March 13, 2025 • 31 mins
What makes a place a brand? From New York City's magnetic pull to America's shifting national identity, we're exploring the power of geographic and cultural branding in ways that touch every aspect of our lives.
New York City stands as perhaps the ultimate example of place-based branding – a location so iconic that people worldwide dream of experiencing it, often treating the city like a consumable product rather than an evolving community. But does visiting make you a New Yorker? We dive into how identity gets tied to locations, especially during our formative years, and why someone from Harlem in Nigeria will proudly claim their neighborhood rather than simply saying "I'm from New York."
Meanwhile, America seems caught in a massive rebranding effort. Unlike countries with clear brand associations – Japan with technology, France with fashion – America's identity feels increasingly contested. The traditional "land of opportunity" narrative appears to be shifting toward something more competitive and exclusionary – what we've dubbed a "get down or lay down" mentality that prioritizes existing citizens over newcomers.
Perhaps most fascinating is how America functions as a brand composed of numerous "sub-brands" – diverse cultural communities that collectively create the American experience. Yet as multicultural epicenters like New York, LA, and Atlanta face gentrification and changing demographics, we're left wondering: if these cities lose their distinctive character, what remains of the American brand?
This conversation matters because branding isn't just marketing – it's about how we define ourselves, our communities, and our shared future. Join us as we unpack the complex interplay between place, identity, and belonging in an increasingly branded world.
Thanks for tuning in to The Ad Bros Podcast! If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share it with your crew.
Catch us next time for more insights and creativity, right here on The Ad Bros Podcast, powered by Kaffeine Media Network. See you soon!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I can see a guy from Harlem on some corner in Nigeria
and they're saying where areyou from?
They're not going to say I'mfrom New York.
They're going to say I'm fromHarlem.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yeah, that is a fact.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
That's a fact, you're kind of trying to separate
yourself and saying like Harlemis very different from Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
um yeah, uh, so we're back um what's good fellas, we
back, we back.
Yeah, part two of the brandingconversation yeah, part two.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
We we are here to kind of talk about abstract, um
the abstract thinking of brandsand not just companies.
But you know, I think, I thinkin this episode we're going to
talk about countries, um people,personal brands a little bit,
and uh, yeah, I think, and alsotoo.
(01:15):
You, you brought up kind of agood point during while we were
pre-talking about this um, Ithink, um, political slogans.
Uh, we won't get in too deepinto all of them, but they're
like.
You know.
There are some great politicalslogans that kind of just stick
in your head Brand wise that nomatter what is just in your head
.
(01:36):
But yeah, we'll get to that.
But yeah, I just want tointroduce myself, tony Stallion.
One third of the Ad BrosPodcast.
One sixth of the full Ad Bros.
One fourth of Ad Bros New YorkCity.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
I'm just a mathematics.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I'm just saying.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
This your boy, AD director from ATL.
By way of Decatur Grady babyall day here to talk about
brands and nationality, and Iguess my Nationality would be.
I'm me and that's all thatmatters there you go.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I like that.
I like that the boy easy rosebrown says finest.
You already know I'm having itmy way and got no complaints.
You know we doing what we'resupposed to do, so uh, yeah,
jump right into it.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Oh, yeah, I thought you was about to say something
oh no, no no, you stepped downlike okay, everything good, I
always try to see if y'all goodyeah, we just did that so when
we edit it, we know where to cutit.
So just keep going, just keepgoing leave that in there but,
(02:49):
uh, listen, so we're, we're,we're here.
Right, we're going to talkabout branding from the
perspective of nationality,right?
This idea can certain things bea brand, like a person like a
group of people like a group ofpeople right.
Can certain people be a brand?
Can groups of people be a brand?
Can a state be a brand?
Right, can a clique of peoplebe a brand?
(03:10):
Can a country be a brand?
Like you know, branding is aserious big thing that a lot of
people are like using to tellstories, especially in the age
of like social media.
But let's talk about that.
Like, this idea of like, canall these different groups or
individuals be brands and whyand why should we care and why
does it matter, let's start bestbrand out there, new york city
(03:32):
okay, why yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:35):
everyone wants to come here to.
Uh, I've heard it so much, soall right, let me.
Let me get into story time.
So it's in his bag so so I, Imoved the way I moved out of new
york, uh, back in a pandemicfor a job, um, and then recently
he came back when, um, when Iwas gone multiple on multiple
(03:57):
occasions, people were like, whywould you come here from new
york?
Like for them, they werebaffled that it was backwards
for them.
They were like, why the fuckwould you come here from new
york city?
I was like I want to trysomething new, experience,
something new.
Yada, yada, yada.
So fast forward.
I went on a trip to new orleanslast spring and you know I went
(04:17):
to this uh, I'm not gonna namethe restaurant, but I went to
this.
Uh, um, I had a restaurantexperience.
It was like a eight course meal, um, a nigerian I want to say,
yeah, nigerian restaurant.
Um, and it was, uh, I want tosay I think it was called but
like lunchroom style, where,like, they basically sit you
(04:37):
with whoever, unless you comewith somebody, they, uh, they
sit you at a table with a groupof people and strangers and you
have, you know, conversations,talk, whatever, and so at the
table, one dude at a table witha group of people and strangers,
and you have conversations,talk, whatever, and so at the
table.
One dude at the table was fromNew York Brooklyn, and I was by
way of New York.
Everyone else had lived.
No, I think one couple didn'tlive in New York, but they were
saying how they would love to doit and everyone else lived in
(05:00):
New York at one point in timeand like at least 30 minutes of
the conversation was talkingabout how much they love New
York even though they left.
So my point is New York, um, sobranding is strong, I think, in
.
I mean there's other cities,but you know I'm repping the
home team in movies.
People see movies, people watchTV shows Seinfeld, you know Law
(05:24):
and Order whatever, and theylike yo, I want to experience
that they treat New York like a$2 hooker and they come here and
they use her for all herresources and then go back home
and basically live the nostalgiaof their time in New York.
(05:45):
But my point is New York is notfor everybody.
I understand some people wantto raise families and it's a lot
of hustle, bustle and it's veryexpensive to live here.
I understand all of thosepoints in a realistic sense, but
just if we're talking aboutbrands and who we are, and even
(06:06):
just on a serious sense, if yougo back to the pandemic, a lot
of stuff start.
A lot of stuff is kind of start.
If it's successful in New York,it will be adopted in other
states.
Which is why I was very worriedabout the congestion,
congestion pricing thing becausealthough that's a whole nother
thing that trump shut down, butif that was very, it was
(06:27):
successful, it made a lot ofmoney.
But my fear was like all right,they're gonna start doing it in
la, they're gonna start doingit in dc, they're gonna start
doing it maybe in it, maybe inAtlanta, because I mean I
haven't been in Atlanta a lotbut I know the traffic could be
kind of crazy, and it neverhappened.
And then, and then it wouldjust be, and then, and then
places will start to be, youknow, it will start to build
into like, if you don't have themoney or the means to pay for
(06:48):
this, you're basically nottraveling anywhere.
But yeah, like I said, duringthe pandemic there were things
that I think New York did thatwas later adopted by LA and then
adopted by other states.
So it's like yo, if it workshere, then it works anywhere.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
So let's take a step back.
Those people you were talkingabout right, Are you calling
them like cultural colonizers?
