The urban brands census

[pj3000]

I love that Rice-A-Roni “The San Francisco Treat!” dominates this thread. You guys are awesome.

Going to grab a couple boxes at the store tonight so that I can get that authentic San Francisco taste and overall feel of the city.

[pj3000]

First page and we’ve already gone way off course.

Many of these brands listed have very limited association with the city. These aren’t widely-recognized “city brands” or follow any of the parameters asked by the OP. Stop this madness.

Chipotle - Denver?
Dukes Mayo and BMW - Greenville, SC?
Nabisco - Chicago?
Boeing - Seattle?
Twitter - San Francisco?
3M - Minneapolis?

These are not brands strongly associated with their cities. Being founded somewhere or HQ’d somewhere does not confer widespread association in the cultural landscape.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by pj3000

I love that Rice-A-Roni “The San Francisco Treat!” dominates this thread. You guys are awesome.

Going to grab a couple boxes at the store tonight so that I can get that authentic San Francisco taste and overall feel of the city.

Rice-A-Roni, a $7 bottle of Beringer chardonnay and Full House reruns. That's how I get my authentic Bay Area experience.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Rice-A-Roni, a $7 bottle of Beringer chardonnay and Full House reruns. That's how I get my authentic Bay Area experience.

When Uncle Joey does his Bullwinkle impression, I swear I can feel the Bay breeze flowing through my hair as I crest Nob Hill on the cable car.

[north 42]

Faygo Pop, Vernors and Sanders Chocolates are all strong local Detroit brands.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by tech12

lol

People in SF don't even eat this stuff, and it's made by Quaker Oats/Pepsico, neither of which are based in SF.

Shinola was created by a bunch of dudes from Texas. This is about branding.

[iheartthed]

n/m

[iheartthed]

Current tally:

Asheville
The Biltmore Company

Boston
Boston Baked Beans
NECCO Wafers (New England Confectionery Company)
Sam Adams

Detroit
Shinola Detroit

El Paso, TX
Old El Paso

Humble, TX (Houston suburb)
Humble Oil (now Exxon)

Louisville
Louisville Slugger

Milwaukee
Miller Brewing Company

Pittsburgh
Iron City Beer
PPG Industries (Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company)

Philadelphia
Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Nashville
Maxwell House

New Orleans
Popeye's
Zatarain's

New York
Donna Karen New York
Nathan's Famous Inc
Saks Fifth Avenue
Tiffany's

San Francisco
Anchor Steam
Rice a Roni

Seattle
Seattle's Best Coffee

St. Louis
Anheuser-Busch

[pj3000]

• be directly named after the city or place within the city
• use the city or location in the slogan
• have some culturally specific tie to a city
• otherwise understood to be strongly associated with a particular city, or place within a city

How does Nathan's Famous qualify for your parameters? Or Anchor Steam?

Or Humble Oil? That hasn't even been a brand for probably 100 years.

[Steely Dan]

i've always strongly associated the budweiser/AB brand with st. louis, but maybe that's just more of a chicago awareness than a national one.

as an old chicago joke goes:

"we reversed the flow of the chicago river back in 1900, so now we send all of our sewage down the illinois river to st. louis, where they promptly siphon it up, bottle it, and sell it back to us as budweiser"

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by pj3000

• be directly named after the city or place within the city
• use the city or location in the slogan
• have some culturally specific tie to a city
• otherwise understood to be strongly associated with a particular city, or place within a city

How does Nathan's Famous qualify for your parameters? Or Anchor Steam?

Or Humble Oil? That hasn't even been a brand for probably 100 years.

Nathan's is strongly associated with Coney Island. Anchor Steam is also strongly associated with San Francisco. I was being generous with Humble Oil...

