I have a soft spot in my heart for Philadelphia. Philly is one of those old american cities that has successfully bridged its old world history and the modern era. If you have any doubts, simply tour the Constitution Center. Known affectionately as ‘the city of brotherly love’ or ‘the city that boo-ed Santa Claus’, Philly got a new monicker this week as ‘The ugliest city in America’.

My long-time friend and fellow Philly-file, Bruce Willis, sent me a link to an article in Travel and Leisure magazine in which the authors claim Philly as the ‘ugliest city in America’. Bruce and I met while he was working at DuPont and I was consulting to the chemical giant. During his shoot of 12 Monkeys, we spent a lot of time playing the card game Whist in his trailer and sharing Philly stories.

That's Ugly?
While I could spend time debating the legitimacy of this article, but I rather talk about what rebel agency, Gyro Worldwide, did instead. Gyro is a long time Philly agency that doesn’t pull any punches, even taking on local businesses for the quality of their logo. Gyro took the new moniker and made a series of print ads with catch phrases including “Everyday is Halloween in Philly” and “Come visit Ugly town USA”. Gyro is going so far as placing these ads in Travel and Leisure in support of the city.

I printed out one of these ads and wrote a note on it to Bruce saying “Philly may also be the most creative city in America!”