The urban brands census

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by pj3000

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

Hey now! I may be old, but I'm not that old. My dad worked for Humble Oil. I visited him myself in the Humble Building in Houston. Humble changed its name to Exxon Company USA in late 1972 when Standard Oil of New Jersey changed to Exxon Corporation.

[homebucket]

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.

I think the fact that you'll have had Rice A Roni before multiple native and transplant San Franciscans here in this thread, speaks for itself.

[bilbao58]

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.

A lot of those on the list, including most that I chimed in with, don't fit the criteria. Let me just say, though, that people don't generally think of Pittsburgh when they pick up a Heinz product.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by homebucket

I think the fact that you'll have had Rice A Roni before multiple native and transplant San Franciscans here in this thread, speaks for itself.

What I think is funny about Rice-A-Roni is that when i finally took the time to actually look at the photo on the box (I've never had the stuff), my first thought was "Hey. That looks like the rice dish I get with the lamb shank at the Lebanese restaurant I like." Turns out that is exactly (more-or-less) what it is.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by homebucket

San Francisco - Levi Strauss & Co.

Good one.

[Pedestrian]

San Francisco: Wells Fargo and (suck it up, North Carolina) Bank of America

Up and comer: Robinhood Financial

As someone above said, the fact that BofA got bought by a devious Carolinian means nothing "brands get bought all the time". It's still the "Bank of Italy" that survived the 1906 quake.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

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


from Ebay


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

Don't change the subject of the conversation. We were not talking about branding in this case. We were talking about association with place.

In terms of what we were discussing... Anchor Steam is not a widely-known brand of beer. Joe Average and even Charlie Sixpack likely don't even recognize the name as a type of beer. To claim a strong association with a rather unknown product with San Francisco is crazy talk.


I think you need to refine your exercise.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by homebucket

San Francisco - Levi Strauss & Co.

That's one that I believe is actually associated with San Francisco.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by homebucket

Is Timbuk2 well known outside of SF though?

I've heard of it in a different country and on the other side of the continent and even knew it was from SF.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

A lot of those on the list, including most that I chimed in with, don't fit the criteria. Let me just say, though, that people don't generally think of Pittsburgh when they pick up a Heinz product.

No, of course they don't. But that's not a parameter here. No one thinks of fucking Nashville when they're drinking a cup of Maxwell House either.

When's the last time you thought about Boston while eating NECCO wafers candy?

[bilbao58]

Shiner, TX
Some more serious beer drinkers may know Shiner Bock and other Shiner beers.

Houston
Some even more serious beer drinkers may know of Saint Arnold Brewing Company which has some very specific to Houston names for some of its beers.

Golden, Colorado
Coors definitely plays (played?) up their Colorado roots when advertising their flavorless swill pretending to be beer.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Don't change the subject of the conversation. We were not talking about branding in this case. We were talking about association with place.

In terms of what we were discussing... Anchor Steam is not a widely-known brand of beer. Joe Average and even Charlie Sixpack likely don't even recognize the name as a type of beer. To claim a strong association with a rather unknown product with San Francisco is crazy talk.


I think you need to refine your exercise.

We are talking about a brand that employs something specific to a city in its branding. That is what this thread is about. Not about where companies are located.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by pj3000

No, of course they don't. But that's not a parameter here. No one thinks of fucking Nashville when they're drinking a cup of Maxwell House either.

When's the last time you thought about Boston while eating NECCO wafers candy?

I don't even know what a NECCO wafer is and when I think of Maxwell House I think of Houston because for half a century they had a major coffee plant just outside of downtown that had a giant, lighted "Good to the last drop!" coffee cup on the side of it.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

We are talking about a brand that employs something specific to a city in its branding. That is what this thread is about. Not about where companies are located.

We were talking about place association with a certain brand.

I'm not saying that people immediately think of Pittsburgh when they dip their fries in ketchup. But I know for sure there's way more people who recognize that there is a connection between Heinz and Pittsburgh, than who recognize a connection between Anchor Steam and San Francisco. Just a volume game at play here.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by pj3000

We were talking about place association with a certain brand.

I'm not saying that people immediately think of Pittsburgh when they dip their fries in ketchup. But I know for sure there's way more people who recognize that there is a connection between Heinz and Pittsburgh, than who recognize a connection between Anchor Steam and San Francisco. Just a volume game at play here.

People know that there is a connection between their car and Detroit, but that doesn't mean GM should be on the list. The company doesn't really use Detroit in its branding. It could be located anywhere.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

People know that there is a connection between their car and Detroit, but that doesn't mean GM should be on the list. The company doesn't really use Detroit in its branding. It could be located anywhere.

i loved the old chrysler 200 "imported from detroit" commercial with eminem from years back.

blatantly playing up the detroit "motor city" angle for branding purposes.

• Video Link

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

People know that there is a connection between their car and Detroit, but that doesn't mean GM should be on the list. The company doesn't really use Detroit in its branding. It could be located anywhere.

Ok, then you should probably remove two of your criteria

• have some culturally specific tie to a city
• otherwise understood to be strongly associated with a particular city, or place within a city

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

i loved the old chrysler 200 "imported from detroit" commercial with eminem from years back.

blatantly playing up the detroit "motor city" angle for branding purposes.

Yeah, I thought about that but didn't include it because it was just a single campaign. John Varvatos also tied his brand to Detroit in relation to that campaign. Before that the Varvatos brand was more linked to New York.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

San Francisco: Wells Fargo and (suck it up, North Carolina) Bank of America

Up and comer: Robinhood Financial

As someone above said, the fact that BofA got bought by a devious Carolinian means nothing "brands get bought all the time". It's still the "Bank of Italy" that survived the 1906 quake.

Wells Fargo definitely. BoA, I knew it was in SF because of its building. I doubt many who weren't interested in architecture or finance associated it with SF.

[iheartthed]

Chicago: Uno's Pizzeria