Real. East Texas. Living. (Longview slogan)

“Real. East Texas. Living.” was voted (in 2007) the official slogan of the city of Longview in East Texas. A marketing company had chosen the slogan “pure and simple,” but it was discovered that other cities also had this slogan.
 
 
Wikipedia: Longview, Texas
Longview is a city in Texas, United States, located between Dallas, TX and Shreveport, LA. The population was 73,345 at the 2000 census, but a 2005 estimate placed the city’s population at 75,609. It is the county seat of Gregg County, with a small portion extending east into neighboring Harrison County. It is situated in East Texas, on the grid of Interstate 20 and U.S. Highways 80 and 259. Longview is located on the Sabine River. Longview, Tx is home to LeTourneau University.
     
Longview News-Journal
City selects slogan
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
By SHERRY KOONCE
 
From the 900-plus votes cast, “Real. East Texas. Living.” claimed the top spot Monday when Mayor Jay Dean announced the public’s choice for Longview’s new brand slogan.
 
Receiving 55 percent of the vote, the winning slogan was one of three finalists selected from a community-generated online campaign to develop a catch-phrase that best captured the spirit of Longview and surrounding East Texas cities.
 
“The process has been long, but we feel with community input and support the right slogan has been selected for our East Texas community,” Dean said.
 
“We never anticipated there would be that many people participate, and that the campaign would be so positive,” he said.
 
Of all the suggestions submitted, only two were negative, Dean said.
 
The process got underway more than a year ago when the city contracted North Star Destination Strategies, a Tennessee-based company, to develop a branding campaign for the city. In March, company officials unveiled the slogan, “East Texas, Pure and Simple” which almost immediately drew criticism — first from residents who objected to the word, “simple,” and then, when it was discovered that the slogan was not exclusive to Longview.
 
Tyler Morning Telegraph (October 23, 2007)
Voters Choose New Slogan For Longview
By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer
 
LONGVIEW - Voters chose the phrase, “Real. East Texas. Living.” as the new brand slogan for Longview, officials announced Monday.
 
That slogan garnered about 55 percent of the vote which took place online.
 
Coming in second place with 31 percent was “Your kinda Texas,” and in third place with 14 percent was “Natural Down Home Beauty.”
 
Mayor Jay Dean said in a prepared statement that while the process was long, “We feel with community input and support the right slogan has been selected for our East Texas community.”
 
In March, the city unveiled the tagline, “Longview, East Texas, Pure and Simple,” but it was met with criticism from residents and city officials who complained using the word “simple” to describe their city was offensive.