ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.
Listen "Why Your Brand’s Location Still Matters"
Episode Synopsis
More than ever, everyone works, meets, and shops online.
It’s no surprise that companies which previously insisted on a brick and mortar location for their workers are now almost completely remote.
But regardless of that steadily encroaching fact, your brand’s geographic, physical location still matters. In fact, and for a few primary reasons, I’m going to spend this month’s article arguing that it matters even more than you think.
The main reason why location matters—and a kind of catch-all summary for more reasons—is that we’re physical beings…obviously. We exist in physical locations. Even with the likes of e-commerce, virtual reality, and opportunities to work online embedding themselves into the fabric of daily life, geographic locations and all their sensory, historical-cultural, and experiential particulars still pique and intrigue us—or in some cases, repel us. You don’t need to look very far to find examples of this, (unless you’ve been dutifully under a rock this last month.) If you think physical locations and all their colorful baggage don’t matter, look no further than people and companies moving from coastal states to other states in record numbers. Or just look at all the hype and controversies that surrounded Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
As the old realtor’s adage goes, there’s no beating—or at least, no factoring out—location, location, location.
Fair enough.
But what does all this have to do with brand building?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ1H7SugaeY
Brand Location Quiz
Here’s a brain-teaser.
Each of these brands and companies drew closely from a physical location for their name and brand identity. Can you guess that founding location for…
Patagonia (outdoorsy clothing based in California…but where does its name come from?)
Haribo (gummy bears)
Big Sky Brewing (glug, glug)
Cisco (digital technology and communication)
Valero (gas stations)
Carrefour (a French grocery chain…no hint with that one)
And, last but not least:
Bank of America (a little trickier…but worth looking up if you don’t know the answer)
There you go. I’ll include the answers at the bottom of this article…scroll ahead if you can’t wait to see them.
As you can probably tell, I really enjoy this topic.
In fact, I wrote and published a previous article on location branding, how important it is, and how B2B’s can incorporate their location into the winsome mix of an authentic brand identity. Here, I’m keeping this topic up-to-date with a more horizontal focus on location, and its role in your organization’s day-to-day, operational landscape.
Even if your workforce is all remote–or if you’re like most companies in that you’re still trying to figure out this work-from-home, shop-from-home, some people back in the office hybrid thing out–your location matters.
Even if you’re an e-commerce business that sells to customers who don’t interact with you, and who simply buy your product without ever coming into any kind of physical, real-world environment.
Nevertheless, depending on your brand strategy and perhaps to a lesser degree than other circumstances, location is still important.
With that in mind, the question I’ll be focusing on is how.
How does location matter to a brand or company?
In what ways and to what extent?
Geography and Location Basics
As it usually turns out, the branding’s in the details.
Historically, and before it became hard to find a company’s physical address on their website, physical location embodied a large part of a brand’s identity. More than that, claim to a particular location often, and still, shapes a brand’s strategy and expression, playing on how people around the world perceive that location. While that claim takes many different forms and shapes a brand in countless ways, a lot depends on branding efforts that might or might not be taking location into account.
It’s no surprise that companies which previously insisted on a brick and mortar location for their workers are now almost completely remote.
But regardless of that steadily encroaching fact, your brand’s geographic, physical location still matters. In fact, and for a few primary reasons, I’m going to spend this month’s article arguing that it matters even more than you think.
The main reason why location matters—and a kind of catch-all summary for more reasons—is that we’re physical beings…obviously. We exist in physical locations. Even with the likes of e-commerce, virtual reality, and opportunities to work online embedding themselves into the fabric of daily life, geographic locations and all their sensory, historical-cultural, and experiential particulars still pique and intrigue us—or in some cases, repel us. You don’t need to look very far to find examples of this, (unless you’ve been dutifully under a rock this last month.) If you think physical locations and all their colorful baggage don’t matter, look no further than people and companies moving from coastal states to other states in record numbers. Or just look at all the hype and controversies that surrounded Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
As the old realtor’s adage goes, there’s no beating—or at least, no factoring out—location, location, location.
Fair enough.
But what does all this have to do with brand building?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ1H7SugaeY
Brand Location Quiz
Here’s a brain-teaser.
Each of these brands and companies drew closely from a physical location for their name and brand identity. Can you guess that founding location for…
Patagonia (outdoorsy clothing based in California…but where does its name come from?)
Haribo (gummy bears)
Big Sky Brewing (glug, glug)
Cisco (digital technology and communication)
Valero (gas stations)
Carrefour (a French grocery chain…no hint with that one)
And, last but not least:
Bank of America (a little trickier…but worth looking up if you don’t know the answer)
There you go. I’ll include the answers at the bottom of this article…scroll ahead if you can’t wait to see them.
As you can probably tell, I really enjoy this topic.
In fact, I wrote and published a previous article on location branding, how important it is, and how B2B’s can incorporate their location into the winsome mix of an authentic brand identity. Here, I’m keeping this topic up-to-date with a more horizontal focus on location, and its role in your organization’s day-to-day, operational landscape.
Even if your workforce is all remote–or if you’re like most companies in that you’re still trying to figure out this work-from-home, shop-from-home, some people back in the office hybrid thing out–your location matters.
Even if you’re an e-commerce business that sells to customers who don’t interact with you, and who simply buy your product without ever coming into any kind of physical, real-world environment.
Nevertheless, depending on your brand strategy and perhaps to a lesser degree than other circumstances, location is still important.
With that in mind, the question I’ll be focusing on is how.
How does location matter to a brand or company?
In what ways and to what extent?
Geography and Location Basics
As it usually turns out, the branding’s in the details.
Historically, and before it became hard to find a company’s physical address on their website, physical location embodied a large part of a brand’s identity. More than that, claim to a particular location often, and still, shapes a brand’s strategy and expression, playing on how people around the world perceive that location. While that claim takes many different forms and shapes a brand in countless ways, a lot depends on branding efforts that might or might not be taking location into account.
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