Because you kind of got intolike these people.
They treat New York like a $2.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I didn't realize $2 hookers or hoes I don't know
what you want to call it arethat resourceful.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
I'm just saying they're not the cleanest.
They're not the cleanest, notthat I would know, but I'm just
saying Sorry, what was yourquestion?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Repeat that.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I was just asking the question like.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Oh, are they cultural colonizers.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
He is like that's what you're calling.
No, I think I like Drake.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
No, no, I wouldn't even put that on him.
I think they want to.
I think they see all of thepositives of New York and they
want to experience that, which Ithink everyone should have that
experience.
But my thing is and you saidthis before, rose, on another
podcast that I'm not going totalk about but when you come
somewhere, you should take yourshoes off, you should show love
(08:04):
and help the community.
Don't move in.
I remember one time I was at anex's apartment and you know she
had two roommatesucasianroommates and they were living
in bushwick, um close to myrtleave, and they lived in like a
studio that got um refurnishedinto apartments and I remember
(08:25):
her saying like, oh man, I can'twait till that bodega turns
into like a juice shop orsomething and it's like that's
gentrification yeah, but mything is like, don't come like I
get it.
Some neighbors aren't the safest, but don't come here and be
like I'm going to change it.
Raise the value for the peoplewho live here, which might be
nice if you have the funds andthen just bounce.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
So this is all to say that New York is the greatest
place in the world for you.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I think it's one of, because I remember when we
talked about states.
Yes, I remember you guys saidsomething Because here's the
funny thing We'll get into Japan.
Well, here's the funny thing.
Oh, you're about to show.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Atlanta is full of a lot of New York people.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
It just is A lot of.
New York people leave New Yorkand come to.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
New York.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I'm just saying.
I'm just saying that is becauseof finances.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Finances.
Yeah, they weren't built tolast.
Well, it's not even just that.
It's not just finances.
There's a lot of colleges downthere.
If you had a green student pass, you should have like 30% off
your rent.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Yeah, I don't think it's just finances.
There's a lot of people movedto Atlanta for a lot of reasons.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Yeah, it's space.
There's a lot, but no real talkthough A lot of cats came to
Atlanta for culture.
That's why we cool, they camefor Jack the Rapper was down
there first.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Yes, sir, they came for the colleges, right.
I mean the AU Center was withMorehouse, Spellman, Morris
Brown, Love, Morris Brown, Clark, Atlanta, Dustin Cole's alma
mater.
Hey, a lot of cats came thereto just find enlightenment and
bonding of different blackpeople from all over the country
.
And you know it was ChocolateCity, it was a sit-up on the
(09:58):
come-up and you know it was kindof like it was considered the
Harlem of the South at one point, right.
So I know a lot of people wouldsay that, but a lot of ATLs
would never say that.
But it was compared to that.
But yeah, you know, I mean Ifeel you in your New York bag,
but I can't sit here and be like, yeah, right, Tony and I'm from
the A and like motherfuckersare moving there all the time
(10:19):
and people love from Atlantalove to say, hey, Atlanta closed
, no, it ain't.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
I seen the airport.
That shit ain't closed.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
The airport sucks but , and I love it.
It's crazy.
I can talk that shit about it,but I do think it goes back to
this idea again, like any andeveryone can be a brand, just to
jump on that point.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
that's my last point about New York.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
If you're not, from here, don't talk shit about here
.
Well, you know, that kind ofjumps into like a lot of
conversations that's happeningIn America Everywhere, right,
everywhere.
Yeah, so you have.
I think what you're talkingabout, tony, is people.
They come to New York, theylive here for a few years and
then they just have thatprivilege.
Like they've been privileged toNew York and all of the work
(11:02):
that other people put in, yeah.
And now it's like oh yeah, likeI've done that.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
And you're coming with.
Hopefully, most people come inwith jobs.
Some people come in with jobs,some people come in with dreams.
You're coming as a grown adult.
You've already fully formedyour opinions and your ideas and
you probably have money.
We had to grow up and get tothat point yeah, and that's a
good point.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Like I think we've had that conversation, I feel
like a while ago we was having aconversation about like what
makes a new yorker and like areyou a new Yorker and I lived
here for 10 years, like all thatbullshit, right.
Like the reality is where youcame, where you grew up in,
whether, if it's junior highschool, in those formative years
we've come kind of came to I'mgoing to say you and me, we came
(11:47):
to an alignment agreement thatyour formative years is the
expression of where you're fromyeah, I know some people say you
got to be born here to be a newyorker.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
To me I I say if you, even if you came at one, if you
were raised here, like you saidright formative years.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Yeah yeah, you new yorker.
Well, I mean okay, I'm sorryreal quick, like new yorkers,
don't even call ourselves newyorkers too no, we go by borough
, but you do that probably whenyou leave and go somewhere else.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
It's like a way of identifying.
It's like you don't say you'reAmerican in America.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Every place I've been to, people will be like I'm
from Brooklyn.
I was just about to say that,or if they're not from Brooklyn,
they're just saying they'refrom.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Brooklyn.
Well, it's like nobody fromAtlanta City atl ain't like
nobody says that.
Yeah, like I say, I'm fromeither bankhead, or you from the
east side or you from swat.
So you know you grew up.
Sometimes you identify based onthe hospital you was born in,
which is I heard about that.
There's some wild shit heylisten, I say I'm a greater be
all day, right, but that's onlyin atlanta and it's funny
because if you're not talking,I'm talking about like branding
(12:49):
of cities, territories and place, like that.
I mean that's kind of whereamerica is right now.
Right, that's kind of whererussia is, that's kind of where
japan is, and if you talk abouta brand and even like a sea
light, new york, yeah, it has along standing of having a brand
that everybody wants to eitherbe a part of that or experience
like this idea of you can makein new york, you can make it
(13:11):
anywhere.
If you in amer america it'slike now it's, you know, it's
it's america first, or it's magamake it, make it great, which
that came from monterey, right,but yeah, we're now basically
saying that, yeah, anything inany place can be a brand,
because places do have brand.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I mean, that's how you do tourism, right, you can't
have tourism without brandingof a place yeah, I think it's
also too, just like the identityTony was speaking about, like
we were just talking about NewYorkers, right, and I was saying
, like no New Yorkers callthemselves a New Yorker, if you
go, because we kind of gravitateto our boroughs, or just like a
(13:46):
specific popular area, right,so I can see a guy from Harlem
on some some corner in nigeriaand they're saying where you're
from, they're not gonna say I'mfrom new york, I'm from harlem
yeah like it.
Just you're kind of, you're kindof trying to separate yourself
and saying like harlem is verydifferent from brooklyn right,
although it's all new york right, or in queen.
(14:08):
I feel like queens in in inbrooklyn are kind of like
cousins, but like when you thinkabout cats, like he didn't
really agree with that no, no,no, no yeah like I have a lot of
family in queens and peoplelike all the cats I know in
queens.
They're like oh, I got cousinsin brooklyn, I'm always in
brooklyn physically the, the,the land is connected right so,
so, so we are we, we arebrothers in our arms, kings and
(14:31):
queens huh.
Yeah, no, it's interesting thatyou say that, because just to
evolve the conversation a littlebit, oh, before we jump in, the
only thing I was going to sayis I kind of started off with
that identity and when you'refrom a place that has this
notoriety or people know aboutit, right, you kind of take that
on.
