Branding is no longer confined to supermarket shelves. Full scale branding campaigns for cities and countries are part of the design landscape, and we’re seeing it more and more, especially with events like the Olympics, and the increase in global tourism. The latest city to wake up to a design and branding makeover: Belfast, Northern Ireland.

A big-ass B with the motto “here now” is how Belfast seeks to attract tourists, businesses, and maybe some international sporting events or conventions. According to a post on Brand Noise, the logo will be accompanied “by messages including the word ‘be’ — such as ‘be welcome’, ‘be part of it’, and ‘be vibrant’.”

The B doubles as a heart, but I’m afraid my affection ends there. The problem isn’t so much the dull typography or the odd choice of colours, but simply the fact that this doesn’t tell me anything about Belfast. With any identity campaign, the challenge is to create just that, an identity. Most Americans, even more Irish-Americans, associate Belfast with “The Troubles”, and on a world’s stage, the city is insignificant. Having lived in Britain, I’d like to think I learned a little more about the city and how it’s actually quite cosmopolitan sporting a Philharmonic, etc., but in reality, we still don’t know much about the city. Will a big B draw us there? This campaign features no icon of the region, no illustrative mark that is easily recognisable, and in my eyes, no point of distinction. It doesn’t say Irish, it doesn’t say British. I am, in fact, more confused than before, and slightly ashamed about the branding profession in general.

For more information about this project, check out the post on Dexigner where you can read plenty of press release speak about how London consultancy LLoyd Northover changed the world, apparently.

Also seeking to change their perception on a global scale is the ancient and oddly Gothic city of Bath in Western England. Perhaps a big-ass B would be appropriately vague? I’ve been to Bath, it actually has plenty of visual tidbits to capitalise on.

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