Like many cities in Orange County, Huntington Beach leaders are staring down a multimillion dollar budget deficit, but they’ve unveiled a new plan to help fix that – monetizing the brand.
For years, Surf City USA has just been a nickname to draw crowds to the coast, but now city leaders are looking to make some money off it via ads along the sand and city merchandise.
The push started earlier this year after a controversial proposal to hire a rebranding consultant, who wrote a report with a series of recommendations for the city including trademarking their logo and trying to make more money off of local merch sales.
“For years, our main city logo has remained unprotected or inadequately registered, leaving it vulnerable to unauthorized use, dilution, and lost licensing opportunities,” reads the report. “This long standing gap has allowed value to slip away quietly, even as the city’s brand continues to carry significant cultural and economic weight.”
While a broader rebranding contract did not go forward amid concerns over how the contractor who created the report was handpicked by Mayor Casey McKeon, city leaders did trademark the Huntington Beach logo.
[Read: Huntington Beach Shelves Plans for Film Commission and Expanded PR]
McKeon highlighted that step at the council’s April 22 meeting, saying the city needs to capture all the revenue it can from that name recognition.
“We don’t own that intellectual property. So everywhere in town when you see that on a hat, a shirt, a sticker on someone’s car,” McKeon said. “We have structural budget issues we need to resolve and this is a creative way to do those things.”
This year alone, the city is facing a $15.6 million structural deficit, meaning their recurring income is falling short of their recurring expenses but they’re making ends meet by using reserves or cutting other spending to close the gap.
“It does not mean the City intends to simply draw down $15.6 million from existing prior-year savings to close the gap,” said city spokesperson Julie Toledo in a statement to Voice of OC. “Instead, the City is actively deploying aggressive management strategies throughout the fiscal year to systematically reduce and offset this imbalance.”
Several of the options she pointed to included using surpluses where they emerge and implementing “rigorous, ongoing cost-monitoring and management techniques.”
[Read: How Rocky Are Orange County’s Municipal Budgets?]
Along with the trademark, Councilmembers Butch Twining and Don Kennedy spearheaded efforts to sell advertising space on the city’s lifeguard towers and steps leading down to the beach for companies like SeaWorld, Raising Canes, Toyota and Yaamava Resort and Casino.
But the plans have faced some pushback from residents, with some accusing city leaders of “pimping out” their name just to earn a quick buck off advertising.
Councilman Chad Williams noted that every person he spoke with regarding advertising on the steps and several of the other new moves were against it.
“To be honest, everything I saw was they were opposed to it,” Williams said at the June 16 council meeting. “That’s something we do have to weigh in our decision making.”
Kennedy disagreed, saying that none of the steps they were taking radically changed the beachfront and could all be removed at the snap of a finger.
“I’ve read comments ‘you’re pimping out our city,’” Kennedy said at the council’s June meeting. “I don’t think I’m pimping out the city, I think I’m doing things to enhance this city.”
McKeon also noted the advertising efforts are only one of several plans they have to boost revenue, saying every city in the county needs to look at what they’re doing and try to innovate new income opportunities to avoid raising taxes.
“We want to exhaust all options by cutting expenses, creating efficiencies, and creating revenues,” McKeon said in a phone interview. “If you don’t like the idea, that’s fine, please come forward with your own.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.
