When All Else Fails, Get a New Logo

We wrote admiringly earlier this year about a changing of the guard at the French Tourism Development Agency, Atout France. A new cabinet-level minister, a new director in New York. And now a new logo.

Let's start with the original mistake. French Government Tourist Agency was a mouthful, but Maison de la France, as it was known on its home turf, had a certain staid logic. (Germany's equivalent was and is Goethehaus.) But someone decided to update the name and put some lipstick on the old girl, so they came up with Atout France.

Fine. In French, "atout" is your strong suit, your trump card. But in English, a tout is the guy who gives you bad advice at the track. Not what you want from a government agency.

Now on to the logo.

The designers originally came up with this: a clever way of promoting the sexy image of France with some subtle typography. (Sorry for the lousy image; the original has been expunged from all the official sites.) You do see that the r and a gently show two chaste breasts, non?

With great fanfare, Atout France asked for votes on four variations of a new logo. After parties in three cities where guests voted, and an online election, they came up with this:

Frère Jacques, dormez vous?

The new minister said his number one priority was a new website. France, after all, is the most visited country in the world, and its visitors certainly deserve better than they're getting now with the dismal www.franceguide.com. But bureaucracy is both defensive and well-entrenched. Along with the new logo came word that FranceGuide.com has moved up from the number 106 ranking among travel sites to number 64. And there's a slightly better new site (in beta), rendezvousenfrance.com/fr

Félicitations, I guess.