You're like, yeah, I'm fromthere, I survived that.
(14:53):
But if you're from places like,uh, surrounding places in
boston that no one knows, you'regonna say, oh, yeah, I'm like
10 minutes away from boston.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
like you will never say these people never say I
know our, um, our chicagobrothers aren't on here, but
like, yeah, I met people who arelike, who will say like they're
from chicago but will be likean hour outside of chicago yeah,
um no, I was just saying justto evolve the conversation.
It's funny that you say thatabout like harlem, because I
think I don't think america well, I, I can't speak very.
(15:24):
I feel like a lot of americansdon't say they're american when
they're traveling.
They'll say like their state alot um, like, like, like, like.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I guess it depends on how well known it is.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
but, like I've just noticed that when I was out and
I was thinking we're talkingabout, talking about um like
branding and identity, I seethat a lot us being in new york,
we see, I see that a lot withyou know caribbean and folks and
people from um africancountries, like a lot, like a
lot of people will be like yo,I'm from Ghana or I'm from
(15:55):
Nigeria, or like bringing itback to Caribbean, like if you
call a Jamaican Trinidadian, ora.
Guyanese.
Asian they're going to startarguing like what the fuck what
you think.
And again, I don't want to speaktoo much, but I feel like it's
a similar thing in Asian cultureas well as latino culture.
(16:16):
It's like yo, they like yo, getit right.
I'm not whatever you thought Iwas, I'm this and and they're
very proud of it and I thinkright I think that's important
too yeah, but it is.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
It's so um significant that you say that,
because I feel like they'redoing that to black people in
amer right, like this whole likefoundational black American
thing.
Right, it's like yo Ados.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Ados.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Shouts to them.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Right.
But then you have people whocome from different places and
they're saying, like no, you'reAfrican.
You're like, and then you cansay, well, everyone's from
Africa, right, yeah.
So now it's like a conversationis like oh well, they want to
just put this label on you.
You're saying, well, I mean,you could be whatever you want
to be.
Like me personally, I don'tmove forward saying I'm
african-american, I'm uh,american or uh, I kind of relate
(17:02):
more to foundational black,american than just saying I'm,
you know, african or for someother place, but that people
find discomfort in that.
And it's like now they'retrying to tell you about you and
it's like me trying to tell youabout you.
Like it, it doesn't work.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
So, uh, I think that's just a very interesting
conversation yeah, I remember,you know, taking some trip,
taking a trip out to copenhagen.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
A little flex there, I guess um you know, whatever um
you know shit.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
I work for, I can say what I want.
Yeah, I, you know the time Ispent there with Nicole.
I mean they just instantly knewwe was Americans, just because
of how we talk, but they knew itwas obviously black, but it
wasn't like.
You know, the first thing thatthey said, oh, you're American.
You know, check out theseAmericans or whatever.
But it's funny here, being backin America as African-American,
(17:51):
you know this idea of what thebrand means to me is going to be
uniquely different.
I mean you can say that aboutany brand like Ralph Lauren,
nike or Apple is going to berepresentative.
It's going to be different topeople who use those products.
Right, and that's like with anybrand.
If we're now saying that acountry or a city or territory
could be a brand, well, what arewe looking at now in terms of
(18:12):
like this country, like what isthe brand that we're talking
about?
The brand now feels uniquelydifferent than two months ago,
than it is today.
You can say America's brand hasevolved from multiple different
versions of itself from thepast up until today.
So what is the brand of America?
I mean?
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I think a hot take.
I say I think I think americais trying to we're.
We're in a stage of rebranding.
I think we're trying to brandourselves, rebrand ourselves and
trying to find an easy,identifiable kind of brand theme
I think.
I think similar to an ad agency.
I think we're not on the samepage of what that brand is.
I feel like it was.
(18:51):
It was a little bit easier inlike the industrial times where
we were like we're makers, youknow, we made cars we had
factories.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
We had all that um, that's when america built things
yeah, it was built um, but therebrand aspect you just
mentioned is interesting.
And what?
Why?
Why you think of rebrand, whydo?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
people read because, because I think I think, uh,
thinking outside of america, Ithink some countries maybe
stereotypically you kind of knowwhat their brand is.
You mentioned, uh, japan ascool, like they kind of have
this brand of like tech, cool,think about like china.
I think china is kind of knownas like hard.
(19:31):
I want to say my, myinterpretation, I don't know if
they are, but like china I thinkkind of brands itself as like
hard working, kind of discipline, a little bit.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
Um build my own.
Yeah, build my own.
Yeah, build my own because theywant.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
They want to just kind of be their own thing it's
homogenous to try and think ofyou know some other countries.
Yeah, I mean I'm lookinglooking at this sculpture of the
eiffel tower.
You know, paris is probablylike fashion food, so it's like
there's certain countries thathave their brands.
And like, when I think aboutamerica and again I mean we're
like close to it because we'rehere, but like I don't.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I don't really know what our brand is, I think.
I think america's brand now ismore so, more so than anything.
Is America first?
Yeah Right, I think thatthey're trying to operate as a
business.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Winners.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Right.
So I'm trying to operate as abusiness.
So now we're going through this.
They're going through everycategory and, from a federal
perspective, they say, oh,they're trying to cut you know,
trim the fat and cut jobs.
I'm not saying that that's goingto work, it's not going to work
.
But they're trying to make itmore so like a business model,
versus like, oh, america is justthis place, the land of the
(20:37):
free, and you come here and youcan live the American dream.
And I think that they'repivoting away from that and
saying, like, if you've beenhere and your paperwork isn't
right, you need to kind offigure that thing out.
We're putting the country first, uh, the people who've been
(20:58):
here, or is here.
This competition, uh, as itrelates to just the people, and
like illegals, like I think thatthey're trying to move away
from this idea, from the lat,whether where we've been over
the years, right, like america'sbeen in this place, where it's
like, you know, I could come in,I could set up shop, I could do
my thing, and I was like well,you know, there's extra steps.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Yeah, I see it as sports.
America is trying to rebranditself more like a sports team,
even if you're not a greatwinning sports team.
The one thing you don't want tocome off as being a weak team
team at the end of it.
They want to some kind of waycommunicate some value prop to
their.
You know fans that, hey, eitherwe're winning or not, we still
(21:40):
a good team.
We're not, we're the dominantteam.
We're, we're going to be awinning team.
Right, I mean, I take the newyork knicks as an example.
You guys team for the most,whether you have a winning
series or not.
They brand the team to be theteam of this city and you guys
are going to be rocking withthat team whether you win or
lose, regardless.
You win one fucking game all ofa sudden.
(22:01):
Now you guys are dreamingambitions going to the final and
that's how it?
should be.
But if you think about sports,well think about it.
Nobody wants a brand to be aweak team.
Nobody wants a brand like oh,we like second place.
You always want a brand to befirst place, and every year is
an opportunity to rebrandyourself to be a better team
than last year or be, the bestteam, whether you're not even
(22:22):
the best team.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
But yeah, just to answer your question, before we
were saying why would Americarebrand or why do companies
rebrand.
Why do companies rebrand?
