Since the inception of WE❤NYC campaign, the power of ‘WE’ is visible in New York and continues to grow through the partners to continue the effort. The idea of the campaign was initially to revive the city post-pandemic. It was meant to diminish the divisions between business and labor, rich and poor.
To know more about WE❤NYC, Brand the Change reached out to the founders of Founders,(an ideas company) – Tany De Poli and Checha Agost Carreno. Here’s what we found:
- What is WE❤NYC?
WE❤NYC is meant to be a rallying cry for New Yorkers to step in and help the City we love. We need to fight for the things we love, and we love New York City. To be effective in the fight for our city, it is going to take us all – “we” not “me”. We are focused on NYC and its five boroughs specifically, the city at the center of the world. WE❤NYC is meant to be a call to action for New Yorkers to step in, volunteer, drive, civic action, act, and fix the city we love.
- How did you come up with the concept and logo?
The brief was: sure, there are problems in NYC, but as per usual, WE are going to fix it. We = NYC = the greatest city in the world. Our opportunity was creating impact within the city, with emotional connection, encouraging the action of New Yorkers. WE❤NYC was conceived as a modern-day movement. This campaign is inclusive, focusing on WE vs I or ME. It’s dynamic, executed using emojis, the spacing…all have to work to communicate:
- Time for “we” not “me”
- Dynamic
- Diverse
- Universal
- Inclusive
Typographically, we deliberately changed the font from the original (ITC American Typewriter circa 1974) which was a new font at the time Milton Glaser designed the logo in 1977. For this new mark, Sans Serif Grotesque, was used as we were influenced by the signage in the subway system. We love the subway. It’s the beating heart of the city and our great equalizer. Pretty much everyone rides the subway. Clearly, we also changed the heart. In 1976, Glaser created a very flat image, we dimensionalized and shaded the heart to give it a 3D effect which you sort of need to do to speak to anyone under 35 or so today.
- Does it clash with I❤NY? How is WE❤NYC different?
It does not clash with I❤NY. It was a deliberate decision to utilize equity from the iconic ‘I❤NY’ campaign and logo. WE❤NYC is homage to Milton Glaser’s (and Mary Wells’) work, intended to live alongside it.
The balancing act was figured out what to keep and what to modify. We needed to retain the essence of the original but we were clear early on that we needed to imbue the new mark with interactivity. Something the original didn’t need to tackle as obviously there was no social media in the 1970s. Our concept was all about “WE” and not “I”, also it was all for NY City and not NY State (which is what the I❤NY was created for).
- How has the brand evolved since its inception?
Today, the power of “WE” is visible and continues to grow through the partners that have come together to continue the effort. Since its inception, we have partnered with the likes of brands such as Macy’s, who featured the campaign on all their windows for several months at all their locations – 34th Street Herald Square, Brooklyn, Staten Island, The Bronx/Parkchester, and Queens.
The brand has evolved to include citywide initiatives that are looking for volunteers, from Earth Day activities with NYC Parks & Rec, to community cleanups with the Department of Sanitation, to MTA’s ‘MUSIC Under New York’ perform auditions, to Spreading the Love via NYC Service and NY Cares opportunities.
And the biggest evolution this brand has seen is that artists and regular people have taken the mark and made it their own. They have made merchandise with it, graffitied it around the city, they have created amazing posters like the ones by Benny Cruz. So the brand evolved by being in the hands of people who wanted to help put the message out there around the city and the world.
- Has the brand campaign helped bring back life in the post-pandemic New York City?
The results of the campaign engagement/ reach metric-wise were beyond our wildest imagination. It was seen by about 3.2 billion people. This is the equivalent of 4,000 times the population of NYC. 2.2 billion people have shared, talked, commented, posted, or other about the campaign. But the biggest result was seeing NYC come back to the ranking of No.1 city in the world post-pandemic. Something they had lost for a few years during the challenging years of 2019-2022. Getting the city back on top of all these rankings at a global level was the ultimate KPI.
- Are there any plans or campaigns in the pipeline for WE❤NYC?
The original campaign has been live since March 2023, and can still be seen across all of NYC. A few months after its launch, we developed a large WE❤NYC structure that was meant to live in Times Square for only two weeks, to be a place where people could take pictures. It has now become one of the most pictured signs in NYC and given its popularity we have moved it to different locations so it can be featured in the city’s most iconic spots. It has now been at Rockfeller Center, Barclay’s Center, and Williamsburg, and is planning to keep moving around for New Yorkers and visitors to continue to enjoy it, and share their images on social media.
This is a campaign that is never-ending since we continue to jump into conversation through social media of things happening around our city every day, and plan to continue to keep the engagement with the community alive through culturally relevant ideas. Most recently we launched the ‘Ratvertising Collection’ which was meant to speak to one of the city’s biggest problems – Rats. And it was a full merchandise collection of items featuring our furry friends.
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