Amsterdam is literally cheesy, America is cool. And you are clear. ;)

on a serious note i do have to say: as an outsider, i would have COMPLETELY missed any reference to Amsterdam, this seems purely American and "patriotic".

Thanks for the feedback, John. In case you're interested in seeing more of the "I amsterdam" campaign materials (as a point of reference), you could check out http://www.iamsterdam.com.

Before checking your link to the "I am Amsterdam" campaign I felt that it was lacking the Amsterdam feel as well.
Familiarity with the campaign eliminated this concern.

I love it - now all we need are some giant block letters and a spot in NYC for them. Maybe MOMA would take it in...

How much of business in Amsterdam is carried out in English? I was surprised to see this is an English website. Is there a corresponding site in Dutch?

About your photoshop, my first thought was 'cool message.' Now I'm distracted by Eric A. looking more like 'erica' as my mind didn't automatically create the space and the period.

I came back to your website a few hours later and now it's easier for me to see the Eric and "a" as separate.

Great idea, Will, to try and do the block-letter thing in New York or someplace over there! There isn't really any natural equivalent to the Rijksmuseum, is there? Well, maybe out on the National Mall in Washington, close to the Smithsonian (which I'd say is about as close as the USA gets to the Rijksmuseum)... :-)

As for the English thing, it is indeed a very bizarre phenomenon that I still haven't been able to completely figure out -- but there's definitely something about Dutch advertisers liking to use English for their ad campaigns. So many products (even Dutch products) will have an English tag-line -- even if the rest of the commercial is completely in Dutch.

And, of course, with the "I amsterdam" campaign in particular, their primary audience is likely tourists -- so English is a logical choice for that. The Dutch equivalent to the site is simply www.amsterdam.nl, but that doesn't seem to use the "I amsterdam" theme at all (though it is the same fonts and color schemes).