Choose Chicago launches new marketing campaign: Never Done. Never Outdone.
Chicago, that toddlin' town with the big shoulders, is ready to rebrand itself through a new slogan and marketing campaign aimed at driving tourists, businesses and even locals to explore the second city.
Developed over more than a year of listening sessions, focus groups, research and spitballing with creative agencies, the new campaign was unveiled by Choose Chicago on Thursday. The city's tourism arm is hoping it has found a way to sum up and sell Chicago to the world in four words:
'Never Done. Never Outdone.'
The city's new branding will launch at home and abroad as summer ushers in Chicago's busiest tourist season. The rollout also coincides with the U.S. Travel Association's IPW 2025 trade show, which returns to McCormick Place this weekend for the first time in a decade, providing an influential international test audience for the new campaign.
'I think it's going to change the narrative for Chicago,' Kristen Reynolds, Choose Chicago's new president and CEO, told the Tribune.
Destined for everything from billboards and social media to TV, the campaign is being introduced with a 60-second spot featuring fast-moving vignettes of the city, from obligatory overhead shots of the 'L' to street festivals, sporting events and skyscrapers. The video is narrated by award-winning Chicago poet J. Ivy, who touts the people and places in the 'greatest city in the world.'
The campaign, which is slated to run locally, nationally and internationally, incorporates the red stars and colors of the Chicago flag, and features scenes of people making doughnuts, running by the lakefront and partying en masse at a live concert. The ads include slogans such as 'outwork,' 'outplay' and 'outlast,' sounding very much like the tagline from the 'Survivor' TV show.
Reynolds, who took the helm at Choose Chicago in May after previously serving in the same role at Discover Long Island, didn't take credit for the campaign, but added a few last-minute tweaks and gave her stamp of approval to 'Never Done. Never Outdone.'
'The first part really is about evolution and always staying and innovating and keeping current,' Reynolds said. 'And then never outdone is really dropping that Midwestern humble and bringing some of that New York City swagger in here, and being able to say, we're the best at what we do, and we're going to work harder and we won't settle.'
Choose Chicago has an annual marketing budget of about $4 million — far less than comparable cities such as Boston. But Reynolds said the campaign will find its way out into the world through paid and earned media, and partnered with other Chicago institutions.
Target domestic markets will include Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami and New York City, while international focus will be on Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Choose Chicago created the new marketing campaign in collaboration with local agencies including Envisionit, Agents of Slang, October Productions, Word and Soul, and Chu Batsaihan. The branding was developed with MMGY Global, which works with many destination marketing organizations.
Successfully branding a city can significantly boost visibility and tourism, searing memorable taglines into the collective unconscious of potential visitors. A good example is 'What happens here, stays here,' the ubiquitous Las Vegas slogan which has captured the essence of the city's appeal in countless commercials since its introduction in 2003.
The slogan was updated in 2020 to 'What happens here, only happens here.'
Chicago, which has accumulated a number of slogans over the years from sources both literary and cultural, has evolved from 'hog butcher for the world' to a diverse world city, a major convention and tourism destination, and an international business center.
But recent attempts at rebranding have not quite stuck.
In 2015, Choose Chicago introduced 'Chicago Epic,' a bold national TV campaign recasting the city as a hotbed of music festivals, hipsters, fine dining and shopping. At the time, officials said the slogan 'Chicago Epic' would become as famous as 'I Love New York.' It didn't.
In 2022, a pandemic-battered city launched 'Chicago Not in Chicago,' a low-budget guerrilla marketing campaign touting a long list of homegrown innovations — from the cellphone and the coffee maker to the skyscraper — that changed the world, but with little credit given to Chicago. Despite the campaign, for the most part, the world has yet to thank us.
Officials nonetheless have high hopes for the new slogan and marketing campaign.
'I am proud of the work our colleagues at Choose Chicago have done in developing this new campaign,' Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a news release Thursday. 'I'm confident it will ultimately share an authentic depiction of our city and convey the open-minded, welcoming spirit of Chicagoans.'
Chicago seeing fewer international travelers, but local hotels still expect 'solid' summer
Tourism in Chicago is on the rise, with the city welcoming 55.3 million visitors in 2024, up 6.5% year-over-year and setting a post-pandemic high, according to data released last month by Choose Chicago.
