Brooklyn Branding: How Far Can It Go?
Crain’s wrote ran an article over the weekend on a topic we’ve been thinking a lot about lately: the proliferation of Brooklyn-branded companies. Crain’s cites a few recent ones like Brooklyn Winery and Brooklyn Gin as well as a few older ones like Brooklyn Brewery and Brooklyn Industries. (No mention of the Brooklyn Flea, which…
Crain’s wrote ran an article over the weekend on a topic we’ve been thinking a lot about lately: the proliferation of Brooklyn-branded companies. Crain’s cites a few recent ones like Brooklyn Winery and Brooklyn Gin as well as a few older ones like Brooklyn Brewery and Brooklyn Industries. (No mention of the Brooklyn Flea, which falls somewhere in the middle of the timeline, but may have marked some kind of tipping point in the Brooklyn naming frenzy.) The reason for the wave of new companies is obvious: Brooklyn connotes, now on an international level, a unique kind of authenticity and coolness. Or as one marketing exec on the article puts it, Brooklyn has come to stand for a quality of life, and that quality of life has extended into quality of product.” That may be true, but very few things stay cool forever. It’ll be interesting to see whether, as the Brooklyn brand gets more commoditized, it can avoid being eroded. We sure hope so. And the branding options aren’t entirely played out: No one’s launched the Brooklyn Toilet Paper Company yet, though maybe someone in Bushwick loft is working on a business plan right now!
Photo by Matthew Kiernan
@ppwest re: picture of gum and cigs. Don’t really have time to set up a flicker account or how best to post a picture here. So I will place a picture in a new forum article. I hope that is not an abuse.
“Rob is right that only 2 or 3 neighborhoods have any of the so called cool Brooklyn cachet. Most of Brooklyn is still off the map for most people outside of Brooklyn.”
Yes, MM, and you can count yourself a member of that camp, judging from the neighborhoods that your Brownstoner column profiles.
Years ago, I was in a bar in the East Village. A group of Santas tried to come in, but the bartender ran to the door and shouted, “We don’t serve your kind here!” He barred their entrance and they slunk off into the night.
“I still know a lot of people who think coming to Brooklyn for social reasons is completely out of the question.”
after my experience in the east village saturday night, with all the santacontards, i hope that attitude is contagious.
This is sort of a half-formed thought but my writer’s group met recently at a coffeeshop in Union Square. I noticed how similar the selection of items was to most of the coffeeshops in Brooklyn. For some reason I felt like Brooklyn had trickled outward to this place.
What 11217 said.
“I still know a lot of people who think coming to Brooklyn for social reasons is completely out of the question.”
Honestly, people who lack in curiosity or adventure (live in Manhattan and won’t set foot in Brooklyn) are the exact opposite kind of people I’d want to interact with, so no big loss.
That gives me hope, iJester.
I still know a lot of people who think coming to Brooklyn for social reasons is completely out of the question.