Generally speaking, girls have been stereotyped as having a horrible sense of direction. I, unfortunately enough, am one of those type of girls.
Take the following scenario for example:
J (my boyfriend) & I have to bring relatives out for dinner at Guu Original, a japanese izakaya in Downtown. So naturally, my relatives ask for directions on how to get there.
J: Walk down Robson and turn left on Thurlow
Me: It’s next to Banana Republic!!
Now for some weird reason, many prefer J’s directions over mine! I now know how to push everyone onto the same wavelength as me. I shall distribute these brand maps in future whenever people ask me for directions:
Now everyone will understand me when I say walk pass Victoria Secret, H&M, Zara and Levi’s, turn right at Bloomingdales and meet me at Subway!
Branded landmarks are often the most easily identifiable things around us, so using stores and restaurants to find our way around should be nothing new. No wonder I’m a marketer. Even unconsciously, I’m portraying how powerful branding can be. Being able to know exactly what’s around you with a quick look at a map can be a huge timesaver.
CityMaps, the creator of these branded maps has gained a fair share of attention for using business names and logos to map out cities. The internet has changed marketing. The internet is social. Cities are social, and now – maps are too!
Isn’t it amazing how branding can evolve so much?
It is a brilliant idea ! Girls are so easily get lost. Most of my friends claim that they dont have any sense of direction at all ! They are more sensitive to brands. So, Brand map will definitely beloved by most girls.
This is absolutely a mind-boggling idea from the creators of CityMaps! Essentially, all it they did was place the logos and colors of the brands on the maps as most maps such as Google Maps will have some of the brands on their maps! Nonetheless, this is a genius idea and does help paint and visualize the dynamics of a complicated map for an individual (one being bad with directions) whom has difficulty with spatial reasoning.
Your personal connection with this being highly effective for the stereotypical girl with bad directions is highly entertaining! As one with many female friends whom share this stereotypical trait with you, I can totally understand why you’d be on another wavelength when offering directions!
Hannah!
This blog post is so interesting – I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before and it’s so interesting. When I first saw the picture I thought of a map of a mall directory – kind of like the ones you see at Outlets in the States that actually have the store brand image on the map of the complex. I don’t think these maps will completely replace the traditional way of giving direction with street names but I definitely think it’s such a great way to add to what we already have. You’re right that once we get to a certain location, we’re usually using landmarks such as stores to help further point us in the right direction. It is amazing how much branding has evolved – businesses must be so ecstatic about this new channel that makes them even more visible to the public. Is there one already made for Vancouver?
wow it is such a good brand map for ppl who is living in Vancouver !
I’ll be honest right now, if I had to ask for directions, I would prefer yours over your boyfriends. Perhaps it’s because I’m a girl, but I feel as though we are in the exact same shoe (I’m probably even worse). I depend on landmarks when giving/receiving directions. What’s Thurlow Street? I finally figured out which one Burrard Street is, and I’ve lived in Vancouver for oh…14 years? This map would be a life saver for people like me. Who looks at streets anyways? When we’re in a moving vehicle, how many people actually look at the street names on their own? Downloading CityMaps now…