We purchase a Lululemon sweatshirt and read on the label, “Made in Vancouver”. We open the box of a new Apple computer and read, in white print on a black box, perfectly centered in a sea of Styrofoam: “Designed by Apple in California”.  These statements give a brief if specific pleasure.

Just as the nation state is no longer the motive political force it was, it may no longer be the motive brand force, either.

In our networked and branded world, the rise of the city-state or region-state may prove every bit as important as the rise of the tribe. After all, when did the nation ever, really, speak to a sense of community? Eric La Brecque