Indy’s Global Brand
Questions about Indy’s identity and brand have swirled around the city for a long time.
But Indy has and has long had a key branding advantage that money can’t buy: global name recognition.
Indianapolis is a city known on a first name basis around the world because of the Indianapolis 500. This is a powerful brand reach many of our regional peers don’t have.
Consider Columbus, Ohio. Note that I have to put the “, Ohio” after it so that you know the one I’m talking about. Columbus might be in the biggest city in America that you need the state name after to know what city people are talking about — and that’s domestically. Imagine how little known internationally Columbus must be.
There aren’t that many American cities that are known at all around the world, much less for anything in particular, and still less for something positive. But Indy is one of them.
Not only is Indianapolis well known globally, it’s known for something great: auto racing.
Auto racing, especially the Formula 1 series, is extremely popular around the world, more popular and more prestigious than in the United States. The Indianapolis 500 itself is not a Formula 1, it’s still extremely well known globally and the Speedway can still make big news around the world. When Roger Penske bought the Speedway earlier this year, it was international news and the announcement trended globally on Twitter.
Auto racing also has a huge number of positive characteristics that any city would want to have associated with itself: speed, competition, innovation, technology, global reach, sex appeal, etc. It also lends itself to excellent visuals.
The city went through a phase in which the race was downplayed if not ignored when trying to sell the city to the rest of the country and world. I think this is completely understandable. When the city was rebuilding its downtown, becoming the amateur sports capital of the world, and getting labeled the Diamond of the Rust Belt, of course everyone wanted to boast about the new things the city was accomplishing and the great future it was bringing into being. And nobody wants to be known as a one trick pony.
But just because Indianapolis is more than the 500 Mile Race today doesn’t mean it is less than that. And in recent years there’s been a welcome re-embrace of the race and auto racing. There are lot more people putting checkered flags on their houses during the month of May than there were even six years ago when I left to take a job in New York. I was particularly impressed that even this May, when there was no race, my neighborhood was still full of checkered flags.
There are a lot of great things about our city that aren’t yet as well known as they deserve to be. And the city can be something of a cipher to people around the country. But we are known, and known for something great like auto racing — and known for it globally. That’s a great starting base to build from on branding.