But economic and political headwinds may make it hard to match that total this year, with tariffs, civil unrest and international backlash to President Donald Trump's policies and bluster potentially tamping down tourism.
Choose Chicago is nonetheless projecting a strong summer tourism season, with events such as upcoming Premier League soccer exhibitions and the NASCAR Chicago Street Race setting the pace in July.
While the budget is limited, Choose Chicago will remain nimble in targeting markets — domestic and international — for the best chance to get a return on investment, Reynolds said. A newer market she has her sites set on is Phoenix, hoping to lure Chicago expatriates and transplanted Californians to visit from the 'Valley of the Sun.'
As to the new campaign, Reynolds expects the 'Never Done. Never Outdone' slogan to become ubiquitous, including buy-in from Chicagoans, who provide the bulk of recreational activity during the winter months.
Chicago saw a boost in tourism last year. Will the pope be a blessing in 2025?
'This is a campaign that we're hoping the entire community embraces and you're going to see it so much that it's going to be second nature,' Reynolds said.
If the new marketing campaign doesn't resonate, the city's image may still get a boost from divine intervention — the selection of south suburban Dolton native Robert Francis Prevost as the first American pope. On Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV was photographed sporting a White Sox cap at the Vatican, spreading the gospel of Chicago around the world.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Mike White Is Going on ‘Survivor 50' Because It's 'What I Have to Do to Get a Vacation These Days'
At an Emmys FYC event for The White Lotus on Tuesday, creator Mike White made a special video appearance en route to his next gig — competing on Survivor's milestone 50th season. White — who previously competed on the show in 2018 during its 'David vs. Goliath' season, coming in second place — said via video message that he was on his way to 'a hotel near the airport where I have to turn in my phone and stay the night before I fly to Fiji, because I don't know if you know this but I'm going on Survivor. So by the time you see this I will either be out of the game or I'll be starving on an island somewhere — either way, I hope you send me good wishes.' More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Dark Winds' Star Zahn McClarnon Speaks to Shared Trauma With His Character: "I've Been Through a Lot of Similar Things" Hollywood Unlocked Impact Awards to Honor Keke Palmer, Don Lemon Billy Bob Thornton Says He Didn't Expect 'Landman' to Be "This Successful" and Teases Season 2 He also sent his thanks to the audience for showing up to support the show and to his cast, who he hopes to see 'on the flip side. And yeah, I'm sorry I couldn't be there but this is what I have to do to get a vacation these days. Duty calls.' During the main event, the super-sized cast was split into two panels, both moderated by Hacks' Paul W. Downs. The first featured Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Sam Nivola and Sarah Catherine Hook, as Downs teased, 'In the four years The White Lotus has been on the air, it has spanned three continents and four HBO names — pretty remarkable stuff.' The cast talked about their collaborations with White and fears going into the show, as Isaacs noted he was worried that his pill-popping head of the Ratliff family 'might just sit there in the corner and look like an extra from Cheech & Chong. I'm chugging these pills — I know what's gonna be going on inside my head, I'll think it all and I'll feel it all, but I just don't know if the audience gonna get any of it.' It was also revealed that Posey and Bibb still haven't watched the show, as the group weighed in on how their lives have changed since the third season premiered. 'I really have to think about what I'm wearing and what I'm saying in public,' Coon said, noting, 'Now when I go to the grocery store, people will be like, 'Great job last night.' I was like, oh no, that's not happened to me before. [But] it peaks when the show is on, then it kind of goes down — for me, maybe not for Parker.' Nivola said he's enjoying the perks of now 'every time I get Thai food, free mango sticky rice,' as Coon admitted, 'My parents still haven't mentioned it. I think they watched it, but they haven't said anything.' Natasha Rothwell, Sam Rockwell, Walton Goggins, Aimee Lou Wood, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Tayme Thapthimthong took part in the second panel, with Rockwell and Goggins breaking down their scenes together. 'Was he on drugs when he wrote that?' Rockwell teased of White writing his character's wild monologue, as well as the 'extraordinary thing to act with a close friend' when it came to his longtime relationship with Goggins. 'I didn't want to let Sam down. This is my hero. I got Bob Duvall, I got like Tommy Lee Jones, I got Chris Cooper and I got Sam Rockwell,' Goggins told the crowd, as Rockwell took out his wallet and threw him a few bucks. Goggins then realized it was only $3 and joked, 'You think I'm that cheap?!' Goggins also explained that his interpretation of his character Rick's 'parable is in the depths of our despair, there's always beauty around us, always. And I think about that in my own life, I think that's what's changed me most — all of these people in Thailand and getting to work with Mike White, but that reminder that, like fuck, I can't deal with what's going on in my life right now. Yeah, you can, man, just focus on what's beautiful in your life. And it was one of the greatest rides of my life.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Buzz Feed
