Renaming New York To Sell Cookbooks and Tea
Is the Campaign for Little Britain really as altruistic as it claims? Of course not, it’s a marketing campaign. But what if one of the central tenets of the campaign—that it is fighting primarily to retain the character of a neighborhood—is a red herring?
One of the campaign’s main arguments has been to portray the fight as the little guy versus the big chain stores, or as commenter CFLB says:
“…it’s merely two words on one sign post to help preserve a section of the West Village. Say what you like about T&S [Tea and Sympathy] but they are a small business who contribute to the personality and diversity of ther (sic) neighborhood, unless of course you want to see yet what another Starbucks or Ralph Lauren store.
Fortunately our numerous supporters would sooner see a small local business stand up for itself [and others] against the big brands.
I am sure they would. But what if Tea and Sympathy wanted to become a big brand itself? Not on a par with Ralph Lauren, of course. But one that was recognized throughout America as the premier British tea shop. Wouldn’t it be great if the business was located at the heart of New York’s official Little Britain neighborhood? Just think how many teabags you could sell.
The Campaign for Little Britain website doesn’t mention any of this. Neither does the website of their marketing company The Joneses. But I could have sworn that a previous iteration of the Joneses’ website did. Wait a minute. What’s this?
So the truth is that the Campaign for Little Britain wants to rename Greenwich Avenue so that Tea and Sympathy can become a nationally recognized brand and sell cookbooks and tea. An excellent reason to rename a New York street.
5pm Postscript: Rereading this post, I can’t help but feel like a bit of a twit. As I’ve said in the comments, I don’t have anything against Tea & Sympathy. I wish them well. In fact, as Nick points out, America could do with a good cup of tea. It’s just the marketing idea of renaming a city block that gets me. A storm in a teacup?
Campaign for Little Britain
Give it a rest, Berger. And think of it this way: since Starbucks started popping up all over London, regular people started to realise you could expect a good cup of coffee outside of Soho (London Soho), and there’s a bunch of competitors serving much better coffee than Starbucks all over the country - you can even get good coffee at Newport Pagnell Service Station.
Now, imagine if the spread of T&S franchises led to a situation where you could get a properly brewed cup of builders tea in any city in the US. Or just one city on the US. An enormous boon, certainly.
I’m just bitter they never sent me a free cup of tea
.
Seriously though, I’m all for T&S doing well. I just don’t like the idea of renaming a New York City block in order to do it.
i know you’ve been venting about this for awhile - i understand to a point what you are trying to say - what if they tried to name part of 2nd Avenue Little Eastern Europe - The Hungarian Meat Market at 81st would be offended that they weren’t singled out as Little Hungary, the Heidelberg Restaurant near 85th, would be upset because they aren’t part of Eastern Europe but are part of the neighborhood - yada yada yada. My only concern would be - do I live on that block, or in that neighborhood. Would it reflect badly on the neighborhood? No - it wouldn’t. Does naming that street in the West Village - “Little Britain” reflect badly on the area? I would say no. Yes, it seems to be a marketing ploy, but who cares? It’s not hurting anyone and may actually encourage tourism, growth and investment.
ps - i also had this odd dream where istvan and i picked up your drycleaning with ours and there was a bright yellow raincoat with blue stripes in it - very odd.
I dunno…. I know the thought of a “little britian” is not the most egregious thing in the world, but the romantic in me finds the whole thing distasteful. It’s just another reminder to me how my beloved NYC has become so very commercial as opposed to its more organic history.
New York City was founded on commercial interests, so this is just another example of that great money making tradition.
Yeah, but I doubt the Italians plotted to attract rich tourists from the Midwest and thus came up with “Little Italy”! Business/life was much more organic then. And I don’t think NYC needs to resort to such tactics, concocting a Little Britain. Sounds like something that would be better suited for St. Louis or Tulsa- ya know, some little city that is desperate for tourists!
It also stinks of all of the marketing ploys that went on in Brooklyn when I lived there. Every dinky little neighborhood started to be coined a new name to give it some cache and jack up the real estate prices. What is it that they call Bushwick now…. East Williamsburg? Ick.
Jeez, this blog reminds me more of Adrian Mole every day.
For anyone who has - lucky for them - forgotten or does not know.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Mole