Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

A possible explanation: both the NBA and NHL are going to new equipment suppliers and merchandise retailers : from Adidas Nets and Reebok Islanders to NBA from Nike and NHL from Adidas . Yes, it's off-season, but the Swag Shop at the Barclays Center--formerly the Nets team store, then augmented to include Islanders merchandise--seems to be undergoing a longer than usual reboot. Consider the photos above right, from 5/16/17, and below left, from 6/4/17. Surely they're restocking the store, and perhaps they're rethinking the overall enterprise. After all, Nets merchandise, at least, is no longer the hot ticket it once was. Photo from today (updated 9:45 pm) At least it looks like the stores has since been emptied. A photo taken today, at right, shows much cleaner and emptier store And what about the Coney shop? On Friday, 6/9/17, I was in Coney Island and took a peek at what's now called the Coney Island Swag Shop but called the Nets shop, as of last yea...

Yes, it may seem churlish to look critically at the Brooklyn Nets' recent charity/media event, helping give out Thanksgiving turkeys and other food to needy families via the Bed-Stuy Campaign Against Hunger. After all, it does short-term good, helping hundreds of needy families, and shows the basketball players in unselfish mode. But really, do you think the Nets would do this without the reciprocal promise and expectation of significant media coverage (aka "earned media" )? After all, this event, which surely cost the Brooklyn Nets more in organizational time than money--partner Key Food supplied all the food--generated coverage on their own web site (and video ), television coverage via WPIX (a Barclays Center partner!) and  News12 , an article in the Brooklyn Paper (a Forest City Ratner tenant!), and blog mentions in Kings County Politics , the Brooklyn Reader , and NetsDaily . (And maybe more.) Above right is a telling screenshot from the Brooklyn Reader ...

On 9/8/15, Grantland's Zach Lowe published The Definitive NBA Logo Rankings . 17. BROOKLYN NETS The groundbreaking use of black-and-white sets a tone of minimalist cool, and the Nets doubled down by taking their old 3-D shield logo and flattening it into a smooth 2-D mark. But let’s not go crazy. This is basically a Thunder-style shield with a basketball inside it — one that almost resembles the negative image of an eight ball. The NBA’s worst team name doesn’t present a ton of options, so this is a nice first shot for the Brooklyn era. The Nets toyed around with other color schemes as they prepped for the Brooklyn move, and it will be interesting to see if they revisit any for future logos. That ranking is near the middle in the 30-team league (the Knicks were #25, or fifth-worst), so it's not terrible. but it's not great, which is what Nets boosters were claiming in 2012 when the new logo-- uniquely black and white --was unveiled. (And some branding experts gave pr...

That WPIX marketing partnership with the Barclays Center keeps paying off, as in in  NASH FM 94.7 partners with Barclays for 1st ever NASH Country Concert : (PIX11) — Kelly Ford of NASH FM stopped by Monday with a sneak peek of the concert that’ll have the Empire State Rocking Out to Country. Barclays Center and New York’s No. 1 country music station NASH FM 94.7 will present the first-ever NASH Country Concert on Tuesday, March 24 as part of a new partnership. Country artist Cole Swindell will headline the show with additional performances by Gloriana, Michael Ray and Jana Kramer. Kelly Ford , who hosts between 10 a.m.-3 p.m. show on NASH 94.7 as well as NASH Matters with Kelly Ford, will be on hand to talk about the announcement. For ticket info and more on NASH BASH check out http://www.barclayscenter.com/events/detail/nash-bash OR http://www.nashfm947.com/ I know it's not uncommon for print news outlets to run previews of entertainment or sports events, so it's not...

In case you were wondering, that marketing partnership between WPIX 11 and the Barclays Center is paying off. Yesterday the TV station posted this piece of fluff, Ally Love gives tour of Barclays Center hot spots . The text: BARCLAYS CENTER (PIX11)– As NBA All-Star Weekend in February nears, PIX11 will be your home for exclusive coverage of the festivities in heart of Brooklyn. Scott Stanford caught up with Ally Love, the Nets Arena MC, who showed him a couple of hot spots around Barclays. It did acknowledge, at least, that "Barclays Center is a marketing partner of PIX11." What's in the piece? Well, Stanford goes with Love down Flatbush Avenue for a meal at Sugarcane , a Caribbean restaurant that opened up exclusively for them. Then, more strangely, they visited Rocco's Tacos on Adams Street, which is a rather long walk from the arena, and certainly more distant than numerous rival restaurants. Could it be that Rocco's has a marketing arrangement wi...

