Saturday, September 15, 2012

USAT | And now, the spending really begins

[USA Today Tower, with logo sign highlighted]

Simply changing USA Today's logo in the print and digital editions is relatively cheap, once the company pays the design consultant for their work.

But that's not the end of it, of course. There's the expense involved in designing and printing hundreds of new employee business cards, identification badges, stationery, coffee mugs and the like -- plus signage, including on the USA Today Tower at headquarters in suburban Virginia.

Related: Design critics take aim at paper's new logo.

Anyone care to hazard a guess on the size of the final bill? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

11 comments:

  1. $10 million, conservatively, which may not include all "marketing" costs.

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  2. Money is no object for Gannett. Our furloughs and lay offs will pay for it.

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  3. Shouldn't we also be including logos from all the other tenants leasing spaces to keep this crystal Titanic afloat?

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  4. Cool Balls? Really? All those meetings..all the discussions..and we come up with Cool balls?

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  5. The company is repurposing internal signs -- removing the old labels and affixing new ones. As for the outside sign that you can see from nearby streets and highways, that's staying for the foreseeable future because of the cost factor. USA TODAY Employees can order new business cards. That's not a huge expense.

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  6. Advertising upwards of 10 million.

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  7. 10:54 USAT's tag line from its last ad campaign still resides in this online press kit. Perhaps it should now be: What America really wants -- and we mean it this time!

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  8. Don't forget covering up both sides of the 10,000+ vending boxes still on the street, I guess all you need is a round template and some blue spray paint, and some of the thousands of employees Gannett let go to help.

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  9. Jim: As you probably know, whatever the marketing campaign costs, it's tax-deductible.

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  10. That launch party at the National Portrait Gallery easily cost $100,000, or more. At least $50,000 for the venue rental, open bar and light food, plus another $50,000-$75,000 for the stage. Plus whatever they paid those "stars" for showing.

    And yes, the crappy Newseum would have been just as expensive.

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  11. The logo was one of the few things in Gannett that didn't need fixing.

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