What Do You Think The City's Motto Should Be?

At its on March 9, the Martinez City Council struggled with the notion of marketing Martinez. Members debated the value of 'branding' the city, studying ways to promote the assets that would counteract some of the negative images the city has accrued over the years.

The list of positive things Martinez has to offer is long and varied. In fact, one councilmemeber noted that trying to distill all of those postive aspects into one neat package is just not possible.

Perhaps. But there are 36,000 people who live here for a reason - presumably because they like the place. Surely if we put our heads together, we can devise some kind of marketing product that would serve the city well.

So Martinez Patch is offering a $50 gift certificate to a local restaurant to the winning entry for the Marketing Martinez contest. Devise a logo. Put a photo collage together. Write a slogan or phrase. Submit whatever you think will best serve to market and/or 'brand' Martinez in a positive, dynamic way that shows off the best of our city to the outside world.

We'll show off the entries, and reward the winner. Who knows, it might even wind up being adopted by the city.

Send your entries to jim.caroompas@patch.com. We will take entries through Thursday, March 31. Good luck, and happy branding!