an embarrassment of riches. I know that by the time Friday comes around on my radio program I have given out pages and pages of info about the upcoming weekend's events.
A week ago I went out to dinner with some family members and we were talking about how much there really is to do in our area. My mother-in-law said in passing, "Whenever anybody asks me what is there do to in our area, I reply, just look around!"
Ding! Ding!
"Just look around." Short, simple and three words. I could see the bumper stickers already, "Oneonta ... just look around!" "Otsego County ... just look around."
It speaks volumes about our region. Sure, family events, concerts, fundraisers, gallery showings, performances, etc., don't always reach up and smack you in your face. But if you, well, just look around, there they are as big as life!
Oneonta and its environs positively demand that you get out and enjoy. Over the last couple of weeks I have talked about and attended art shows (such as the fabulous Stagecoach Run in Treadwell), live performances (Delaware County's own "Good Humor" man, Jim Mullen at the Franklin Stage Company), a cornucopia of bountiful farmers' markets (Cooperstown and Oneonta), the fantastic First Friday extravaganzas in Oneonta all season long, old car shows, "Warplanes Over the Polo Grounds" in Gilbertsville (twice!), junior livestock shows in Cooperstown, Oneonta's own version of American Idol, which brings SRO crowds to the Foothills Performing Arts Center (this CNY Radio event is the largest talent show in Central New York and the young entertainers are first-rate), live baseball action at Damaschke Field (Outlaws) or Doubleday Field (Hawkeyes) and much more.
And it's not even fair season yet!
The folks from New Hampshire will have their work cut out for them. Otsego County used to be the "Leatherstocking Region," which I loved, but let's face it, the romance of "Leatherstocking Region" starts to draw blanks once you hit, say, Whitney Point. "What's a leatherstocking?"
And I never liked "City of the Hills." Never. It always kind of sounded like a "clip art slogan." "You got hills? Good, you're now the City of the Hills." Next. Yawn.
So I wish our branders well in summing up the whole of our parts. It'll be hard to imagine a logo without the ubiquitous soccer ball in it, now just a misty memory of the shuttered Hall of Fame.
I hope the soccer ball is not replaced with a baseball, again weakly trying to tie our apron strings to our neighbor up Route 28.
What about the "little red caboose" where history really was made? Will that make the final pick? Brook's House of Bar-B-Q? The colleges? "Birthplace of IBM?" The Susquehanna?
Yes, pardner, I can't wait!
Oh, and by the way. So you are not scratching your heads the rest of the day, the companies alluded to in the beginning of this column are Nike, Avis, Wheaties, DeBeers and Wendy's.
'Big Chuck' D'Imperio can be heard on weekdays beginning at 6 a.m. on WDOS-AM 730 in Oneonta, and also on Thursday nights from 7-9 p.m. on WSRK-FM 103.9 for his "Oldies Jukebox Show." You can find "Big Chuck" on Facebook under Upstate New York Books. He invites you to contact him at wdosbigchuck@aol.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/bigchuck. You can find "Big Chuck" on Facebook under Upstate New York Books.
Big Chuck
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"Big Chuck" D'Imperio
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I Was Just Thinking: Searching for a brand that fits the community
- Big Chuck
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George Wallace gives us the 'one-finger salute'
This is Black History Month. I regret that I was never involved in the Civil Rights movement.
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When delivering papers was all in a day's work
I walk to work in the morning. Shortly after 5 a.m.
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Readers who write get a little feedback
Well, it's that regular interval where we stop for a minute and take a look at some of the offerings from the mailbag over the last six months. And it has been busy. And please, do not hesitate to drop me a line if something stirs you in one of my columns.
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I Was Just Thinking: Inventors, writers and others pass on in 2011
Plenty of ink was spilled this year reporting on the passage of such giants as Steve Jobs, Andy Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor and a couple of baddies named bin Laden and Gadhafi. But let's take a peek behind the final curtain and see who else merits a tip of the hat.
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I Was Just Thinking: Stella turned me into a pet person
I never really understood being a "pet person." I just didn't get it. My wife, however, is incomplete without a pet. When I met her, she was in the waning days of a relationship with her dog, "Jake," who was a venerable elder presence in the house until she passed away many dog years beyond her typical span.
