Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Saved!: The New York Brand
Posted by Sharon on Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 12:03 PM
A $700 billion bailout might not save us. But you know who could? Writers! And journalists! Yeah, those really tired people who stare at blogs all day long.
Today, in a post titled "Gloom, Doom and New York Books" (loves it!) GalleyCat linked to an interesting Times City Room feature by Sewell Chan, who interviewed sociologist Miriam Greenberg about her new book, Branding New York: How a City in Crisis Was Sold to the World. Greenberg's tome focuses on the 1970s -- late in the decade, ads like "I <3 NY" and the Big Apple campaign helped rebrand New York the same way morphing into pop-culture's Mother Theresa rebranded the vial-of-blood wearing, brother-kissing Angelina Jolie.
Greenberg also pointed to launch of a new magazine, founded in 1967, which added a hip varnish to the city's image and, in no small part, assisted in its recovery:
All journalists should, from here on in, wear superhero costumes to work. It will totally help build morale!Under the editor Clay Felker and its artistic director, Milton Glaser, Dr. Greenberg said, the magazine "conveyed a hip, urban attitude that was consumer-oriented and appealed to an aspiring middle class that stayed in the city and still tried to survive amid these problems — as well as others who might relocate to the city." The magazine's obsession with the "power game" — "who's up, who's down" — was part of its portrayal of the city as an exciting place to be and helped establish the media makers themselves as cultural power brokers.
Comments (0)