HAVEN’T WE SEEN THAT BEAR SOMEWHERE BEFORE?
This week, the Alaska Department of Public Safety unveiled a new logo and a new slogan for the Alaska State Troopers, in the hopes the marketing effort will help recruit more men and women to put on the uniform.
The logo and slogan were unveiled at the Alaska State Fair on Thursday: A bear’s face is the logo and “Guardians of the 49th” is the new slogan.
In February, the department worked with a local advertising agency to rebrand the department’s recruiting materials. The department has not announced how much it has spent on the rebranding effort.
The new brand will show up on the Troopers’ recruitment car, website and advertisements. A newly wrapped patrol car and recruitment car debuted at the fair.
“State Troopers are proud of the heritage of this organization, and the integrity and skills required to be a sworn officer in this institution,” Colonel Hans Brinke said in a press release. “The updated branding better reflects who we are, what we do, and emphasizes the pride and integrity of our sworn officers. We are Alaska State Troopers, Guardians of the 49th.”
A team of Troopers provided feedback, insight, and opinions from the inception of the project back in February up through final design. The new design and associated contracting were funded through the fiscal year 2018 budget that was allocated within the Department of Public Safety to the Recruitment Office.
“Recruitment and retention remain a priority of the Department of Public Safety,” Commissioner Walt Monegan said. “The updated and refreshed branding will allow us to better reach new generations of Alaskans with the exciting opportunities of being a State Trooper.”
Earlier this year, of the 382 authorized positions, 45 were vacant. In 2017, of 296 authorized positions, 26 were vacant.
The Trooper badge is not going away, the department has said. Alaska State Troopers and Alaska Wildlife Troopers will still retain the image and State seal for official communications.
The new logo and slogan are simply the public-facing brand for marketing purposes.
Some members on a closed Facebook group called “Alaska Blue and Brown” say the bear’s image is pirated from the brand of a video game channel on YouTube called Titan Bear Gaming. The comments on that Facebook group were more than 250 against the new look, with just one in favor of it; many said that the old motto “Loyalty, Integrity and Courage” is the heritage that Troopers have lived and died by, and is not improved by the new motto, “Guardians of the 49th.”
The Titan Bear Gaming logo and the new Troopers logo are shown here:
