The ubiquitous Acrobat software, a product of Adobe®, who created the Portable Document Format (PDF) is a staple of everyday business and as an ad agency, we couldn't live without this little gem of an application. Acrobat's symbol, a triangular "A" which looks like a little zeppelin in motion probably adorns several icons identifying certain files on millions of computers across the nation.

A shape looking like this flying "A" has been abstracted, its negative space filled with three primary colors and positioned over the words "city of Ankeny" and the tagline "bringing it all together."

This made me try to think about what Ankeny's previous tagline had been (I don't think it had one) and how momentous it must be for a city to rebrand itself. This is not just a product, it's a whole city.

Iowa's new tagline is "life…changing," Puerto Rico's is "explore beyond the shore" – both of which I believe are strong. I don't know how I feel about "bringing it all together." It certainly leaves me wondering what "it" is referring to. And paired with a logo that reminds me of a file icon I see everyday just fails to create excitement.

A fairly detailed press release on the city of Ankeny's Web site reveals that "more than 60 residents, business decision-makers and community leaders, representing all walks of life, participated in focus groups in fall 2005" to provide feedback in generating the brand.

This is not an Ankeny bashing blog entry, to the contrary, Ankeny is an amazing example of what progressive cities with involved citizens can accomplish. I simply feel dissapointed that a city with so much going for it would settle for this branding package.