Name that arena.
Quick. Name the brands you most identify with the City of Atlanta. Coca-Cola. Delta. Home Depot. UPS. CNN. SunTrust.
Try for some more. How about Southern Company. Georgia Pacific. Rubbermaid. Chick-fil-A.
Come on. A few more. You can do it. Turner. Orkin. Intercontinental. The Weather Channel.
Good. Now what company’s brand name is on Atlanta’s professional sports arena?
Philips. As in Philips Electronics.
Is Philips headquartered in Atlanta? Uh, I don’t think so. But seriously. Are they? I Googled them and there’s an address here for their consumer electronics division. I guess that’s a good reason to pay $182 million over 20 years to have their name all over the building the Hawks, Thrashers and Miley Cyrus play in. Yet if you ask the average Atlantan to name the companies native to their city, Philips probably wouldn’t even warrant a check-mark next to its name on a list of choices.
Arena, stadium and amphitheater naming rights are fascinating to me. I have to believe that some brands do it right. And by “right,” I mean doing more than bolting their logo to the outside of the building. If Philips makes Atlanta home, it’s news to most Atlantans. And that, to me, is $182 million poorly spent.
