Londoners are probably familiar by now with the “We’re on board” posters that appeared on London Transit buses in October, and more recently bus shelters. It’s a campaign designed to get riders to “Ride Respectfully” with a series of four posters.

The posters feature very low quality 3D models of passengers varying in race and sex and a little note at the bottom telling riders how to behave. Some take one or two of the characters and highlight them to make a point about that specific user demographic. Overall the posters are poorly done, with unnecessary drop shadows, poor type selection, poor 3D graphics, and the use of almost identical imagery for four separate ads. I’m not the first to point this out.

Based on the fact that the logo is of a much higher quality the the posters I’d say the logo was done by an outside company and the posters done in house. The in house designers are also likely the ones to stick a ring around the logo with the URL in a very low contrast colour.

  

So I threw together some mock-ups of my own, in somewhat of a parody, but still following the visual style of the campaign. I didn’t spend too much time on these, as I’m sure is obvious, but I think they are an improvement. I also kept in mind the time and cost restraints the staff probably had using stock photos and keeping the time on each under 30 minuets (including material sourcing). Ideally, with the tone and style the logo gives us, I would have preferred to use illustrations rather then photography; however I am not an illustrator.

Rather then copy the posters verbatim, two voice some long standing gripes from riders. The desire for 24 hour service or at the very least service past bar hours, and large strollers impeding pathways through the bus. The third takes aim at the current poster implying that youth are trouble, especially the ones with skateboard, iPods playing Red Hot Chili Peppers, and little fashion sense. People over twenty-five would never be rude, right?

   

The LTC (London Transit Commission)’s branding strategy, if there is such a thing, is a mess. They put decals of old versions of their logo in the windows of new buses, and a portion of buses have yet to be fitted with the new brand at all. It’s not surprising people have little respect for the LTC, when the LTC doesn’t take the time to improve appearance and service, but chooses to chastise it’s customers instead.

The LTC isn’t alone though; London itself seems to be having an identity crisis lately.

“Sunny Manitoba”, “Friendly Manitoba”, and now “Spirited Energy”. That is the new slogan designed to promote Manitoba as more then a province of harsh winters, mosquito’s, auto theft, and “friendly” people.

The goal is to create a “consistent, positive image for Manitoba that better reflects our creative edge, our quality of life and economic opportunities” said Bob Silver co-chairman of the Premier’s Economic Development Council.

It didn’t take long for people to react, the majority derided the new slogan. No one I’ve talked to out of Winnipeg has had something good to say about it, and for some reason people are already emailing the Mayor of Winnipeg despite the fact the slogan is a provincial matter. The price seems to be the hot topic, some claiming they could come up with better slogans by throwing rocks at people and using their responses. But if you look at neighboring Saskatchewan that spent $14 million for their campaign, or the city of Montreal spending $23 million, the price seems more then reasonable at $1.4 million.

Despite the negative reaction the province is standing behind the initiative. “Certainly doing nothing is not acceptable,” said Premier Gary Doer. “The business community has said that loud and clear.”

A TV ad, a website and a team of students will promote the new slogan, starting with selling the slogan to Manitobans, turning them into brand ambassadors.

The slogan doesn’t really strike me personally as the best solution for the problem. The collateral does look nice for the most part, but the TV ad’s script reads a little like a George Lucas movie, awkward. It also suffers from footage being doubled up on just to fill time. I’m hopeful phase two brings the initiative into maturity and they can make it work out.