“Houston Proud”
“Houston Proud” was a 1986 promotional campaign from the Houston Economic Development Commission to promote the city after oil revenues took a hit on the city’s fortunes. It was quickly parodied with “Houston Poor,” but the “Houston Proud” sentiment is still remembered and sometimes used. In 2005, when Houston accepted thousands of Gulf evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, “Houston Proud” was spoke of again.
Houston Proud is now a website for Houston volunteerism.
Dallas Morning News
HOUSTON’S MEDIA PUSHING PRIDE
Campaign designed to lift sagging spirit, economy of Bayou City
Author: Michael Weiss
Publish Date: June 22, 1986
Word Count: 870
Showgirls and cabbies in the Big Apple chant “I Love New York,’ but will energy workers in Texas’ largest city keep thumping their chests to pronounce themselves “Houston Proud’?
Ad man Larry Taylor, chairman of Taylor Brown & Barnhill, hopes so. The Houston agency designed the Houston Proud campaign that the Houston Economic Development Commission hopes will mobilize residents into a potent sales force.
10 September 1986, New York Times, “Life in Houston: Benefits of Hardship” by Robert Reinhold, pg. A14:
Yet suddenly, for all its troubles, perhaps because of them, Houston seems a more human place. For long the city almost reveled in its swaggering image. “Let ‘em freeze in the dark,” was the prevailing bumper sticker mentality when Houston boomed at the expense of oil-dependent Northern cities. Houstonians understand why their current plight evokes little national sympathy. A semblance of the truculent old spirit survives in the current “Houston Proud” campaign meant to life morale.
25 January 1987, New York Times, “So the Texan Who’s Broke Says to the…” by Peter Applebome, pg. 16:
A few months back Gary Somberg, who runs a telephone installation and service company, Vitel Communications, began his “Houston Poor” campaign, lampooning “Houston Proud,” the city’s booster campaign. His slogan is, “Oh, thank Heaven for Chapter Eleven” (of the Federal bankruptcy law).
Dallas Morning News
Some slogans hit, others miss the mark in Houston
Quips, zingers helped many get their messages across
Author: Sam Attlesey
Publish Date: August 23, 1992
Word Count: 798
HOUSTON—This town lived up to only one of its slogans during the Republican National Convention last week.
Local civic leaders can rightfully lay claim to their “Houston Proud’ motto. Houston put on a near-perfect “Howdy’ to its national visitors.
But as far as their slogan “Houston’s Hot,’ forget it. The weather outside and inside the flag-draped Astrodome was delightful, far from frightful.
Houston Business Journal
A smorgasbord of slogans to ease image angst
Houston Business Journal - August 2, 1996
by Bill Schadewald
(..)
“Houston Proud” was the mantra born in the bust of the 1980s. During the 1990 Economic Summit, “Houston’s Hot” prevailed as the slogan of the moment. This was followed by the short-lived “Houston: So Much More to Explore” and the current “Houston: The Real Texas.”
3 November 1999, New York Times, “Kenneth L. Schnitzer, 70, Dies; Innovative Houston Developer” by Robert D. Hershey, Jr., pg. C27:
Among other things, Mr. Schnitzer was a founding director of Houston Proud, which was created to spur a rebound from the oil price collapse in the 1980’s; founding chairman of the Houston Economic Development Council, and director of the Greater Houston Partnership and Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau.
H Texas
Lastword by Lynn Ashby March 2003
Houston: Master Plan City, USA
(...)
Houston may have various problems, but one thing we have in abundance is plans. They are well intended, but most are never heard of again. How can we forget “Houston Proud,” “Expect the Unexpected” and “Imagination Houston?”
Everything is a Performance
03 September 2005 @ 08:39 am
Houston Proud
(...)
When my dad worked for the Houston Chamber of Commerce (now the Greater Houston Partnership) they started a slogan for the city “Houston Proud”. So, all this entry is just to say that I am proud of this great city…I am definitely “Houston Proud.”
Black Athlete Sports Network
Houston Proud!
by Ralph Cooper, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
POSTED: Sep 16, 2005
HOUSTON—That has been a slogan of the fourth largest city in the nation for a long time and I feel great about it after the effort by Houstonians to help people from New Orleans, Louisiana relocated here after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their city.
More than 18,000 Louisiana citizens were housed in private homes, area hotels and motels, church facilities, the Astrodome, Reliant Stadium, and the George R. Brown Convention Center.
thefacts.com
Slogans a cry for attention
By Lynn Ashby
The Facts
Published May 11, 2007
(...)
Houston has experimented with all sorts of slogans: “Houston Proud,” then billboards proclaimed that “Houston’s Hot.” Another city slogan —“SpaceCity. A Space of Infinite Possibilities” — never quite caught fire, either. The only label that has stuck is the unofficial “Bayou City.” Then Houston had, “Expect the Unexpected.” Finally two advertising guys came up with, “Houston. It’s Worth It,” which immediately caught on with cynics.
(Trademark)
Word Mark HOUSTON PROUD
Goods and Services IC 042. US 100. G & S: ORGANIZING, CONDUCTING AND PROMOTING COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS AND COMMUNITY AWARENESS PROGRAMS. FIRST USE: 19860220. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19860220
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 73683574
Filing Date September 11, 1987
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Published for Opposition March 8, 1988
Registration Number 1490644
Registration Date May 31, 1988
Owner (REGISTRANT) HOUSTON PROUD FOUNDATION, INC. NONPROFIT CORPORATION TEXAS 2700 POST OAK BOULEVARD, SUITE 2225 HOUSTON TEXAS 77056
Attorney of Record RICHARD S. SILUK
Disclaimer NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE “HOUSTON” APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Affidavit Text SECT 15. SECT 8 (6-YR).
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