Maybe Sunday will be the day to post viewer submissions? Here’s one from Greg F. that discusses the city’s name and how a change-up could effect the way we market ourselves to the world. Personally I love the name Buffalo and the image that it stands for. I emailed Greg to let him know that he might take some heat for this submission and he emailed back saying ‘Let her rip!’. So here you are:
Let’s face it, the farther one travels from Buffalo, the less people really know about the city. This is the reality that Buffalonians are fighting all the time. In fact, the negative or nonexistent reputation of Buffalo is what makes this site – with it’s abundance of surprises for non-residents – so important.
I was thinking about this the other day and about how we could attract more tourism and greater population growth back to the city and the region, and I started to think like an advertiser with a product to sell. The product is the city itself, and a “sale” is someone visiting or moving to Buffalo. And while I was thinking about this, I thought about all great products and how they carry a brand loyalty, and how the brand name is held in high esteem. And it got me thinking about the name of our product, that is the name “Buffalo” itself and what the reputation of the name carries with the average, that is, uninformed consumer – OUTSIDE of the Buffalo area.
Someone who has no firsthand knowledge of the city. And I came to the conclusion, after all of my travels (I’ve lived in Rochester, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Buffalo) that for someone who has not been to Buffalo, someone with no real knowledge of the city, the name “Buffalo” does not carry a predominantly positive image.
Now before people get upset about this statement, I think we have to deal with the reality of the situation. Buffalonians and ex-pats are endlessly positive about their city. We understand the amazing value in this place. However, we have to acknowledge that we have all be fighting, yes quite literally fighting and defending and actively trying to reverse unfair stereotypes about the city for years and years. It’s what makes Buffalo Rising such a fantastic site in that it can advertise to the world the TRUTH about Buffalo, which we all know is sorely necessary.
But the reality remains: in the absence of personal experience, people have a negative (or neutral/non-existent) reaction to the mention of “Buffalo”. So I began to think, to really consider a radical idea – could our brand name be changed?
Well once I considered this possibility, it was like a light bulb going off in my head. It seems so much of my effort explaining and defending Buffalo to outsiders relates back to the initial cognitive disconnect of the statements we are presenting: “Buffalo has fantastic art”, “Buffalo has a great cultural scene”, etc. How much of this relates back to the person’s uninformed, first-impression – stemming from the word “Buffalo”? It does sound a bit odd, does it not, to substitute “Moose, New York – it has great architecture”, or “Elephant – it is a very progressive city”. _ _It got me to consider the possibility (perhaps the sad but truthful possibility?) that maybe “Buffalo” itself is not the best name for this fantastic place.
I know this is controversial.
After all, why not “Buffalo”? It’s a symbol, it’s different, it’s unusual, yes. But there are many reasons to consider a change. Perhaps the primary one is that the city shares the same name as an animal. Name another city of great esteem that is named this way? Frankly, it’s at least confusing, and at best has always been odd, but because it’s been around so long we don’t really seem to want to think about just how awkward it is. Next, if we were to play “word association” with the word “buffalo”, beautiful art and architecture generally do not spring to mind. A buffalo is many things: large, cool to look at, hairy, smelly, powerful, majestic, funky, natural, strong, silent, dangerous, bestial, proud, endangered, yes. It carries these and more subconscious connotations when it is used as a place name.
But what about the name Buffalo prepares people to think about great architecture, terrific food, a great sense of style, a beautiful river, rolling countryside, gorges, terrific homes, a progressive spirit, a high standard of living, etc. In using such a loaded word as “Buffalo” for a city name we subconsciously pre-inject some basic ideas into the uninformed person’s mind. I think that the semantic baggage is there, and that along with the fact that a buffalo is an animal might make it an odd stretch of a name for a city.
So, if we really want to think about this, what if we changed it? What could we ever change it to? Well I started looking into the history of Buffalo. Of course there is “Beau Fleuve” but we would not be any more able to say this than the original settlers of the town. But there’s another option. It turns out that “New Amsterdam” was the city’s original name before the local population changed it to Buffalo. As I considered this fact, this actually struck me as a much more accurate depiction of what Buffalo really is about. The cognitive dissonance (big, hairy, powerful BUFFALO vs. great architecture, culture) disappeared completely. New Amsterdam seemed to FIT.
Why does it seem more fitting? Well for starters, everyone knows Amsterdam, and the name is therefore evocative of a world-class city (and Buffalo is a world-class city). In addition, “New Amsterdam”:
1. suggests European character, sensibility and architecture – which Buffalo has…
2. evokes a certain civic progressive/liberal spirit – which Buffalo has…
3. has dignity, character and maybe echos a bohemian bent from the original, Amsterdam
The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to work. Fundamentally, the name “New Amsterdam” could be a brand which really evokes the true nature of the Buffalo experience.
“New Amsterdam” evokes a sense of place where art and architecture and commerce are completely free to reign supreme. Luxury is OK and fitting in a place like New Amsterdam. With “Buffalo” there is the old standby from outsiders – “you mean there’s great art.. in BUFFALO??”. But if you’re like me, you ask yourself, why should it be such a surprise? The reality in Buffalo IS luxury – and creature comforts. I’ve lived in several places and I’m always amazed at the comfort and beauty and relative luxury available in Buffalo. So despite your personal prejudices – if you consider yourself down-to-earth or if you are an elite – either way – if you live here, you are part of a refined crowd. Even the common man is quite UN-common here, whatever your sensibility. So I don’t think “New Amsterdam” causes any loss of character for the city.
But what about our beloved Buffalo? Aren’t we all used to thinking about it, and saying it, and isn’t the name interwoven into our collective experience? To that I say – Absolutely! That’s why we could leave a significant part of the city as “Buffalo” but name the larger area as “New Amsterdam”. Think of the French Quarter in New Orleans. New Amsterdam could include a small area that remains called “Old Buffalo” or just “Buffalo”. That way, both sides win – there’s still a “Buffalo” there somewhere, but the city can begin to rebrand as “New Amsterdam”.
In any case, I fully understand that this idea is a bit “out there”, but if it’s any consolation, it’s been done before. Throughout history, cities change their names for a variety of reasons (for example, see http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/29857 ). Anyway, I’d be really interested in hearing what some folks have to say about this suggestion. Hopefully I won’t get flamed too badly, but if I do, at least the idea is out there as a possibility.