Dear Editor:

I commend San Diego Magazine's recent effort to create a new tagline for our city. It was a positive and bold move to extend beyond our current, but too generic tagline of "America's Finest City. " Unfortunately, I believe its selection of "San Diego: City of Sol" fails on many counts.

As the CEO of The Nuancing’ Group based in San Diego, my business' sole purpose is to build company identities through naming, vanity phone numbers, and taglines.

First, a review of what makes a good tagline is in order. A tagline is a phrase that follows a brand name; it should explain the unique selling proposition and is such a natural outgrowth of the product (in this case, the City of San Diego) that the two become inextricably linked. Good examples include: Target's "Expect More, Pay Less", Charles Schwab's "Helping Investors Help Themselves" and even the Forest Service's "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires."

Most brand names and taglines are first introduced to the consumer through oral communication and it is here that City of Sol fails the litmus test. The ear clearly hears "soul" or perhaps "sole." Even though we have a strong Hispanic population in San Diego, it is ludicrous to assume in an English tagline that a Spanish word is working as a double entendre. In fact, few bilingual speakers would even guess that the word is in Spanish. By comparison, Philadelphia's "City of Brotherly Love" or Paris' "City of Lights" leaves no room for confusion. Written or spoken, their meanings are clear.

Another key criteria of a tagline is that it is proprietary, unique, and cannot be usurped by any other brand or city. Again, this tagline fails. City of Sol invades the territory of Detroit, El Paso, Phoenix, New Orleans, Miami, and Memphis that all use sun or soul in their marketing efforts.

The City of Sol is "inside in" thinking. It assumes that consumers understand Spanish, recognize the word play, and will translate it correctly. Yet, the essence of a good tagline is to create one simple, universal idea that is free from jargon, acronyms, or expectation.

If the City of San Diego is serious about creating a unique, proprietary, and catching tagline, I would be delighted to help. Afterall, our city deserves a tagline with universal appeal.

Elizabeth Goodgold

San Diego Magazine, May, 2000. Reprinted with permission.