The slogan: "Downtown SLC. It's the place."

Clearly it harks to the past when Brigham Young looked across the valley in 1847 and said, "This is the right place."

But the Downtown Alliance hopes it also represents the present and future by labeling downtown as the place for arts, culture, business and housing.

"It's a new day," Downtown Alliance Executive Director Bob Farrington said Wednesday, referring to the dozens of projects planned or recently completed downtown. His office counts 46. "That deserves a new look, a fresh look that captures the energy of what's happening."

Mayor Rocky Anderson is supposed to be at today's official launch of the branding campaign, though he didn't know the slogan until told Wednesday by a reporter. His response: "I'm sure there are people who know what they're doing who come up with these campaigns."

Anderson said it makes sense to build on Utah's already well-known tag line of "This is the place."

"I hope, in doing that, others don't feel like they're somehow being excluded," he said. "But I do like the message that Salt Lake City downtown is the place to go. It does have everything in terms of arts, culture, entertainment and great dining."

Today's unveiling is set for 4 p.m. at the Main Library, where the Downtown Alliance will open an information center called The Downtown Place in one of the retail spaces. That center - housed at the city's showcase library, which draws 3 million visitors a year - will provide information about activities, restaurants, business developments and housing projects.

The alliance also overhauled its Web site - http://www.downtownslc.com - to focus more on activities, because they help distinguish the urban core from the suburbs.

The alliance paid $7,500 for work on the brand and Web site.

The alliance will use a logo - including a grid as a reminder of Salt Lake City's street system and a star in a nod to its capital status - in its materials and events, and hopes others will use it, too. It wants to see the brand in restaurants, shops, event posters, as well as on construction cranes.

Natalie Gochnour, the chamber's vice president of policy and communications, hopes people will see the brand and know the building projects are "part of one downtown, one city renewal."

Although the logo has LDS connotations, the marketing company behind the new logo, The Summit Group, says it should apply to the gamut of downtown activities - from the LDS Church's Temple Square to the bar called the Tavernacle. The Summit's Christy Maycock said she wants the logo to "reinforce how much activity is happening."

hmay@sltrib.com