ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- It's the city of Martin Luther King Jr., Coca-Cola, CNN and "Gone With The Wind."Yet Atlanta has always struggled to crystallize all that it is into an image the rest of the world can embrace.Nothing summed up that futility more than during the run-up to the 1996 Summer Olympics, when Atlanta unveiled its mascot of the games, Izzy -- an amorphous blob."Atlantans love their city, but the word has not traveled as far as we would have hoped," Mayor Shirley Franklin acknowledged in October as she announced a new, $4.5 million campaign to brand the city for tourists.The city has also unveiled a flashy new red-and-white logo and a new theme song -- "The ATL" -- penned by Atlanta hip-hop producer Dallas Austin. A campaign slogan will be announced during a downtown concert November 10.It's all aimed at helping Atlanta catch up with cities such as Las Vegas and New York, where years of heavy marketing have paid off with ever-increasing tourism numbers.For visitor Pam Grapatin, of Cleveland, Ohio, there is clearly much work to be done."To be honest, being from Cleveland, you don't think too much about Atlanta except that it has a bunch of traffic," she said as she snapped pictures at Centennial Olympic Park. And she's a travel agent.Marketing professionals say her response is no surprise.While Atlanta is the eighth-largest media market in the country with a metropolitan area of roughly 4 million people, it's never done the kind of self-promotion that most major cities do, said John Barker, president of DZP Marketing Communications in New York, whose clients have included Comedy Central, Major League Soccer and UNICEF."It's safe to say that the image of Atlanta does currently lag behind the reality of Atlanta," Barker said. "It has a terrific arts scene, great restaurants, great cultural venues and facilities. What they now need is a way to bring that reality out in the open in a simple and memorable way."'The time is right'But tourism officials hope that several high-profile attractions and developments will bring new life to the hit-or-miss appeal of Atlanta's downtown.The campaign coincides with the debut of the Georgia Aquarium, billed as the world's largest aquarium, on November 23; the November 12 opening of three new buildings at the High Museum of Art; a new retail center, Atlantic Station, and two new hotels scheduled to open next year.Another top local attraction, the "Inside CNN" studio tour, has undergone a $5.5 million overhaul to make it more interactive.And looking down the road, in 2007, the World of Coca-Cola museum will move about a mile from its current spot to a site next door to the aquarium.Atlanta is also one of five finalists for a NASCAR hall of fame that would sit across the street -- also near Centennial Park, CNN, the Georgia Dome and the Georgia World Congress Center."So much has happened, or is about to happen," Franklin said. "The time is right."Barker said it's hard to judge the campaign based on the information that's been released so far. He predicted that a "Three O's" theme -- opportunity, openness and optimism -- announced last week is more about building local support for the campaign than anything that will become part of a marketing strategy."No one's going to come to Atlanta for 'the three O's,"' he said.He said one challenge facing the Brand Atlanta campaign committee, directed by Coca-Cola vice president Jackson Kelly, will be getting effective marketing techniques approved by everyone involved.Kelly called the Las Vegas ads with the racy tagline -- "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" -- one of the greatest tourism campaigns ever, but said he was surprised they were approved by political and tourism officials."Atlanta will need to overcome the hurdles of internal bureaucracy and the tendency for committees to create mediocre campaigns," Barker said. "It's not an issue that is distinct to Atlanta. It's an issue distinct to politics."Hints about themes for the city's new marketing campaign suggest that hip-hop might play a role. In addition to inspiring the title of Austin's song, the new logo highlights the letters "ATL" in the city's name -- which is also the ticketing code for its airport. "The ATL" is a slang term for the city coined by hip-hop artists, which is home to chart-topping acts such as Austin, OutKast, Ludacris and Jermaine Dupri, who teamed up on the 2001 hit "Welcome to Atlanta."Franklin said the campaign won't be limited to just hip-hop, and instead will focus on the city's diversity."As Brand Atlanta continues to roll out over the next month, you will begin to see the essence of Atlanta come to life," she said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.