Branding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – Obama Says Give it a Logo

Barack Obama could have had a great career in marketing and branding.  There is no doubt he knows how to craft a brand strategy.  Take a look at his latest branding initiative – the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  Earlier this month, President Obama announced that all projects funded by the recovery program would carry the official ARRA Seal – a new logo created just for the ocassion.  Check it out below:

Not very inspiring, huh?

This week, USA Today published three other logo options provided by (and including commentary by), two corporate identity experts, Alan Siegel of Siegel & Gale (if you read KeySplash Creative Conversations on a regular basis, then you know I’m a big fan, read my interview with Alan here) and designer DJ Stout from Pentagram.  Here are the options provided by the experts:

Alan Siegel: Wings of a nation
“The wing implies freedom and energy, the ability to rise above.  It is derived from our powerful unifying national symbols, the flag and the bald eagle. The wing is intertwined with the flag, reinforcing both a sense of home and a national vision. The result is an extremely dynamic symbol that speaks to the power of a positive outlook and the ability to see the road ahead.”

Alan Siegel: Shining city on a hill
According to USA Today, “The symbol is inspired, says Siegel, by a 1630 discourse by Gov. John Winthrop of Massachusetts Bay colony. It was a favorite of President Reagan, who quoted it often in his career. He used it last in his 1989 farewell address to the nation: ‘For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.’”

DJ Stout: Just the Web address
“The most important part of the identity that they have now is the Web address. In (the logo’s) current form, it is getting lost and actually looks like an afterthought.  Our solution gets rid of the old-fashioned and overused icons of leafy plants and outdated machinery cogs and gets to the modern heart of the message. The Obama administration wants you to go to the website to find out about the recovery effort. That is, if you even give a hoot.”

What do you think?  Will an official seal/logo help?  What would you include in the logo?

Susan Gunelius

Susan Gunelius is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc. and Founder & Editor in Chief of an award-winning blog, WomenOnBusiness.com. She is a 25-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored 10 books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing.

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