New York: Take It Or Leave It

As plans move forward to revamp Milton Glaser’s “I [heart] NY” campaign, it turns out that all you have to do to rebrand nowadays is fuck with the syntax a little:

Hearts are aflutter at ad agencies now that the state wants to pump up its 30-year-old “I [heart] New York” campaign.

The Daily News asked the experts how they would revamp the tourism promotion and got some sweet ideas.

Downtown agency Droga5 would start by taking Milton Glaser’s now-iconic logo, “I [heart] NY,” and reverse it to “NY [heart] I.”

“True love is a mutual thing,” said Duncan Marshall, Droga5 executive creative director. “So you want to remind people that New York loves you back.”

. . .

For Mark Wnek, New York chairman and chief creative officer of the Lowe agency, a key challenge is to broaden the campaign to attract visitors to all regions of the state, not just New York City.

“I’d keep the logo because it’s such a powerful iconic bit of symbolism, but I’d change it to emphasize there’s a lot of New York to love,” Wnek said.

Recalling a recent drive with his wife to Lake Placid, he added, “I don’t think a lot of people know they can drive for six hours in the state and enjoy beautiful scenery much of the way.”

Wnek reworked Glaser’s slogan to say, “NY There’s More To Than You Think.”

. . .

Glaser’s innovative use of the heart shape has been widely imitated.

“But if I were given the assignment today, I’d start . . . from scratch,” he said. “The burden of history with that thing might be too much if you want to think fresh.”

The Empire State Development Corp. — which called for ad agency proposals on Monday — had received 26 requests for its written specifications as of yesterday.