I think usually you kind oflook at your marketplace and you
kind of see like hey, like howcan we be relevant, be more
relevant, how can we refresh ourimage, how can we attract more
(22:44):
people, change negativeperceptions?
Those are kind of some reasonswhy brands or slash America
would want to rebrand, likemaybe they feel like hey, like,
like you, like you kind of saidRose, they feel like all right,
like what we were doing, we wantto change that.
So, like we're going to, youknow, do this thing.
(23:05):
But yeah, I think it's like youknow, you want.
So I think they're trying tochange.
I think about the rose's idea.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Well, his point of view about, you know, top of
mind.
Right at the end of the day, abrand wants to be top of mind of
any conversation that's goingto be had about a certain kind
of experience.
I guess right now, the brand ofthe united states.
We want to be top of mindaround a certain different
things ai, defense, nationaldefense, nationality, like we
(23:37):
want to be the top of all ofthat.
Disruption yeah, definitelydisruption, I don't know.
I mean I would say that ifyou're not comparing this
country to, I guess, china, toRussia, to certain nations in
Africa, to certain Europeannations, I think the top of mind
is that you know, america isthe top.
That's the brand andcommunication I'm getting the
(23:58):
value from.
It used to be like, yeah, youcan come here to you know tony's
point and you can like, if youget down with us, you can do
whatever you want, you caninvent the unimaginable.
But I think it's different thanthat now.
I think I think now it's morelike yeah, we're the top of the
world and what you're gonna doabout it?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
yeah, right, and I and I kind of like that kind of
like, I kind of bring back thepoint of like the disruption too
, because it's like now.
It's like now it seems like getdown or lay down.
Yeah, almost like yo.
You're either down with us andif you're not down, with us
right like a state property kindof uh, uh, a gangster, thuggish
(24:36):
thing going on.
It's like you get down with usor you lay down and it's like
and the lay down means like allright, is your paperwork right?
Like they're just trying tohost, put these things out to
scare people, Like these fairtactics that they're moving
forward with, and it's makingpeople think like is this the
place for me?
Do I belong?
Because, you know, throughoutAmerica and I'm going to say
(24:58):
specifically like New York City,there's a lot of different
cultures, Like definitely that'sthe brand of New York.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
right, right, that's the brand of New York.
You got Little.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Italy.
The melting pot, the meltingpot.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
Right, you got Little Italy, you got Little Guyana,
Like you know of get out and laydown, and now you kind of
people don't feel as freely tofly those flags that they was
flying before.
Ah well, I think that takes usright into the third topic here
(25:40):
around nationality and brands,because America representative,
like, of a bunch of differentpeople from different places.
It's a brand of sub-brands.
You look at New York it's abrand composed of a bunch of
sub-brands Caribbean culture,cats from, like you know, the
diaspora and you know, africa.
Southern cats uh, people fromdifferent parts of the world,
like the world is here in NewYork European, european, russian
and that was representative ofamerica right at one point like
all these different groups arehere in america and not even
(26:03):
just different peoples.
The sub brands could be lgbtqplus.
It can be a certain type ofblack like america has its own
sub brands, much like nike gotjump man.
It has converse.
It has a bunch of differentthings.
Acg is america kind of more orless looking at the sub-brands
and even think about what's thevalue of the sub-brand it's
going to take away from the, thebigger brand.
(26:24):
Do we sunset some of thesesub-brands and really think
about, like the overall nationalbrand?
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I think yeah I think to lean in on, I think america
is forcing people to make achoice.
Yeah Right, like you have tomake a choice, and if it's red,
white and blue, that's the flag.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
That's the flag.
That's the national.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
And you know you could— English is the language.
English is the language and Ifeel like that's where they're
going and you know you caneither ingratiate yourself, get
down or lay down.
Yeah, I think that's the flow.
Get down or lay down.
That's the name of this episode,but I mean, you know, and I
think again, it's making peoplerethink their futures, or just
(27:08):
these opportunities here, andit's like damn, like it's an
extra step.
So you know, it's not an easything and we really don't know
where we're going, but althoughthe sign, a lot of signs, are
there.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
That's your take, I'm good, you're good I mean I
think you nailed it.
That's why I don't want to, Idon't want to pound, uh, jump on
it, because I think, yeah, Ithink exactly what you said.
It's kind of what's going on,but we'll kind of see.
I mean, sure, it's only been amonth and a half for the new
administration, so we'll see howthings kind of roll out.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
But I actually think it's been longer than a month,
though.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
This has kind of been the american story for a long
time.
I just think it's more overtnow.
Right, it's always been likeit's cool, these sub brands are
here.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
You know you're visiting, but you know you don't
really live but I think thatalso takes away from the people,
Like I think that takes awayfrom America, though, Like the
sub-brands.
I agree with that Right.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Because that's what makes everybody.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
That's what makes this country where it is.
So I'm going to tell you, thereality is like I enjoy going to
certain pockets in New York andI can enjoy a little Italy.
I enjoy going to Little Guyanaand trying the foods and the
different you know, just thedifferent coaches.
What about Benson Hurst theHurst?
I haven't been there in a while, but I'm saying, I think that
(28:22):
you know that idea that fusionof, just like you know, we could
come here and we can.
We can come here and we canbring what.
We can intermingle Right, right,right, we can intermingle and
now it's like it's just bringinga halt to the conversations,
(28:43):
like, wait, I got otherpriorities, now I gotta you know
, maybe not me, like maybe notthat person from a different
place, but maybe someone'sfamily like it's right.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
You know, I mean it's funny because you look at um,
new york, you can probably arguenew orleans, maybe atlanta dc.
These are multiculturalepicenters, right, you know
Chicago to a certain degree,definitely LA.
If those are representative ofwhat America is and they're more
or less either coming upon acertain sense of tension or
(29:07):
changing, if they kind of change, then that almost says that
well, if we're going to get ridof these sub-brands, is that
well, if we're going to get ridof these sub-brands of a certain
experience of this country,then if those cities get
compromised, like what's kind ofhappening now with New York
well, gentrification, and evenlike this immigrant I don't even
want to call it a crisis, butyou know that's what's going on
(29:31):
then what does this representgoing forward?
I don't know, none of us haveanswers here with that, but I do
think there's something to lookat.
If new york can't stay new york, if la can't stay la, if these
countries, these these differentlittle cultural outlets just
don't stay who they are, thenwhat does it says about the
country the next 10, 20, 30years?
Speaker 3 (29:51):
I mean, I think those play, I think new york la.
I think, uh, what's it saying?
Game stays the same, just theplayers change.
I think New York is alwaysgoing to be New.
York.
I think LA is always going tobe LA, Same thing with Atlanta.
It's just going to be thepeople.
They're going to swap out thecharacters.
(30:18):
There's going to be the samemovie you know, but I think,
just to jump on your point point, I don't want to say sauce but,
like a lot of these places,fabric, yeah, I guess fabric's a
good way, or or seasoning,however you want to put it.
But when you start to lose someof these sub brands in these
places, there's a lot of um,just cool that leaves.
So it's just like.
I think I think it'll beinteresting to see, like, like,
as these places develop and asthese sub-brands and subcultures
(30:40):
kind of leave the cities, likewhat will happen, um, and how
these places will will feel like.
Obviously, I think if you grewup in these places, you'll keep
that nostalgia and that feelingalive amongst the people, you
know, but the people who arecoming in will never experience
that, you know.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
But yeah, I guess we can wrap it.
