HUNTINGTON BEACH : Council to Discuss ‘Surf City’ Plans

Unofficially, Huntington Beach has for many years been called “Surf City.” And now the city plans to capitalize on that sobriquet and make it official.

The City Council is scheduled at its meeting tonight to discuss a “marketing plan” that promotes Surf City as a vacation and resort haven. Moreover, the council is scheduled to vote on making the term the city’s “official theme and marketing title.”

Ron Hagan, director of community services, said in a memo to the council that the city needs to capitalize on the Surf City image.

“With a new century approaching, the city is in transition from an oil-agricultural-beach community to a major visitor-destination city,” Hagan said. “In order for the city to maintain its lifestyle, promote tourism and visitation, maintain property values and attract business, it needs to seize and orchestrate the very theme that has created its image and use it to market all of its internal and external activities.”

Hagan said the city should adopt a Surf City logo, then copyright the name and the logo itself. He estimated that it would cost the city about $2,500 for patent and copyright expenses.

The city ultimately can make money on its Surf City copyright, Hagan said. He said revenue could come from advertising royalties and sale of Surf City merchandise.

“The Surf City logo should be copyrighted so that it can be used for design on banners, T-shirts, caps, coasters and other merchandising possibilities,” Hagan said. “The city should contact clothing and other types of manufacturers of specialty items as to their ability to create an official Surf City-Huntington Beach line of merchandise.”

Hagan also urged the council to have a musical group develop an “official Surf City theme music” and to have a special event at which the theme music and the new logo are introduced. “This should be a community celebration with activities at the beach for families, youth and adults,” Hagan said.

Hagan noted that cities even as big as New York successfully use a nickname for promotions and marketing.

Added Hagan, “Just as New York is known as the ‘Big Apple,’ Huntington Beach will be known as ‘Surf City.’ ”