The city of Cologne gets a new logo. The most striking change: the cathedral spiers are missing. Peter Brings wonders: Why? For him, hardly anything represents Cologne like the cathedral.
Well, I’m not a marketing expert. I wish I was one, on the one hand to understand why the new logo is “more modern and more digitally usable” and on the other hand to pocket a whopping 10,000 euros for omitting the cathedral silhouette and changing the color of the city coat of arms. Isn’t that what you do in the morning at breakfast between two rolls? At least my daughter could.
More important, however, is the question of whether this new logo creates an immediate association with Cologne, whether it can evoke the same emotion as the previous one? And here I am an expert and I can say clearly: No!
A stylized Brandenburg Gate can be seen in the Berlin city logo. Sydney: Opera, New York: Statue of Liberty. Why should the new, bloodless logo stand for Cologne more than the old one? We Cologne folks are Herz-Jesu local patriots and the cathedral, well: our monstrance!
Also and precisely because our cathedral has had to cast its shadow on a “landlord” in recent years, who has brought much discredit to the church and the city, now is the time to say: The cathedral is Cologne, Cologne is the cathedral … and everyone should know that, digital marketing or not!
your Pitter
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