New Brand Identity

[dburley]

When a name goes bad, you change the moniker.

The Buffalo that prospered more than a century ago is long gone. In its place is a lumbering, flea-ridden beast that needs to be put out of its misery.

We need to come up with new brand name to go along with the brand image that we wish to project. Frankly, I think it should be a national contest -- we need to hear what other people think in order to battle back.

Western New York, aside from the apparent current political corruption, has a tremendous amount going for it. Find a name that suits the image we wish to project throughout this millenium.

[Linda_D]

Nonsense.

A new name changes nothing. That's like the silly idea of merging the city into the county and calling it all "Buffalo" so that the "city" of Buffalo will look "better" to outside investors. I can see that playing well on Jay Leno on the Tonight Show:

Question:"What city in the US has the most dairy cows, Jay?"

Answer: "Buffalo, New York. It has 6,347, Kevin. " (or whatever the number) "Buffalo also has more tractors than any US city and more manure spreaders, too!"

[WNYresident]

Hey all the politicians can leave office and work at BASS PRO. They can work in the hip-wader department. The BS is getting rather thick around here.

[dburley]

You are correct. You can't just put lipstick on a pig and call it a model. A name change in and of itself is meaningless, but in combination with a concerted effort to re-brand the area it will work.

Verizon went from a broken Bell to a powerhouse that is now gobbling up MCI.

The question is (and the name will follow), what does Buffalo want to be known for? I doubt it is for cows and manure spreaders.

[WNYresident]

Someone made me laugh today about our politicians. They said currently we have a bunch of idiots (politicians) working in seperate areas of WNY. What is the point of putting all the idiots into one room, you still have the same idiots running things.

[dburley]

No doubt. At least if they were in one room you might be able to lock the door and keep 'em contained.

So let's get rid of these dolts. My thought is public humiliation and derision. Suggestions?

[300miles]

there was an editorial once about Pittsburgh changing their name once ...

But HOW could we possibly change our name?? We have Buffalo icons and images all over the friggen city! All those companies with "Buffalo" in their name wouldn't make sense! The names of the Bills, and Bison would have to change!

O the humanity!

What if we did what ballparks and arenas do... give our name to the highest bidder? Pepsi could pay us 10 billion dollars to name our city after it. Then the Pepsi Sabres would play in Pepsi, NY (90 miles west of Kodak, NY and just South of the Molsen, NY falls) and we'd have enough money to build 10 new Peace Bridges.

[dburley]

Actually I thought about that. Think about the boost in the economy when all the stationery and signage needs to be replaced -- and all those buffalos can be corraled.

Ugh, i hope we don't hold out to the highest bidder. In corporate naming, we look to create a hybrid of names -- something with a "story" around it.

Albright wouldn't be bad. Named after a strong family and you could make reference to how it was the first lit city -- sounds like a place where math majors thrive (albeit, not good spellers)!!

[therising]

Paychex, NY!

[WestCoastPerspective]

Medicaid, NY
Excedrin, NY
Tucks, NY

[Riven37]

Originally posted by dburley
When a name goes bad, you change the moniker.

The Buffalo that prospered more than a century ago is long gone. In its place is a lumbering, flea-ridden beast that needs to be put out of its misery.

We need to come up with new brand name to go along with the brand image that we wish to project. Frankly, I think it should be a national contest -- we need to hear what other people think in order to battle back.

Western New York, aside from the apparent current political corruption, has a tremendous amount going for it. Find a name that suits the image we wish to project throughout this millenium.

Mayor Sedita caused an uproar on May 2, 1958 when he appointed his brother, Joseph J., to a fill-in position as City Court Judge. West Side residents were angry that the mayor did not choose another Italian lawyer from their area, instead of choosing his brother. They immediately began looking for a candidate to oppose his brother in the November election.

The Mayor responded to the criticism: "I will stack him against any candidate who was interested in this appointment.

"I don't think any right-thinking person is going to think unkindly toward me because I took care of a member of my family."

But they did. Joseph Sedita lost in the November election. Mayor Sedita appointed him to the next available seat on City Court and he won election the second time.

Mayor Sedita delivered his second State of the City address to the Common Council on January 6, 1959.

This is what we Residents of eire county needs to stop that dates back as far back as to the first Mayor of Buffalo.

[dburley]

Without a doubt. A brand identity needs to occur AFTER the place is dredged of these fools and crooks. As you can see from the posts, our current identity is not in the least bit positive.

Part of changing the brand is determing what it is we stand for. What is the personality that we want to exude.

I think we can agree that the area's current personality is somewhere between "Curley, Larry and Moe," and Larry, Darryl and darryl."

But let's pretend that SpeakUp WNY gets all of us mad enough to actually see this revolution through, what then do we want the personality to be? Are we science and technology driven? Are we a vacation destination? A wholesome place to raise the family? Are we positioned for corporate busineses?

Maybe instead of doing all these initiatives half assed, we pick one and do it really well. That's where leadership comes into play. Someone with the guts enough to disappoint a few people in the short term, instead of trying to placate.

Lots of issues here. But I think we agree. We don't like our current identity of being a den of thieves and sloth and and would like to change that.

[citymouse]

How about North Cleveland?
Toronto NY ?
South Tonawanda ?
What about all the products with the picture of the noble beast of the plains? We could have the worlds biggest grage sale.
I like "Buffalo" just fine. We, like the american Bison are dropping in population, and as the animal did, we shall replenish our ranks. while not retaining our former glory, we will return to our natural habitat in numbers sufficant to ensure our survival. ( As long as they lower taxes and create jobs)

[Boost Buffalo]

Changing our city's name?

Its like the shameful liberals, now they call themselves "independents" and "progressives". They think the problem is their name.

But no matter what they call themselves, if they dont change their agenda, they'll still just liberals.

Buffalo's problem isnt its name.

[stevenco]

Buffalo fits this town politically in it's meaning as a verb.

buffalo (v): -to baffle, or balk, beat, bilk or circumvent.

And fits us as residents in it's second meaning as a noun

buffalo (n) 2: - any of several suckers (genus Ictiobus) found mostly in the Mississippi valley;also called buffalofish