In another valedictory this week, this time in the New York Observer, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz "seems to be trying hard to defend his brand": He seemed to take issue, for instance, with his recent New York Times exit interview , although he never said so explicitly. “I believe too many reporters no longer present the news in a balanced way … For instance, you should never say, in my opinion: ‘Marty Markowitz, rotund; Marty Markowitz, jokester; Marty Markowitz–whatever words they use,’” he argued, among other criticisms. Ah, Marty doth protest too much. How many umpteen times has he made self-deprecating jokes about his fondness for eating, his limited willpower, his inability to lose weight? It's part of his shtick, and now he's disavowing it?" And, as shown in the screenshot from a News 12 interview , he's undeniably jowly. "The greatest reward," he says , is when regular Brooklynites come up to him and say, "'Th...

Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Johnson is not having a great season--some wonder if he's earning his lucrative contract--but he's having a good week. He won last night's game with a buzzer-beater. And he's all over the media. In the seventh and latest episode of the Road to Brooklyn web series on Jay-Z's Life + Times channel, "Brooklyn Welcomes Joe Johnson." That means actress Rosie Perez--the one-time Atlantic Yards opponent turned arena public address  voice of warning--takes Johnson around Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, and to Gleason's Gym. (Some of this footage did double time on NBA TV's The Association , another series.) There's a bit of a contradiction. Perez praises her neighborhood by saying a "majority are mom-and-pop businesses," and "you don't see a Starbucks." Unmentioned: there's one at the arena. "I'm looking forward to the increased pride that's already prevalent in Brooklyn," declare...

The Fall 2012 issue of Brooklyn Magazine contains three pages of "50 Things You Should Know about the Brooklyn Nets,"  including tidbits conveyed in Nets advertising (Brook Lopez is "Batman's Biggest Fan") and that Brooklyn businesses Nathan's and Junior's will sell food at the Barclays Center arena. One online commenter adds, "51. Barclays Center, is the web re-launch sponsor of Brooklyn magazine, hence the puff piece." Also note the advertisement (right) on the facing page of the article, as it appears in print. The list also appears in The L Magazine .

The free daily Metro is offering a "tidbit daily" about the Barclays Center arena until opening day on Friday, Sept. 28. While the tidbits seem as promotional as the sponsored special section that appeared Aug. 28, some of them have rookie errors that seem prepared not with the help of the arena's p.r. consultants but by an intern working from a not-quite-complete clip file. Wednesday, Aug. 29 Thursday., Aug. 30 Friday, Aug. 31 (I noted that Metro seemed to be channeling the thoughts of arena executives rather than noting.) Tuesday, Sept. 4 Wednesday, Sept. 5 Thursday, Sept. 6 (Note: the arena's not in Fort Greene.) Friday, Sept. 7 (Note: the arena's not designed by Frank Gehry; he did the original design. The arena's designed by Ellerbe Becket and SHoP.) Now why would Metro offer such saturation softball coverage? Maybe because of things like this:

Remember how roots rocker John Pinamonti, in his elegiac 2007 fight song "The Burrow," warned: Makes me sad, yeah it's such a pity They're trying to rename Brooklyn "Forest City" Well, that's not so anymore. The names we hear are The Brooklyn Nets, whose promotional efforts get compounded by press promotion , and the Barclays Center, the latter named--despite Michael D. D. White's effort s in Noticing New York--mostly unsullied by the Barclays scandal. "Visit BCTV to watch what's happening around Brooklyn and Barclays Center," the arena home page urges , referring to the in-house video channel, which of course comes with a sponsor, Ortsbo. What's on BCTV Well, Barclays Center Television has four categories: one concerns the building; two address in-building activities (BC Sports and Nets Basketball); and Series Brooklyn offers borough tidbits. (I'm waiting for BC Entertainment.) The Recent Videos are act...

In Brooklyn, It’s All Nets , declares a 12-slide slideshow online at the New York Times's Sports section. It also occupies the top two-thirds of the Sports section front in print, plus a two-page center spread: The Nets don’t officially step on the court in Brooklyn until the fall. But the team’s imprint is already evident, even ubiquitous, around the borough. Well, duh, because most of the examples involve advertising. NY Times/Todd Heisler When a corporation does a big ad spend, does that merit a slideshow? Or, if it does deserve coverage, should that coverage be simply about the fact of that the "imprint" exists, or perhaps a little insight, or skepticism. For example, the "First Home Game Since 1957" signs are in stores, according to one report , because the Nets pay $25 a pop. But there's no mention of that here. Or, perhaps, why not mention how the arena operators managed to slide in a Barclays logo on the arena roof? The 12 slides My...

As Nets CEO Brett Yormark (now also CEO of the Barclays Center) said three years ago, "We’ve got a young man who runs our business communications department and his responsibility is every day to get a press release out." Here's today's free placement in the go-to Daily News, B arclays Center installs 70,000 pound Daktronics scoreboard inside 18,200 arena opening Sept. 28: Hi-def $7.5-million scoreboard loaded with gadgets, including a Kiss Cam. It measures three stories high and was delivered to Brooklyn from South Dakota in pieces : “It will be the centerpiece of the arena,” said Chip Foley, director of building technology for the project. Honda signs on Here's yesterday's press release , picked up in a few specialized outlets : American Honda Motor Co., Inc. has formed a multi-faceted strategic marketing agreement with Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets, marking Honda’s first-ever major sponsorship with a sports and entertainment venue on the ...

