Student creates tagline to promote M-24 construction project

Taking its cue from late, great singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer, when it comes to promoting next year’s M-24 construction project, the Oxford Downtown Development Authority (DDA) plans to “accentuate the positive” and “eliminate the negative.”

The DDA’s efforts to “latch on to the affirmative” have begun with a tagline developed by 11-year-old Alia Lovely.

She won the contest to develop a slogan that Oxford can use to help inform the public about the massive road project and encourage folks to continue patronizing downtown businesses during construction.

Lovely, who will enter the sixth grade this fall at Oxford Middle School, came up with the tagline “Restore M-24.”

“I wanted it to be catchy and short,” she said.

She also wanted it to rhyme because she loves to read poetry.

Back in January, Lovely’s mother read about the contest in the Leader and encouraged her daughter to enter.

Lovely worked on the tagline and the drawing that accompanied it during a snow day. At the time, she was a fifth-grader at Clear Lake Elementary.

“I was thinking about it for a while. It took like maybe most of the morning,” she said.

She felt “really confident” about her entry, but was still shocked when she won.

“It was crazy,” Lovely said.

According to DDA Executive Director Glenn Pape, Lovely’s idea was selected because “it was clear, it was very simple and it was very eye-catching.”

But most importantly, he said it contains “a positive message.”

Instead of treating the construction as something negative that Oxford must endure or survive, Pape explained Lovely’s “Restore M-24” speaks to the fact that when the project is finished, the community will have a brand-new main road running through the heart of it and a downtown streetscape that’s been revamped in terms of aesthetics, functionality and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure.

“We’re doing our best to position this as a positive thing moving forward,” he said.

During the project, the stretch of M-24 between Drahner Rd. and Gateway Dr. will be reconstructed, meaning the road will be completely removed and everything rebuilt from the dirt up.

Pape said Lovely’s slogan was incorporated into a logo designed by the Birmingham-based Digital Alliance, which is under contract with the DDA to create “the whole kit” that will be used to communicate with the public about the project. Lovely’s tagline and Digital Alliance’s logo will appear on-line and in print as part of the M-24 marketing/branding campaign.

“We’re in the process of building out our communications plan,” Pape said.

For her efforts, Lovely received $200 in prize money, donated by the DDA.

Lovely said she already spent “a little bit” of it on a mirror, some nail polish and school supplies. She plans to spend the rest on a backpack and camera.

When she’s not busy creating marketing slogans, Lovely plays the saxophone and is a competitive gymnast.