15 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
22 Unexpected "Survivor" Opinions That Make Perfect Sense
Survivor fans are used to hot takes. Ever since the show premiered over 25 years ago, fans have known that engaging in the discourse around the show is integral to Survivor fandom. Whether it's about controversial winners (or losers), what makes for fair game play, or the show's ever-evolving format, people have a lot to say and rarely shy away from sharing their opinions. So, when Season 48 fan-favorite, Shauhin Davari, posted "Give me your wildest Survivor take..." on TikTok, the responses did not disappoint. Here are 22 of people's hot takes and ideas for potential themes, adjustments, and evolutions for the future of the show. "I would love two Survivor seasons being filmed at once. But neither game knows about the other until they think they've made the merge. Then they're combined and we watch the chaos." —scburlison "I hate that they don't show the players 'surviving' anymore. It's all game play, which is cool, but I want to see people spending the day fishing and crying about being up all night from the rain, etc." "Bring back Jeff's intense intros — hanging out of a helicopter, speeding in on a jetski. We used to be a proper country." —maresib "If the show is going to stay in Fiji every year, they NEED to bring back themed seasons, the auction, loved ones, fewer twists, and make it 39 days." —ptmacho16 Alternatively, "I don't mind the day shortage. I feel like it kind of makes things harder and more tiring because they don't have rest days between challenges." —toriandtilly "There should be a season where everyone knows someone else, kind of like Blood vs Water, but Jeff doesn't announce it to the contestants, just to us, [the viewers]." —chels.e.b"And when Jeff announces the twist, he says, 'Two of you have an advantage here because you have an already established relationship with someone else playing this game.' But everyone does lol."—jakeswan777 "[Today's villains] are like monks compared to real villains of the show's history." —jimbojohn536"I think people are afraid of getting canceled or dragged on the internet."—maddysage1996 "Random chance twists have no place in Survivor. It's supposed to be a social strategy game, not a 'who is best at rolling dice?' game. [They should] stop changing the rules and let the players make decisions." —quajek "Fiji literally looks like a set. It's super fake-looking and so played out. I like when they go to different locations..." —sissy_gh "Survivor 50 should have had double the players like in 'The Hunger Games.'" —tunacatmeowmeow "[They should] bring back Redemption Island without telling anyone on the season until they walk onto it after getting voted out." —lexxxxx150 "I would rather they bring back rice from day one than have a reward feast every episode. The reward aspect of the game has lost its value entirely in my opinion because someone is getting food every episode." —trader_josie "Professional athletes should be banned as competitors." —kyles_ghost "Survivor [producers] have players they would prefer to win and choose the challenge to help or hurt specific people to get their preferred player farther." —christinaberke"The producers interfered with the outcome of Survivor 48. I've never felt like that before, but this season seemed pretty obvious they were pushing two castaways forward."—janarunz "Conspiracy: The season 50 fan votes are just for show. The results won't actually matter, and CBS will choose whatever they want." —kenny4753 "I'd love to see a season where they're all on one beach and before each challenge, they randomly draw teams and that's the groups they have to vote someone out of. I think it would completely change how people strategize." —keeva__ "Survivor needs to stop making the whole cast fans of the show. Remember when being a fan of the show was a gimmick? Now it's just the norm. Go back to casting characters who aren't Survivor experts." —mc_mayonnaise "Ageism is such a massive problem in Survivor. No matter what they do, they are always considered a final goat even if they have great gameplay and social skills." —pixelatedbuizel "I want a season with exes. They'd each be on different tribes, and they don't know about it til they land on the beach. Can you imagine the drama?" —mrsfatgranpapaOr, similarly: "They should do an exes season, but no one knows it's an exes season, so they all just think they're the only one with their ex on the island with them, pleaseeeee it would be so good." —hangnailmoon "[I want a season that's] cops vs lawyers vs people who were formerly incarcerated." —ihatepickingausername5"Democrats v. Republicans would be a wild season."—im_not_jason"Cops vs Firefighters."—tchr2.0"[I want] an all-lawyers season now."—emilyrooker4 "[They should] bring the reunion back to the studio and make the winner wait to be announced." —tammyjeanbeautyqueen And lastly, "Parvati should take over as host when Jeff retires (may he never retire, though, because what is Survivor without Jeff Probst??)" —morganlsapienza There you have it, 22 Survivor hot takes that you might just agree with. Or not! Let us know what you think of these takes and/or share any of your own in the comments.