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

i've always strongly associated the budweiser/AB brand with st. louis, but maybe that's just more of a chicago awareness than a national one.

as an old chicago joke goes:

"we reversed the flow of the chicago river back in 1900, so now we send all of our sewage down the illinois river to st. louis, where they promptly siphon it up, bottle it, and sell it back to us as budweiser"

To me, it's national. I've always know Budweiser/AB to be associated with St. Louis. Much like I associated Coors with Colorado. Both because of the commercials which specifically stated that's where they were from. And more so than Miller with Milwaukee, actually.

All the Bud commercials always seemed to end with "Anheuser-Busch - St. Louis, Missouri".

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Nathan's is strongly associated with Coney Island. Anchor Steam is also strongly associated with San Francisco. I was being generous with Humble Oil...

I doubt the vast majority of the population has any clue that Nathan's hot dogs are from Coney Island. People know the hot dog eating contest, and probably many more could name the guy that always wins, than would know that they're from Coney Island. Even more obscure is Anchor Steam. Neither are strongly associated with those places. And I would think that there is significantly less of a national/international association of those brands with Coney Island and SF, than a brand like Heinz being associated with Pittsburgh.

I'm a beer drinker, so I know Anchor Steam, but it's FAR FAR FAR from a widely-recognized brand, much less a brand associated with San Francisco.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by pj3000

I doubt the vast majority of the population has any clue that Nathan's hot dogs are from Coney Island. People know the hot dog eating contest, and probably many more could name the guy that always wins, than would know that they're from Coney Island. Even more obscure is Anchor Steam. Neither are strongly associated with those places. And I would think that there is significantly less of a national/international association of those brands with Coney Island and SF, than a brand like Heinz being associated with Pittsburgh.

I'm a beer drinker, so I know Anchor Steam, but it's FAR FAR FAR from a widely-recognized brand, much less a brand associated with San Francisco.

Well... neither of us live in San Francisco but we both know Anchor Steam and we both know it's from SF, so I guess that passes the test.

I don't know how you disassociate Nathan's or the hot dog eating contest from Coney Island. I'm not going to argue that it is the most widely recognized household brand, but I think if anyone recognizes the Nathan's brand then they would be reasonably aware of its connection to Coney Island.

I don't think Heinz is really that strongly associated with Pittsburgh. I really only know of the association because I've actually been to Pittsburgh.

[Crawford]

That July 4 Hot Dog Eating Contest is on ESPN, and shown multiple times through the day. I'm pretty sure Nathan's is strongly associated with Coney Island.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Well... neither of us live in San Francisco but we both know Anchor Steam and we both know it's from SF, so I guess that passes the test.


I don't think Heinz is really that strongly associated with Pittsburgh. I really only know of the association because I've actually been to Pittsburgh.

Well, if that's the criteria to pass the test... whoa I'm not sure where this exercise could go.

I mean, you seriously are claiming that Anchor Steam has greater place association than Heinz?

Just one example, ask any (even casual) NFL fan where the Pittsburgh Steelers play. Is that more than two people who don't live in Pittsburgh? What is the average viewership of just a single NFL game? How many millions?

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Well, if that's the criteria to pass the test... whoa I'm not sure where this exercise could go.

I mean, you seriously are claiming that Anchor Steam has greater place association than Heinz?

Yes. Give me one example of Pittsburgh being used in Heinz's branding. This is the Anchor Steam label:


from Ebay

Originally Posted by pj3000

Just one example, ask any (even casual) NFL fan where the Pittsburgh Steelers play. Is that more than two people who don't live in Pittsburgh? What is the average viewership of just a single NFL game? How many millions?

There are plenty of stadiums named after corporations with little or no ties to the area.

[homebucket]

San Francisco - Levi Strauss & Co.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

For SF, Timbuk2 comes to mind.

Is Timbuk2 well known outside of SF though?

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by pj3000

I love that Rice-A-Roni “The San Francisco Treat!” dominates this thread. You guys are awesome.

Going to grab a couple boxes at the store tonight so that I can get that authentic San Francisco taste and overall feel of the city.