Man, wrap that up.
Yeah, we good, yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, that was good.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
So another legendary episode.
I feel like we covered a lot ofground, but you know,
appreciate you all tuning in onanother edition of Ad Bros and,
like you know, you knowappreciate you all tuning in
another edition of ad bros and,like you know, you know how it
goes?
Speaker 3 (31:20):
uh, I don't know, I got my own shit.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Oh no, soft talk when it comes to telling the truth,
there you go.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
Peace, people peace thanks for tuning in to the ad
bros podcast.
If you enjoyed the episode,don't forget to like, subscribe
and share with your crew.
Catch us next time for moreinsights and creativity, only on
the Ad Bros Podcast, powered byCaffeine.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Media.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Network.
I can see a guy from Harlem on some corner in Nigeria
and they're saying where areyou from?
They're not going to say I'mfrom New York.
They're going to say I'm fromHarlem.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yeah, that is a fact.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
That's a fact, you're kind of trying to separate
yourself and saying like Harlemis very different from Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
um yeah, uh, so we're back um what's good fellas, we
back, we back.
Yeah, part two of the brandingconversation yeah, part two.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
We we are here to kind of talk about abstract, um
the abstract thinking of brandsand not just companies.
But you know, I think, I thinkin this episode we're going to
talk about countries, um people,personal brands a little bit,
and uh, yeah, I think, and alsotoo.
(01:15):
You, you brought up kind of agood point during while we were
pre-talking about this um, Ithink, um, political slogans.
Uh, we won't get in too deepinto all of them, but they're
like.
You know.
There are some great politicalslogans that kind of just stick
in your head Brand wise that nomatter what is just in your head
.
(01:36):
But yeah, we'll get to that.
But yeah, I just want tointroduce myself, tony Stallion.
One third of the Ad BrosPodcast.
One sixth of the full Ad Bros.
One fourth of Ad Bros New YorkCity.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
I'm just a mathematics.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I'm just saying.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
This your boy, AD director from ATL.
By way of Decatur Grady babyall day here to talk about
brands and nationality, and Iguess my Nationality would be.
I'm me and that's all thatmatters there you go.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I like that.
I like that the boy easy rosebrown says finest.
You already know I'm having itmy way and got no complaints.
You know we doing what we'resupposed to do, so uh, yeah,
jump right into it.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Oh, yeah, I thought you was about to say something
oh no, no no, you stepped downlike okay, everything good, I
always try to see if y'all goodyeah, we just did that so when
we edit it, we know where to cutit.
So just keep going, just keepgoing leave that in there but,
(02:49):
uh, listen, so we're, we're,we're here.
Right, we're going to talkabout branding from the
perspective of nationality,right?
This idea can certain things bea brand, like a person like a
group of people like a group ofpeople right.
Can certain people be a brand?
Can groups of people be a brand?
Can a state be a brand?
Right, can a clique of peoplebe a brand?
(03:10):
Can a country be a brand?
Like you know, branding is aserious big thing that a lot of
people are like using to tellstories, especially in the age
of like social media.
But let's talk about that.
Like, this idea of like, canall these different groups or
individuals be brands and whyand why should we care and why
does it matter, let's start bestbrand out there, new york city
(03:32):
okay, why yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:35):
everyone wants to come here to.
Uh, I've heard it so much, soall right, let me.
Let me get into story time.
So it's in his bag so so I, Imoved the way I moved out of new
york, uh, back in a pandemicfor a job, um, and then recently
he came back when, um, when Iwas gone multiple on multiple
(03:57):
occasions, people were like, whywould you come here from new
york?
Like for them, they werebaffled that it was backwards
for them.
They were like, why the fuckwould you come here from new
york city?
I was like I want to trysomething new, experience,
something new.
Yada, yada, yada.
So fast forward.
I went on a trip to new orleanslast spring and you know I went
(04:17):
to this uh, I'm not gonna namethe restaurant, but I went to
this.
Uh, um, I had a restaurantexperience.
It was like a eight course meal, um, a nigerian I want to say,
yeah, nigerian restaurant.
Um, and it was, uh, I want tosay I think it was called but
like lunchroom style, where,like, they basically sit you
(04:37):
with whoever, unless you comewith somebody, they, uh, they
sit you at a table with a groupof people and strangers and you
have, you know, conversations,talk, whatever, and so at the
table, one dude at a table witha group of people and strangers,
and you have conversations,talk, whatever, and so at the
table.
One dude at the table was fromNew York Brooklyn, and I was by
way of New York.
Everyone else had lived.
No, I think one couple didn'tlive in New York, but they were
saying how they would love to doit and everyone else lived in
(05:00):
New York at one point in timeand like at least 30 minutes of
the conversation was talkingabout how much they love New
York even though they left.
So my point is New York, um, sobranding is strong, I think, in
.
I mean there's other cities,but you know I'm repping the
home team in movies.
People see movies, people watchTV shows Seinfeld, you know Law
(05:24):
and Order whatever, and theylike yo, I want to experience
that they treat New York like a$2 hooker and they come here and
they use her for all herresources and then go back home
and basically live the nostalgiaof their time in New York.
(05:45):
But my point is New York is notfor everybody.
I understand some people wantto raise families and it's a lot
of hustle, bustle and it's veryexpensive to live here.
I understand all of thosepoints in a realistic sense, but
just if we're talking aboutbrands and who we are, and even
(06:06):
just on a serious sense, if yougo back to the pandemic, a lot
of stuff start.
A lot of stuff is kind of start.
If it's successful in New York,it will be adopted in other
states.
Which is why I was very worriedabout the congestion,
congestion pricing thing becausealthough that's a whole nother
thing that trump shut down, butif that was very, it was
(06:27):
successful, it made a lot ofmoney.
But my fear was like all right,they're gonna start doing it in
la, they're gonna start doingit in dc, they're gonna start
doing it maybe in it, maybe inAtlanta, because I mean I
haven't been in Atlanta a lotbut I know the traffic could be
kind of crazy, and it neverhappened.
And then, and then it wouldjust be, and then, and then
places will start to be, youknow, it will start to build
into like, if you don't have themoney or the means to pay for
(06:48):
this, you're basically nottraveling anywhere.
But yeah, like I said, duringthe pandemic there were things
that I think New York did thatwas later adopted by LA and then
adopted by other states.
So it's like yo, if it workshere, then it works anywhere.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
So let's take a step back.
Those people you were talkingabout right, Are you calling
them like cultural colonizers?
Because you kind of got intolike these people.
They treat New York like a $2.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I didn't realize $2 hookers or hoes I don't know
what you want to call it arethat resourceful.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
I'm just saying they're not the cleanest.
They're not the cleanest, notthat I would know, but I'm just
saying Sorry, what was yourquestion?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Repeat that.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I was just asking the question like.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Oh, are they cultural colonizers.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
He is like that's what you're calling.
No, I think I like Drake.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
No, no, I wouldn't even put that on him.
I think they want to.
I think they see all of thepositives of New York and they
want to experience that, which Ithink everyone should have that
experience.
But my thing is and you saidthis before, rose, on another
podcast that I'm not going totalk about but when you come
somewhere, you should take yourshoes off, you should show love
(08:04):
and help the community.
