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The Statue of Liberty Mutual: With heightened risk awareness in New York City, the Statue of Liberty re-opened to the public today, after years of renovations for safety and security following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. And no, the naming rights to "Liberty Enlightening the World" (its actual title) haven't been sold to an insurance company to fund the renovations.

It's perhaps not such a far-fetched idea, since Longacre Square was renamed Times Square after the New York Times Building erected there in 1904. A hundred years later, that would be the New York Times Square, and there'd be fees involved.

In April 2003, Mayor Bloomberg appointed Joseph Perello, the Chief Marketing Officer for the City of New York to lead a new office, the New York City Marketing Development Corporation. A team of talented sales and marketing professionals - now serving the City - have created the City of New York's first office for licensing, corporate sponsorship, brand management, media management, advertising and marketing. Its mission is to manage New York City's intellectual properties and marketing resources to generate revenue, support City agencies and promote New York City for the growth of jobs and tourism. Snapple is New York City's first marketing partner and their agreement as the exclusive vendor of Iced Tea, Chocolate Drink, and water will provide $126 million to the City over the next five years.

Now, the New York Times reports that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is considering selling naming rights to New York City subway stations, bus lines, bridges and tunnels to fill budget gaps of $1 Billion in the next year. Big dollars, but not everyone is convinced that it's worth it to live where the public space is a branded environment. One editorial on the subject puts it this way:

The fact is branding, naming or whatever you want to call this trend, is a cloak hiding the failure to adequately fund infrastructure. We don't like gimmicks paying for transit -- we think transit, sewer or any other public service is just that, public. The infrastructure costs ought to be paid for by taxpayers or users.

Even if the public could swallow its civic pride to get the sponsorship revenue, would it be a smart idea for a corporation to put its name on a subway station--in New York City, of all places--or would that be a branding disaster just waiting to happen?

Posted by abnu on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 @ 3:11 PM [ + ]

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