LANSING, Mich. — The City of Lansing launched its "rebranding campaign" which is costing the city $41,000.
Part of the campaign includes a new logo. The logo shows and "L" and the smokestacks in Reo Town. It has people in Lansing wondering: was the $41,000 dollars money well spent?
"I could've did it on the computer by myself for free. I'll take $500, instead of 40,000 if you want me to do it next time," Corey Staley said.
People in Lansing were split when the new logo debuted on Feb. 7th. Mayor Andy Schor told FOX 47 News it signifies progress and new beginning and said there was "significant excitement in the community" over the rebranding. Not everyone sounded excited when they heard how much it cost.
"You could use the money a little more resourceful, so it could go in other places. Cities that need it, you know, you still have impoverished communities out here. People out here are homeless and they're starving, so it could go to places like that," Mikya Coleman said.
In documents obtained by FOX 47 News, you can see just what the money what spent on: $14,000 on the "strategic brand plan," another $14,000 on "phase one of the branding campaign," $5,000 on videos and $8,000 on the website. People in the city think it could have been better spent.
"I mean look at the roads. We could use that on the roads. There's tons of infrastructure that could be redone. There's parking ramps that need to be built in Old Town. There's all kinds of stuff that could have been that that 40,000 dollars could have been used on," Staley added.
News 10 reached out to the mayor's office for comment about the cost of the of the campaign. He was not available to talk on Wednesday, but sent the following statement:
“The rebranding and 2030 vision have created significant excitement in our community! We worked with Lansing residents who own a local business in Old town, RedHead Design Studio, to do the rebranding, the vision, the research and many other pieces. The City spent dollars for the strategic plan, the campaign and brand development, and videos and the website. We also had local partners sponsor additional work to help promote the effort and we will continue to look for new sponsors as we build momentum for the Lansing and the Lansing Forward campaign.”
The contract with RedHead Design Studio runs through June.