There's now a Barclays Center sign and corporate Barclays logo on the Atlantic Avenue facade of the arena, according to the New York Post, which adds: The “Barclays Center” name will be featured prominently along other areas outside the arena, including the rooftop and the main entrance at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues. Yeah, it will be on the roof --valuable space never explicitly permitted nor disclosed. NY Post/Dana Sauchell

There's a honking big Barclays Center name and logo coming on the roof of the new Brooklyn arena, buzzing toward a Sept. 28 opening. But such rooftop signage was never officially approved, disclosed, nor opened to public comment. Nor was it ever permitted in the Design Guidelines on which the state relies. It's a p.r. victory for Barclays, which, however hammered for its LIBOR manipulations, is implanting itself in Brooklyn, buying naming rights for the Barclays Center arena and getting its name on the adjacent subway station. (Developer Forest City Ratner actually paid for the latter.) Empire State Development (ESD), the state agency that approved the overall Atlantic Yards project and works hand-in-glove with Forest City, took nearly two business days to provide an explanation for the signage, which was quietly disclosed Monday in a two-week construction look-ahead prepared by the developer. The signage--including painted letters approximately 230’ x 103’--i...

Just in case you were wondering, no less than four entities associated with the new Brooklyn arena  are backing--as patrons, above sponsors--Borough President Marty Markowitz's two summer concert series. The Seaside Series in Coney Island cites the Barclays Center, the Brooklyn Nets, and Forest City Ratner Companies, among eight patrons. (There are many more sponsors. Last October the New York Times explained how Markowitz raised big bucks for charities associated with projects that boosted his reputation, drawing on donors who did business in the borough.) The Martin Luther King, Jr. Series in Crown Heights/PLG adds a fourth sponsor: Barclays. That might not be the best timing, but who cares, really .

On his I Love Franklin Avenue blog, Nick Juravich writes : Those "First Home Game since 1957" signs that have popped up all over? The Nets pay $25 a pop for businesses to put them in the window (as a local business owner informed me). A lot of money and legwork, but still probably cheaper than a 30-second TV spot. I suspect that street team has made certain streets a priority. I've seen a few of the signs on Smith Street, but Coney Island Avenue--not so much.

Just in case you were wondering, the Maimonides Medical Center is the official partner of the Brooklyn Nets (and offers team physicians), while the Brooklyn Hospital Center is the official hospital of the Barclays Center arena. The Brooklyn Hospital press release , 6/5/12: The Brooklyn Hospital Center has entered into an exciting partnership with Barclays Center as its official Hometown Hospital. “We are thrilled to be the official Hometown Hospital of Barclays Center, which is continuing the renaissance of downtown Brooklyn,” said hospital President and CEO Dr. Richard B. Becker. “Our partnership with Barclays Center will aim to keep Brooklyn healthy by providing a very visible and important platform to accomplish our goals.” “The Brooklyn Hospital Center has been a Brooklyn institution for more than 160 years,” said Brett Yormark, CEO of Barclays Center. “We’re dedicated to teaming with the hospital in promoting health and wellness.” One of the most exciting aspects of the...

"Late-night comedian and Brooklyn native Jimmy Kimmel is taking his show on the road to broadcast from his home borough this fall," reported the Daily News today. "Jimmy Kimmel is heading home," said the Hollywood Reporter. The Brooklyn Paper did a whole Q&A , far more space than it devoted to the documentary film Battle for Brooklyn . Well, Kimmel's family moved from Mill Basin to Las Vegas when he was nine. But just like announcer David Diamante, who moved to Brooklyn at age 30, is described as a fifth-generation Brooklynite , so too can Kimmel be claimed. The press release : BROOKLYN– Jimmy Kimmel Live! will broadcast its show from the host’s birthplace of Brooklyn from October 29 – November 2, which is timed to coincide with the start of the inaugural season of the Brooklyn Nets. ABC announced today that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will originate from the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the historic performing arts center which has been the cul...

Visiting the Brooklyn Museum last night for an exhibition on artist Keith Haring's early work , I was reminded how Haring made a practice of drawing on the temporarily unused advertising panels in New York City subway stations. The explanation: In the subway, his personal, open-ended images alongside a blitz of corporate advertising made an implicit statement about the role of corporate culture in shaping the urban environment. Well, what was an outlaw critique is now iconic fare for a museum. The commodification of the Nets Given such precedent, perhaps we should take more seriously the artistic/satirical responses to the relentless commodification of the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center. Let's start with the postcard-sized sticker featuring Bruce Ratner's face (above right), distributed at the 5/1/10 last night of Freddy's Bar & Backroom in its Prospect Heights location. Surely it was unwitting, but the shape of Ratner's head is not too far ...