- Monday, December 5, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: Waiting for a friendly wave that never came
My earliest recollection of taking a train ride was when my dad would take me and my brother Jim and sister Fran on the train from Sidney down to the Afton Fair. Mom would greet us at the crossings along the way with a baby in her arms and a big wave to the four of us.
- Monday, November 21, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: Local youngster created amazing tribute to veterans
When I think of veterans, I often think of the older ones who fought in World War II. I honor all vets from all wars, but as my radio listeners know, I just love to hear stories from the old warriors of the Greatest Generation.
- Monday, November 7, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: Remembering my small glimpse of the Cuban Missle Crisis
I read recently in a newspaper that the U.S. was beginning a "year-long observance of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, culminating in October 2012." Fifty years? I'd been following the crisis on TV as my mom and dad fretted over the news being presented by the dour-faced men in gray business suits who gave us the news each night on our brand-new Zenith television set.
- Monday, October 24, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: A remote-controlled cooler sounds enticing
Here they come! I am ready to gird myself against the onslaught of junk mail that is starting to roll in for the holidays already. I do not buy from catalogs. Never have. Don't even read them. North Face? L.L. Bean? Omaha Steaks? Vermont Country Store? No thanks. Except for one.
- Monday, October 10, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: I never took a hike in my life; would do it again
"Take a hike!" That is what my father used to tell me when he'd had enough of my smart talk as a kid. Unfortunately, I never took that hike. In fact, I don't think I've ever hiked in my life, either formally or informally.
- Monday, September 26, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: Local traffic's got nothing on LA
I will never complain about traffic again. I just got back from a wonderful vacation with my daughter, Frances, in Los Angeles. I had lived there many years (and a million people) ago. While I was there from 1974 to 1980, I saw this exciting and vibrant city through the eyes of a longhaired wanderer. It was great.
- Saturday, September 10, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: 9/11 is behind us but we'll never be the same
Since the horror of Sept. 11, 2001 is now a decade in the past, many will use this as a time to reflect on how our nation has changed since my generation's Pearl Harbor was visited upon our country.
- Saturday, September 3, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: 'Radioathon' was about more than just donations; it meant love, sharing
Over the years I have been involved with many fundraising efforts at our radio stations. As far back as the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. We raised a thousand dollars in change and turned Main Street Oneonta into one large collection bucket.
- Monday, August 29, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: No mystery about good works done by PEO
I get a lot of requests for speaking engagements. A lot. Most of the time I actually know who the audience will be. I've addressed more than 50 historical societies, dozens of reading groups, several museum groups and enough Rotary and Kiwanis luncheons to make me feel like the Toastmaster General of the U.S.
- Monday, August 15, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: Back-to-school used to be a simpler affair
Have you seen the "back-to-school" sales now going on in stores? Ahem, hello? It's still summer! Which got me to thinking about back-to-school shopping when I was a kid in the 1950s. The list seems almost infantile by today's standards.
- Monday, August 1, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: Messages from the (virtual) mailbag
Well, it's mail call time again. Every six months I like to recap some of the correspondence I have received from readers. I welcome any and all emails!
- Monday, July 18, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: St. Mary's was part of Oneonta life
One of the longest-running chapters of Oneonta history just came to an end. Officially.
- Tuesday, July 5, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: Small-town memories have universal appeal
This Friday, July 8, I will be presenting my one-man show, "My Town is a Cathedral," at the Oneonta Theatre. It is sponsored by the Green Toad Bookstore and is a benefit for the Catskill Area Hospice and Palliative Care. The show is a gentle look at growing up in Smalltown U.S.A. in the black-and-white days of the 1950s and 1960s.
- Monday, June 20, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: Father's Day gifts reflect the man ... or the times?
Well, Father's Day 2011 is history. Hey, dads, did you dodge a bullet this year? Gift giving for dad is always problematic. Being a father now for nearly 30 years, I can certainly identify with the touchy situation that my own dad was put in on Father's Day back in the 1950s. As they always say, "What do you give a man who has everything?"
- Monday, June 6, 2011
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I Was Just Thinking: How a softball game can conjure youthful memories
While listening to a sports report at the radio station last week, the high score tallies for local youth softball games struck me as unusual. Eighteen, 20, 27 runs and more. Geez, I thought. What does a game like that look like?
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George Wallace gives us the 'one-finger salute'
