Living in the Budweiser Building

We live in a world of advertising. There are ads everywhere. You can't leave your house without seeing some kind of advertisement for something, whether it be on billboards or banners, in newspapers or programs. According to this site, we see somewhere between a few hundred and a few thousand ads a day.

Yet there is one place I've never seen "sell out". I've lived in apartments for a little over a decade and never have I seen apartment buildings called anything but "Building A-Z" or "Building 1-99".

Why don't apartment complexes rent out the name of their buildings to companies? This seems like a match made in capitalistic nirvana.

The apartment complex wins because they get free income for renaming areas that are not really attached to their name. Bonus points if they keep the advertisers in the alphabetical order as the apartment buildings.

For example:

• Building A: The Albertsons Building


• Building B: The Best Buy Building


• Building C: The Costco Building


• Building D: The Dominos Building


• Building H: The Home Depot Building


• Building M: The McDonalds Building


• Etc, etc

Notice the type of companies there. There are all places or products apartment residents would frequent or purchase. Therein lies the benefit for the companies buying the space. The residents are a captive audience to the ad. They have to say the product name, because it is where they live.

For example, imagine this casual conversation:

"Hey Bob, why don't we watch the game at your place?"

"Sure, you know my complex, right? I am in the Budweiser Building."

"Whoa, speaking of, do you want me to pick up a case?"

"Sure, sounds good. Just make sure you make it here before kickoff."

Did you see how the Budweiser brand automatically inserted itself into the conversation? It was almost like magic.

If high rise, downtown, skyskraping condominium buildings can sell their naming rights, why can't apartment complexes? They could even package the advertising real estate on the side of the building to the company buying the name. That would cost extra, of course.

Although I don't think apartment complexes would be so kind, this may be a way to help control rent inflation. I've never lived in a complex that didn't raise their rent every year. However, if a potential annual rent increase drove most of the resident to consider moving, the complex could nix the increase to residents but still making their money by upping the cost of advertising, shifting the cost from the resident to the advertiser.

How could this not work? I think it is foolproof. Unfortunately, I don't own an apartment complex.