Enterprise Florida's new 'tie' logo raises concerns, women say

[If_I_Loved_you]

Enterprise Florida unveiled Florida’s first-ever business brand on Thursday: a logo of "Florida" wearing a bright orange tie.

"I don't like the tie," said Sally Grant, a Sunrise business owner and past  president of the National Association of Women Business Owners in Broward County.

She said Enterprise Florida might as well tack on "for men" to the logo's tagline, "The perfect climate for business."
Grant, owner of meal preparation company Dream Dinners, said the logo's slant towards "male" isn't likely to help it attract the 8.3 million women-owned businesses in the country to Florida. "It would give me pause," she said.

Enterprise Florida spokesman Stuart Doyle said Friday the tie is a "universal symbol of business" and the new business brand was vetted by creative agency On Ideas of Jacksonville, which had discussions with 25 women chief marketing officers.  The logo was first unveiled to the Enterprise Florida board -- one sixth of the directors being women-- and others before it was released.

Dan Lindblade, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, said he can see why women business owners would find the logo "curious." He said the chamber is sensitive to such issues, getting feedback on materials that represent it.

"It could come back to bite them," Lindblade said of Enterprise Florida.

Current NAWBO president Teana McDonald, who owns a social media business in Broward, said she doesn't expect the state to use a "pink bow tie or a pink fedora" in its logo, but "C'mon!"

She said the tie logo gives a bad impression to women-owned companies that may want to move to Florida.   

While women wore ties in the 1980s "to get in with the men," and later adopted bow-tied blouses -- that's no longer in fashion. "I hate that look," she said. "This logo goes back to that." http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-02-01/business/sfl-enterprise-florida-feedback_1_women-owned-businesses-enterprise-florida-logo

[fsquid]

people will bitch about anything.

[kells904]

Some squeaky wheels shouldn't get any effing grease.

[If_I_Loved_you]

people will bitch about anything.

(people will bitch about anything.)

[copperfiend]

But "we're going to move forward with this campaign," Melissa Medley, Enterprise Florida's chief marketing officer, said Tuesday.

"The tie is iconic to mean business," Medley told NBC News. "It has nothing to do with gender roles. It's just a cartoon."

Enterprise Florida conducted extensive research â€" including interviews, surveys and focus groups â€" before approving the "Perfect Climate for Business" campaign, she said.

"All they've seen is the logo, which is just the merest sliver of what's to come," said Medley, who said the agency would never intentionally do anything to set out to offend women.

"Heck, I'm a woman," she said. "I refuse to let my professionalism and my femininity be defined by a piece of fabric."

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/florida-answers-critics-sexist-logo-its-just-cartoon-1B8255394#

[If_I_Loved_you]

 TAMPA --

Gov. Rick Scott and Enterprise Florida, the state's chief economic development agency, unveiled the logo Thursday at an Enterprise Florida board meeting in Tallahassee.

It's part of a branding campaign aimed at getting all of the state's economic development agencies to speak with a single message.

But the reaction was anything but unifying.

The logo features the word "Florida" with a necktie substituted for the letter "i" and the slogan, "The Perfect Climate For Business." A number of women think the necktie sends the wrong message.

"Perhaps they should add a tag line: 'Florida is the perfect climate for business if you're a man,'" Beth Leytham, a Tampa-based public relations executive, wrote in an email to the Tribune.

Added Wanda DeBoer, a local commercial real estate broker: "Did they not think about that before approving a tie on the logo?"

A Jacksonville branding firm, On Ideas, designed the necktie logo and slogan, while a Tennessee-based branding firm, North Star Destination Strategies, did much of the surveying and research for the campaign, Enterprise Florida spokesman Sean Helton said.

The branding campaign generated controversy several months ago when the state selected the Tennessee firm over several Florida competitors.

Helton said Enterprise Florida considered whether a necktie would send a sexist or male-oriented message. But after showing the design to members of the Enterprise Florida board and stakeholders, the agency decided to go ahead with it. Women were among those who reviewed the design, he said.

"We felt it was a universal symbol of business," Helton said.

Enterprise Florida hasn't yet decided how, when or where to use the logo. It may be used in print ads, and the slogan may be used in broadcast messages.

But some businesswomen wonder whether it should be used at all.

"Speaking as a female business owner, I am so disappointed the only visual associated with our business climate is a man's necktie," said Colleen Chappell of the Tampa advertising agency ChappellRoberts, which tried to land the branding contract awarded to the Tennessee company.

Added Katherine Yanes, a lawyer and president of the Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers: "I don't think a man's necktie represents all that Florida's business community has to offer."
  http://www2.tbo.com/news/business/2013/feb/01/11/is-floridas-new-business-logo-sexist-some-say-yes-ar-622121/#poll_665

[If_I_Loved_you]

[Tacachale]

This is funny, considering how few people actually wear ties to work anymore in this state. No one I know at UNF wears them with any regularity.

[funwithteeth]

Sometimes a tie is just a penis hanging from your neck.

[BrooklynSouth]

Sometimes a tie is just a penis hanging from your neck.

Awesome!