Don't move in.
I remember one time I was at anex's apartment and you know she
had two roommatesucasianroommates and they were living
in bushwick, um close to myrtleave, and they lived in like a
studio that got um refurnishedinto apartments and I remember
(08:25):
her saying like, oh man, I can'twait till that bodega turns
into like a juice shop orsomething and it's like that's
gentrification yeah, but mything is like, don't come like I
get it.
Some neighbors aren't the safest, but don't come here and be
like I'm going to change it.
Raise the value for the peoplewho live here, which might be
nice if you have the funds andthen just bounce.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
So this is all to say that New York is the greatest
place in the world for you.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I think it's one of, because I remember when we
talked about states.
Yes, I remember you guys saidsomething Because here's the
funny thing We'll get into Japan.
Well, here's the funny thing.
Oh, you're about to show.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Atlanta is full of a lot of New York people.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
It just is A lot of.
New York people leave New Yorkand come to.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
New York.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I'm just saying.
I'm just saying that is becauseof finances.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Finances.
Yeah, they weren't built tolast.
Well, it's not even just that.
It's not just finances.
There's a lot of colleges downthere.
If you had a green student pass, you should have like 30% off
your rent.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Yeah, I don't think it's just finances.
There's a lot of people movedto Atlanta for a lot of reasons.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Yeah, it's space.
There's a lot, but no real talkthough A lot of cats came to
Atlanta for culture.
That's why we cool, they camefor Jack the Rapper was down
there first.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Yes, sir, they came for the colleges, right.
I mean the AU Center was withMorehouse, Spellman, Morris
Brown, Love, Morris Brown, Clark, Atlanta, Dustin Cole's alma
mater.
Hey, a lot of cats came thereto just find enlightenment and
bonding of different blackpeople from all over the country
.
And you know it was ChocolateCity, it was a sit-up on the
(09:58):
come-up and you know it was kindof like it was considered the
Harlem of the South at one point, right.
So I know a lot of people wouldsay that, but a lot of ATLs
would never say that.
But it was compared to that.
But yeah, you know, I mean Ifeel you in your New York bag,
but I can't sit here and be like, yeah, right, Tony and I'm from
the A and like motherfuckersare moving there all the time
(10:19):
and people love from Atlantalove to say, hey, Atlanta closed
, no, it ain't.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
I seen the airport.
That shit ain't closed.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
The airport sucks but , and I love it.
It's crazy.
I can talk that shit about it,but I do think it goes back to
this idea again, like any andeveryone can be a brand, just to
jump on that point.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
that's my last point about New York.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
If you're not, from here, don't talk shit about here
.
Well, you know, that kind ofjumps into like a lot of
conversations that's happeningIn America Everywhere, right,
everywhere.
Yeah, so you have.
I think what you're talkingabout, tony, is people.
They come to New York, theylive here for a few years and
then they just have thatprivilege.
Like they've been privileged toNew York and all of the work
(11:02):
that other people put in, yeah.
And now it's like oh yeah, likeI've done that.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
And you're coming with.
Hopefully, most people come inwith jobs.
Some people come in with jobs,some people come in with dreams.
You're coming as a grown adult.
You've already fully formedyour opinions and your ideas and
you probably have money.
We had to grow up and get tothat point yeah, and that's a
good point.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Like I think we've had that conversation, I feel
like a while ago we was having aconversation about like what
makes a new yorker and like areyou a new Yorker and I lived
here for 10 years, like all thatbullshit, right.
Like the reality is where youcame, where you grew up in,
whether, if it's junior highschool, in those formative years
we've come kind of came to I'mgoing to say you and me, we came
(11:47):
to an alignment agreement thatyour formative years is the
expression of where you're fromyeah, I know some people say you
got to be born here to be a newyorker.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
To me I I say if you, even if you came at one, if you
were raised here, like you saidright formative years.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Yeah yeah, you new yorker.
Well, I mean okay, I'm sorryreal quick, like new yorkers,
don't even call ourselves newyorkers too no, we go by borough
, but you do that probably whenyou leave and go somewhere else.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
It's like a way of identifying.
It's like you don't say you'reAmerican in America.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Every place I've been to, people will be like I'm
from Brooklyn.
I was just about to say that,or if they're not from Brooklyn,
they're just saying they'refrom.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Brooklyn.
Well, it's like nobody fromAtlanta City atl ain't like
nobody says that.
Yeah, like I say, I'm fromeither bankhead, or you from the
east side or you from swat.
So you know you grew up.
Sometimes you identify based onthe hospital you was born in,
which is I heard about that.
There's some wild shit heylisten, I say I'm a greater be
all day, right, but that's onlyin atlanta and it's funny
because if you're not talking,I'm talking about like branding
(12:49):
of cities, territories and place, like that.
I mean that's kind of whereamerica is right now.
Right, that's kind of whererussia is, that's kind of where
japan is, and if you talk abouta brand and even like a sea
light, new york, yeah, it has along standing of having a brand
that everybody wants to eitherbe a part of that or experience
like this idea of you can makein new york, you can make it
(13:11):
anywhere.
If you in amer america it'slike now it's, you know, it's
it's america first, or it's magamake it, make it great, which
that came from monterey, right,but yeah, we're now basically
saying that, yeah, anything inany place can be a brand,
because places do have brand.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I mean, that's how you do tourism, right, you can't
have tourism without brandingof a place yeah, I think it's
also too, just like the identityTony was speaking about, like
we were just talking about NewYorkers, right, and I was saying
, like no New Yorkers callthemselves a New Yorker, if you
go, because we kind of gravitateto our boroughs, or just like a
(13:46):
specific popular area, right,so I can see a guy from Harlem
on some some corner in nigeriaand they're saying where you're
from, they're not gonna say I'mfrom new york, I'm from harlem
yeah like it.
Just you're kind of, you're kindof trying to separate yourself
and saying like harlem is verydifferent from brooklyn right,
although it's all new york right, or in queen.
(14:08):
I feel like queens in in inbrooklyn are kind of like
cousins, but like when you thinkabout cats, like he didn't
really agree with that no, no,no, no yeah like I have a lot of
family in queens and peoplelike all the cats I know in
queens.
They're like oh, I got cousinsin brooklyn, I'm always in
brooklyn physically the, the,the land is connected right so,
so, so we are we, we arebrothers in our arms, kings and
(14:31):
queens huh.
Yeah, no, it's interesting thatyou say that, because just to
evolve the conversation a littlebit, oh, before we jump in, the
only thing I was going to sayis I kind of started off with
that identity and when you'refrom a place that has this
notoriety or people know aboutit, right, you kind of take that
on.
You're like, yeah, I'm fromthere, I survived that.
(14:53):
But if you're from places like,uh, surrounding places in
boston that no one knows, you'regonna say, oh, yeah, I'm like
10 minutes away from boston.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
like you will never say these people never say I
know our, um, our chicagobrothers aren't on here, but
like, yeah, I met people who arelike, who will say like they're
from chicago but will be likean hour outside of chicago yeah,
um no, I was just saying justto evolve the conversation.
It's funny that you say thatabout like harlem, because I
think I don't think america well, I, I can't speak very.
(15:24):
I feel like a lot of americansdon't say they're american when
they're traveling.
