With the recent announcement that Lincoln Center will release Avery Fisher Hall's naming rights, the question of brand recognition comes into sharper focus.
Duane Reade Hall? JetBlue Hall? It remains to be seen which private donor or corporation is willing to shell out the millions of dollars needed to renovate the New York Philharmonic's aging concert venue. But how much does a name really matter to the average concertgoer? And what accounts for brand attachment in the arts? Wall Street Journal columnist Ralph Gardner Jr. questioned the business of naming rights in a recent column. He joins us in this podcast to talk about it.
Segment Highlights
On Brand Loyalty: "Someone gets their name attached to a building like Avery Fisher Hall and it becomes part of the zeitgeist or the subliminal architecture of New York City, and it's almost like the rug is swept out from under you [when a hall is renamed]. It's like a favorite restaurant going out of business. You've grown used to the place."
On Corporate Naming Rights: "It's one thing naming a baseball stadium after a corporation – and maybe it's just snobbism on my part – but you think of Lincoln Center as somewhat more highbrow. It would just stick in the craw if you named it McDonald's Hall or Chipotle Hall."
On Permanence of Naming Rights: "We know you can't buy immortality but you somehow think that the closest you're ever going to get is your name chiseled in stone on the side of a major cultural building."
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