Little Things That Help Brand Cities-Remembering the Trolley!

There are little things that are functional and help cities gain a reputation. For example, New Orleans and food & culture or San Francisco and the Trolley. To some it may not make much difference but you will often find these symbols plastered all over billboards, advertisements and media. Eventually, they become tied to the identity of the place.

I think of trolleys and immediately the images of San Francisco or New Orleans pops up. Somewhere along the line I encoded theses images and when they are recalled they are connected to oceans, floods, Blues music, sour dough bread, and shrimp! Two different places connected by a trolley in my mind.

So trolleys can help put flavor on an existing brands but may not be the only differentiation. The totality of images, impressions, and cultural feel will create a theme of which trolleys fit like to create a "scene".  So when I think of New Orleans there are a number of images all connected together through my five senses and the way information is coded.