They'll say like their state alot um, like, like, like, like.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I guess it depends on how well known it is.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
but, like I've just noticed that when I was out and
I was thinking we're talkingabout, talking about um like
branding and identity, I seethat a lot us being in new york,
we see, I see that a lot withyou know caribbean and folks and
people from um africancountries, like a lot, like a
lot of people will be like yo,I'm from Ghana or I'm from
(15:55):
Nigeria, or like bringing itback to Caribbean, like if you
call a Jamaican Trinidadian, ora.
Guyanese.
Asian they're going to startarguing like what the fuck what
you think.
And again, I don't want to speaktoo much, but I feel like it's
a similar thing in Asian cultureas well as latino culture.
(16:16):
It's like yo, they like yo, getit right.
I'm not whatever you thought Iwas, I'm this and and they're
very proud of it and I thinkright I think that's important
too yeah, but it is.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
It's so um significant that you say that,
because I feel like they'redoing that to black people in
amer right, like this whole likefoundational black American
thing.
Right, it's like yo Ados.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Ados.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Shouts to them.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Right.
But then you have people whocome from different places and
they're saying, like no, you'reAfrican.
You're like, and then you cansay, well, everyone's from
Africa, right, yeah.
So now it's like a conversationis like oh well, they want to
just put this label on you.
You're saying, well, I mean,you could be whatever you want
to be.
Like me personally, I don'tmove forward saying I'm
african-american, I'm uh,american or uh, I kind of relate
(17:02):
more to foundational black,american than just saying I'm,
you know, african or for someother place, but that people
find discomfort in that.
And it's like now they'retrying to tell you about you and
it's like me trying to tell youabout you.
Like it, it doesn't work.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
So, uh, I think that's just a very interesting
conversation yeah, I remember,you know, taking some trip,
taking a trip out to copenhagen.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
A little flex there, I guess um you know, whatever um
you know shit.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
I work for, I can say what I want.
Yeah, I, you know the time Ispent there with Nicole.
I mean they just instantly knewwe was Americans, just because
of how we talk, but they knew itwas obviously black, but it
wasn't like.
You know, the first thing thatthey said, oh, you're American.
You know, check out theseAmericans or whatever.
But it's funny here, being backin America as African-American,
(17:51):
you know this idea of what thebrand means to me is going to be
uniquely different.
I mean you can say that aboutany brand like Ralph Lauren,
nike or Apple is going to berepresentative.
It's going to be different topeople who use those products.
Right, and that's like with anybrand.
If we're now saying that acountry or a city or territory
could be a brand, well, what arewe looking at now in terms of
(18:12):
like this country, like what isthe brand that we're talking
about?
The brand now feels uniquelydifferent than two months ago,
than it is today.
You can say America's brand hasevolved from multiple different
versions of itself from thepast up until today.
So what is the brand of America?
I mean?
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I think a hot take.
I say I think I think americais trying to we're.
We're in a stage of rebranding.
I think we're trying to brandourselves, rebrand ourselves and
trying to find an easy,identifiable kind of brand theme
I think.
I think similar to an ad agency.
I think we're not on the samepage of what that brand is.
I feel like it was.
(18:51):
It was a little bit easier inlike the industrial times where
we were like we're makers, youknow, we made cars we had
factories.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
We had all that um, that's when america built things
yeah, it was built um, but therebrand aspect you just
mentioned is interesting.
And what?
Why?
Why you think of rebrand, whydo?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
people read because, because I think I think, uh,
thinking outside of america, Ithink some countries maybe
stereotypically you kind of knowwhat their brand is.
You mentioned, uh, japan ascool, like they kind of have
this brand of like tech, cool,think about like china.
I think china is kind of knownas like hard.
(19:31):
I want to say my, myinterpretation, I don't know if
they are, but like china I thinkkind of brands itself as like
hard working, kind of discipline, a little bit.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
Um build my own.
Yeah, build my own.
Yeah, build my own because theywant.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
They want to just kind of be their own thing it's
homogenous to try and think ofyou know some other countries.
Yeah, I mean I'm lookinglooking at this sculpture of the
eiffel tower.
You know, paris is probablylike fashion food, so it's like
there's certain countries thathave their brands.
And like, when I think aboutamerica and again I mean we're
like close to it because we'rehere, but like I don't.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I don't really know what our brand is, I think.
I think america's brand now ismore so, more so than anything.
Is America first?
Yeah Right, I think thatthey're trying to operate as a
business.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Winners.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Right.
So I'm trying to operate as abusiness.
So now we're going through this.
They're going through everycategory and, from a federal
perspective, they say, oh,they're trying to cut you know,
trim the fat and cut jobs.
I'm not saying that that's goingto work, it's not going to work
.
But they're trying to make itmore so like a business model,
versus like, oh, america is justthis place, the land of the
(20:37):
free, and you come here and youcan live the American dream.
And I think that they'repivoting away from that and
saying, like, if you've beenhere and your paperwork isn't
right, you need to kind offigure that thing out.
We're putting the country first, uh, the people who've been
(20:58):
here, or is here.
This competition, uh, as itrelates to just the people, and
like illegals, like I think thatthey're trying to move away
from this idea, from the lat,whether where we've been over
the years, right, like america'sbeen in this place, where it's
like, you know, I could come in,I could set up shop, I could do
my thing, and I was like well,you know, there's extra steps.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Yeah, I see it as sports.
America is trying to rebranditself more like a sports team,
even if you're not a greatwinning sports team.
The one thing you don't want tocome off as being a weak team
team at the end of it.
They want to some kind of waycommunicate some value prop to
their.
You know fans that, hey, eitherwe're winning or not, we still
(21:40):
a good team.
We're not, we're the dominantteam.
We're, we're going to be awinning team.
Right, I mean, I take the newyork knicks as an example.
You guys team for the most,whether you have a winning
series or not.
They brand the team to be theteam of this city and you guys
are going to be rocking withthat team whether you win or
lose, regardless.
You win one fucking game all ofa sudden.
(22:01):
Now you guys are dreamingambitions going to the final and
that's how it?
should be.
But if you think about sports,well think about it.
Nobody wants a brand to be aweak team.
Nobody wants a brand like oh,we like second place.
You always want a brand to befirst place, and every year is
an opportunity to rebrandyourself to be a better team
than last year or be, the bestteam, whether you're not even
(22:22):
the best team.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
But yeah, just to answer your question, before we
were saying why would Americarebrand or why do companies
rebrand.
Why do companies rebrand?
I think usually you kind oflook at your marketplace and you
kind of see like hey, like howcan we be relevant, be more
relevant, how can we refresh ourimage, how can we attract more
(22:44):
people, change negativeperceptions?
Those are kind of some reasonswhy brands or slash America
would want to rebrand, likemaybe they feel like hey, like,
like you, like you kind of saidRose, they feel like all right,
like what we were doing, we wantto change that.
So, like we're going to, youknow, do this thing.
(23:05):
But yeah, I think it's like youknow, you want.
So I think they're trying tochange.
I think about the rose's idea.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Well, his point of view about, you know, top of
mind.
Right at the end of the day, abrand wants to be top of mind of
any conversation that's goingto be had about a certain kind
of experience.
I guess right now, the brand ofthe united states.
We want to be top of mindaround a certain different
things ai, defense, nationaldefense, nationality, like we
(23:37):
want to be the top of all ofthat.