Condé Nast Traveler
17 hours ago
- Condé Nast Traveler
What We Lose When We Lose an Airplane
Tragedies come faster than we can keep up with these days—war and famine, earthquakes and hurricanes, floods and droughts. Everywhere, it seems, as people go about their daily lives, the unthinkable happens. And nobody will ever be the same again. But why does an air crash feel different? Is it because of how close to home it is for me personally? An Air India flight from my home country, flying to London, where I currently live? Is it because of the additional tragedy of its crashing into a medical college? Is it because of the lone survivor, who miraculously walked away via the emergency exit, as if chosen by God? Is it because the crying mothers and broken brothers in the images and videos flooding Instagram have skin the same color as mine, and language that rolls off my tongue? The tragedy wears heavily because, like all tragedies, it is sheer luck and nothing else that it happened to someone else, and not us. They did nothing to deserve this; we did nothing to be spared it. But it's also different. Whenever you fly, you are in a suspended state of being. Drinking orange juice, watching movies, reading books, or applying lip balm—however ordinary the action, whatever you do takes on a surreal feeling. It's the fact that you're doing it thousands and thousands of feet high above, surrounded by clouds, defying gravity. You think of the many things you're going towards, or the many things you're leaving behind. You wonder how it will all work with you—or without you. To fly is to take action, to move with purpose. It is an acknowledgement of a world outside of your own. It is filled with possibility. To fly is to dream. And it is how so many dreams can come true, which is why the stories hit so hard. The husband bringing his family back to live with him; the couple on vacation heading home in good spirits; the sweet girls visiting their grandma for her birthday. Dreams within dreams, shattered in seconds. This is a time to remind ourselves that flying is not just a dream, but a great privilege. It is reliant not only on technological prowess and human skill, but on the mercy of nature and, not least, the benevolence of fate. And therefore with flying comes responsibility. How often have we ignored pilot announcements, or barely looked up from our phones while flight attendants have taken us through safety briefings? Or how people rush to disembark before we've come to a complete stop? How many times have we snapped off our seatbelts as soon as we could, or groaned when asked to give up our cozy blankets and straighten our TV screens before landing? How many times have we seen people rudely treat flight attendants, instead of giving them the respect they deserve as highly-trained professionals whose primary responsibility is ensuring our safety, not making a cup of tea or masala chai at 35,000 feet? This is a time to remind ourselves that flying is not just a dream, but a great privilege. Divia Thani, global editorial director of Condé Nast Traveler We will eventually know what caused this awful tragedy. but whatever series of events caused it, let's think of this as a turning point in how all of us fly. Safety is an irrefutable priority—the only thing that really matters. So let's not forget this sentiment as time goes by. Because when we lose an airplane, we lose faith in the idea that everything around us will work as it should, and that our lives will go as we imagine they will. We face the brutal truth that refutes the fairy tales and life lessons we tell ourselves: that our dreams will come true if we work hard, that doing good begets good. When we lose an airplane, we must confront the distinct possibility that there is no method to the madness, no divine plan. We lose any sense of comfort or faith that we are living as we should. When we lose an airplane, we remember that losing everything in an instant is a distinct possibility, and we can only pray for those for whom this is now a reality. A version of this article originally appeared in Condé Nast Traveller UK.
