DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Night image of Cleveland to grace wall where LeBron once reigned

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The Sherwin-Williams Co. wants to put this image on the side of its downtown Cleveland headquarters, where passersby long looked up at the iconic "Witness" image of LeBron James tossing chalk. The new banner would be the same size as that of James and would hang from the same mounts over Huron Road and Ontario Street.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The downtown Cleveland building that once featured a huge image of LeBron James could soon display a different civic image: A night view of the Cleveland skyline, courtesy of the Sherwin-Williams Co.

The paint and coatings company is asking city design and planning officials to approve plans for the huge banner, which would cover a wall left empty this summer after James announced his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.

Instead of a basketball player tossing chalk, the banner would show illuminated skyscrapers as seen from the Cuyahoga River. Above them, the words "Our Home Since 1866. Our Pride Forever." In one lower corner is the Sherwin-Williams name and logo.

Sherwin-Williams owns the building, the Landmark Office Towers where the company keeps its headquarters and about 2,000 employees. Since crews tore down James's image in July, the company has been considering options for the blank space, a wall designed to abut another tower than was never built.

"As we talked about the opportunity to put something up there, we thought about celebrating Cleveland," said Ellen Moreau, the company's vice president of marketing communications. "There are so many great things about Cleveland, so many reasons to be here. We're just really proud to be in the city."

Moreau said the billboard is not meant to be a jab at James. During the past few months, various advertisements scattered across Cleveland have played on or poked fun at the James billboard and its "Witness" message, which was sponsored by Nike. Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., a mining company based in Cleveland, launched its own Witness ads showing a coal miner with his arms outstretched, under the tagline "A team that hasn't left in 163 years."

A city design review committee is scheduled to discuss the Sherwin-Williams image Thursday. Billboards generally are prohibited downtown, though several decades-old ones linger from before the city changed its zoning code. But the city does allow on-premises advertising by businesses that occupy the buildings or properties where they want to display an ad. And Robert Brown, Cleveland's planning director, said the skyline photograph with the small Sherwin-Williams tag is not necessarily advertising.

"It's really a civic image showing the city of Cleveland," he said. "It could be akin to Sherwin-Williams sponsoring a civic image."

Design and planning officials would need to make an exception for the size of the image, which would hang from the same mounts that held the iconic LeBron banner.


Full size image: http://media.cleveland.com/business_impact/photo/sherwinjpg-9b4656fee20a7bbb.jpg

I like it

Very nice!

Looks good to me.
A blank white wall would have been an improvement, too.

Anything would be better than his sleazy face up there again....

Awesome!

Well done Sherwin-Williams

That's very classy. I like it alot.

I say leave it blank until LB blow out a knee, than put his picture on crutchs with the line....KARMA.....she a b t ch.......

ok i've changed out my mind. I like your idea better. Haha. Better yet, a billboard with LeBron on crutches after blowing out his knee, his mom hugging him, and Delonte with his hand on Glorias shoulder with the caption "well its been real, but I should be going now ..."

I think they should have put up Browns, Cavaliers, and Indians logos superimposed over the skyline saying "This is our home" or something similar.

I admit that I don't watch a lot of TV ..... but I really haven't seen many LeBron commercials since he ditched the Cavaliers and screwed Cleveland.

Is that just here, just because it's not basketball season, or does it appear that his ad revenue is going to take a hit this year?

I'm in a neutral market and I don't see much of LeBron on television commercials.. and I have sports channels on a lot..

his ad revenue for the most part was signed in advance, so he's not going to be hurting for $$$ (at least not this year)

Forbes showed his 'Q' rating has gone down significantly, so if I had to guess, it would be that the sponsors are waiting until the NBA games start and people magically forget about this summer (outside OH) because the Heat are so supercool and everything.

now, if the Heat should manage to self-implode this year (unlikely, but still), then LeBron's marketing money could take a hit. He's put all his chips on the table in this regard. He needs to win a championship with this crew or his credibility will take a huge hit in the marketing world (as he lost some of his general appeal already)

One thing to remember, Cleveland was here long before LB and it's people, it's fans will be here long after LB, LB might have left but the energy the spark is still in Cleveland waiting for the next player to ignite it....players will comne N go, but the one thing that stays is the fans.....and we do it for Free, usually costing us money...but we do it....LB might have put the Cavs on national TV game of the week and put W in the standings, but it's the fans that made it possible for LB to do that, it's the fans that keep the Cavs in Cleveland it's the fans that brought back the Browns, I'm a Cleveland fan not a LB fan, I dont care what LBJ does, he can go to Italy and play for all I care.

