Soy de Burque

Soy de Burque (April 1 2007 - ) is an underground movement started in Albuquerque, New Mexico to counter-act the city government's efforts to brand itself the Q. On March 23rd, 2007 mayor Martin Chavez announced his plans to brand Albuquerque as "the Q".
“I just started seeing it around town— at ABQ Uptown, the Albuquerque Studios, or the Q Studios, the Q Bar, you name it,” Mayor Martin Chávez told the Journal. “It’s a wonderful way to express modern-day Albuquerque. … I just like the heck out of it.”
With the help of advertising and marketing firms, his goal is to bring in out-of-state investors by making Albuquerque "hip" and associating it with a "hip" name.

Being a grassroots movement, and without the help of taxpayer monies to support the cause, Soy de Burque uses t-shirts and other guerrilla marketing techniques to raise awareness to the issues of social responsibility, urban sprawl, greenwashing, and supporting the local economy.

Despite criticisms by local papers claiming "the Q" campaign as greenwashing, the Soy de Burque movement views the city's efforts as culture branding.

Similar movements have been witnessed in Austin, Texas with the city's "Keep Austin Weird".

Place Branding and Nation Branding are also terms closely associated with the Soy de Burque movement.

Soy de Burque anti-globalization proponents often claim that globalization diminishes and threatens local diversity, but there is evidence that in order to compete against the backdrop of global cultural homogenity, nations strive to accentuate and promote the distinctiveness of local characteristics and competitive advantages.

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