Disruption yeah, definitelydisruption, I don't know.
I mean I would say that ifyou're not comparing this
country to, I guess, china, toRussia, to certain nations in
Africa, to certain Europeannations, I think the top of mind
is that you know, america isthe top.
That's the brand andcommunication I'm getting the
(23:58):
value from.
It used to be like, yeah, youcan come here to you know tony's
point and you can like, if youget down with us, you can do
whatever you want, you caninvent the unimaginable.
But I think it's different thanthat now.
I think I think now it's morelike yeah, we're the top of the
world and what you're gonna doabout it?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
yeah, right, and I and I kind of like that kind of
like, I kind of bring back thepoint of like the disruption too
, because it's like now.
It's like now it seems like getdown or lay down.
Yeah, almost like yo.
You're either down with us andif you're not down, with us
right like a state property kindof uh, uh, a gangster, thuggish
(24:36):
thing going on.
It's like you get down with usor you lay down and it's like
and the lay down means like allright, is your paperwork right?
Like they're just trying tohost, put these things out to
scare people, Like these fairtactics that they're moving
forward with, and it's makingpeople think like is this the
place for me?
Do I belong?
Because, you know, throughoutAmerica and I'm going to say
(24:58):
specifically like New York City,there's a lot of different
cultures, Like definitely that'sthe brand of New York.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
right, right, that's the brand of New York.
You got Little.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Italy.
The melting pot, the meltingpot.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
Right, you got Little Italy, you got Little Guyana,
Like you know of get out and laydown, and now you kind of
people don't feel as freely tofly those flags that they was
flying before.
Ah well, I think that takes usright into the third topic here
(25:40):
around nationality and brands,because America representative,
like, of a bunch of differentpeople from different places.
It's a brand of sub-brands.
You look at New York it's abrand composed of a bunch of
sub-brands Caribbean culture,cats from, like you know, the
diaspora and you know, africa.
Southern cats uh, people fromdifferent parts of the world,
like the world is here in NewYork European, european, russian
and that was representative ofamerica right at one point like
all these different groups arehere in america and not even
(26:03):
just different peoples.
The sub brands could be lgbtqplus.
It can be a certain type ofblack like america has its own
sub brands, much like nike gotjump man.
It has converse.
It has a bunch of differentthings.
Acg is america kind of more orless looking at the sub-brands
and even think about what's thevalue of the sub-brand it's
going to take away from the, thebigger brand.
(26:24):
Do we sunset some of thesesub-brands and really think
about, like the overall nationalbrand?
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I think yeah I think to lean in on, I think america
is forcing people to make achoice.
Yeah Right, like you have tomake a choice, and if it's red,
white and blue, that's the flag.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
That's the flag.
That's the national.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
And you know you could— English is the language.
English is the language and Ifeel like that's where they're
going and you know you caneither ingratiate yourself, get
down or lay down.
Yeah, I think that's the flow.
Get down or lay down.
That's the name of this episode,but I mean, you know, and I
think again, it's making peoplerethink their futures, or just
(27:08):
these opportunities here, andit's like damn, like it's an
extra step.
So you know, it's not an easything and we really don't know
where we're going, but althoughthe sign, a lot of signs, are
there.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
That's your take, I'm good, you're good I mean I
think you nailed it.
That's why I don't want to, Idon't want to pound, uh, jump on
it, because I think, yeah, Ithink exactly what you said.
It's kind of what's going on,but we'll kind of see.
I mean, sure, it's only been amonth and a half for the new
administration, so we'll see howthings kind of roll out.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
But I actually think it's been longer than a month,
though.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
This has kind of been the american story for a long
time.
I just think it's more overtnow.
Right, it's always been likeit's cool, these sub brands are
here.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
You know you're visiting, but you know you don't
really live but I think thatalso takes away from the people,
Like I think that takes awayfrom America, though, Like the
sub-brands.
I agree with that Right.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Because that's what makes everybody.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
That's what makes this country where it is.
So I'm going to tell you, thereality is like I enjoy going to
certain pockets in New York andI can enjoy a little Italy.
I enjoy going to Little Guyanaand trying the foods and the
different you know, just thedifferent coaches.
What about Benson Hurst theHurst?
I haven't been there in a while, but I'm saying, I think that
(28:22):
you know that idea that fusionof, just like you know, we could
come here and we can.
We can come here and we canbring what.
We can intermingle Right, right,right, we can intermingle and
now it's like it's just bringinga halt to the conversations,
(28:43):
like, wait, I got otherpriorities, now I gotta you know
, maybe not me, like maybe notthat person from a different
place, but maybe someone'sfamily like it's right.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
You know, I mean it's funny because you look at um,
new york, you can probably arguenew orleans, maybe atlanta dc.
These are multiculturalepicenters, right, you know
Chicago to a certain degree,definitely LA.
If those are representative ofwhat America is and they're more
or less either coming upon acertain sense of tension or
(29:07):
changing, if they kind of change, then that almost says that
well, if we're going to get ridof these sub-brands, is that
well, if we're going to get ridof these sub-brands of a certain
experience of this country,then if those cities get
compromised, like what's kind ofhappening now with New York
well, gentrification, and evenlike this immigrant I don't even
want to call it a crisis, butyou know that's what's going on
(29:31):
then what does this representgoing forward?
I don't know, none of us haveanswers here with that, but I do
think there's something to lookat.
If new york can't stay new york, if la can't stay la, if these
countries, these these differentlittle cultural outlets just
don't stay who they are, thenwhat does it says about the
country the next 10, 20, 30years?
Speaker 3 (29:51):
I mean, I think those play, I think new york la.
I think, uh, what's it saying?
Game stays the same, just theplayers change.
I think New York is alwaysgoing to be New.
York.
I think LA is always going tobe LA, Same thing with Atlanta.
It's just going to be thepeople.
They're going to swap out thecharacters.
(30:18):
There's going to be the samemovie you know, but I think,
just to jump on your point point, I don't want to say sauce but,
like a lot of these places,fabric, yeah, I guess fabric's a
good way, or or seasoning,however you want to put it.
But when you start to lose someof these sub brands in these
places, there's a lot of um,just cool that leaves.
So it's just like.
I think I think it'll beinteresting to see, like, like,
as these places develop and asthese sub-brands and subcultures
(30:40):
kind of leave the cities, likewhat will happen, um, and how
these places will will feel like.
Obviously, I think if you grewup in these places, you'll keep
that nostalgia and that feelingalive amongst the people, you
know, but the people who arecoming in will never experience
that, you know.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
But yeah, I guess we can wrap it.
Man, wrap that up.
Yeah, we good, yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, that was good.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
So another legendary episode.
I feel like we covered a lot ofground, but you know,
appreciate you all tuning in onanother edition of Ad Bros and,
like you know, you knowappreciate you all tuning in
another edition of ad bros and,like you know, you know how it
goes?
Speaker 3 (31:20):
uh, I don't know, I got my own shit.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Oh no, soft talk when it comes to telling the truth,
there you go.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
Peace, people peace thanks for tuning in to the ad
bros podcast.
If you enjoyed the episode,don't forget to like, subscribe
and share with your crew.
Catch us next time for moreinsights and creativity, only on
the Ad Bros Podcast, powered byCaffeine.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Media.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Network.
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