What the city should do is honor those people who really count...who really care thats us fans....We have more loyal people than any other town I know, ya dont a find a better town than CLEVELAND

i like it, very classy.

I agree completely. His reputation has already taken a hit.. he went from "hometown boy fights to lead troubled franchise to championship" to "sellout dangles local fans for 2 years then drops them on national tv to chase rings with allstar team".. or maybe I'm the only person that sees it that way..

He has to win championships and every year he doesn't I will love it and his marketing will suffer.

speaking of nba related stuff. 2k11 looks like an awesome game.

i know a lot of people are sour on the nba because of what happened, but if you love the sport, i would suggest following the thunder. fun team, and a city that is just nuts over them right now. so awesome.

i will always love the cavs and they will always be my team, but just like all sports i usually always root for someone else since we (cleveland) are never in it. and i am definitely on board with the thunder. hopefully they can add a few more pieces.

kevin durant went nuts at the fibas too. he's incredible. hopefully the thunder keep him humble and hungry.

I might be the only one who thinks this is dumb and silly. A picture of downtown Cleveland on a building in downtown Cleveland? That's all ya got?!?

There are a number of things you could do ranging from classy to funny. This just seems to me to be some safe middle of the road yawner.

He's venting dude so take a hike bro!! Everyone knows his "rights" but that doesn't mean Cleveland fans don't have the "right" to be upset. You're probably not a Cavs fan so therefore just stay out of the convo.

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I think they should have put up Browns, Cavaliers, and Indians logos superimposed over the skyline saying "This is our home" or something similar.

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That would be awesome by the way..

I kinda like the image.. not bad at all.

Gloria, is that you?

troll.

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Hardly Calling someone sleazy that you have never met before is classless kid Now quit trying to be all "cool" with your lingo and goodnight

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What he did was sleazy so he's just calling a rat a rat. As for my lingo, it's the way I talk "kid" so quit trying to be a tough guy just because your behind a computer. It's kind of pointless.

Uhhh, not too fond of that pic being what goes up there. Seems like that won't be a popular opinion here, though.

Although I'll still be more popular than 614. Do everyone a favor, troll, don't ever reach post # 45.

I envisioned a digital sign, w/ something like "City First" or "I Am Cleveland" at the bottom. Just a black background w/ a different person's face continuously flashing up onto the screen. A mix of Cleveland's citizens, athletes, mucisians, political figures, whatever. They could offer the opportunity for ANYONE to get their picture taken and added into the rotation.

That city skyline pic is gorgeous, but if I'm looking at it, I'm ALREADY able to see the city skyline.

That would also be a cool idea. just use like those billboards that flip images every few minutes. Ha I would only see it a couple time a year anyways when I go to a Browns or Indians game since I live in PA.

Like Heldawg said, I find it pretty stupid to have a picture of the skyline on a building in downtown Cleveland. Are they going to take a picture of the lake and put it next to the fountain? Take a picture of the river and put it next to a creek? Just seems like there could have been something way better to put up if they were going to put up anything at all.

Ohio company's 'pride' replaces LeBron's 'witness'

CLEVELAND (AP) — Paint company Sherwin-Williams is putting up a giant banner on the side of its Cleveland corporate headquarters where the departed LeBron James once ruled.

The mural scheduled for installation Tuesday shows Cleveland's skyline in black and white and bears the message, "Our Home Since 1866. Our Pride Forever."

It's in the same spot near Quicken Loans Arena where a 10-story sign of James was taken down in July. That was after he announced he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers after seven years to play for the Miami Heat. The James banner showed him with his arms outstretched under the heading: "We Are All Witnesses."

The Sherwin-Williams Co. says the new sign also stands 10 stories tall. It weighs 1.3 tons.

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