I read in the local paper recently that Raleigh, North Carolina’s state capital, wants to brand itself as a “city of innovation” or some such thing. I think branding must start with who you are, followed by whom you aspire to be. There are times when your current brand and your aspirations are worlds apart. It takes work to reconcile the two. Simply stating you want to be something does not make it so.
I cannot reconcile how Raleigh can truly brand itself in a genuine, believable manner if Amendment One passes on May 8. A city of innovation in a state that just banned gay marriage in its state constitution does not bear any semblance of the spirit of innovation. If North Carolinians vote to support Amendment One, we will have done a great disservice to our state. Our brand will be tarnished. Our state will lose revenue, representing the exact opposite of innovation. Companies will flee. Citizens who pay taxes and contribute to our society will find friendlier pastures. Our universities and colleges will become old school. Our state capital’s branding will be phony.
So much for the city’s pillars of innovation to make this branding come true.
Downtown’s Innovation Center that is supposed to cater to entrepreneurs, investors, and others would be empty. Who will want to invest here?
Retaining the universities’ brightest graduates to stop them from starting their careers in other cities? Yeah, right.
Making the city more attractive to entrepreneurs? Sure, only to a certain few.
If we vote AGAINST Amendment One on May 8, North Carolina will be the only state in the South to not have such a discriminating (and despicable) amendment in its state constitution. Now that, is what I call the path to innovation.