September 5, 2002: Exact Center
I was watching CNN and the anchor was talking about Middle America. It occured to me that I have no idea where Middle America is- I mean, where is the exact Middle of America? It turns out that other people have asked this question, and the answer is not quite as simple as it might appear. For instance, Rugby, North Dakota claims to be the Exact Geographic Center of North America. I assume they have included Canada, which is obviously outside the boundaries of Middle America. About.com claims the Exact Geographic Center of the United States is about "four miles west of Lebanon, Kansas"- but they actually mean the Continental United States- who knows where the center might be if you included Hawaii and Alaska and Guam and Puerto Rico? Several bloggers have tried to track down the exact center using the Global Positioning System, but all they found was an empty field and this highly suspect sign. Some experts believe that the very notion of an Exact Geographic Center is flawed at best, and think that Middle America should be located using a population distribution. The Exact Population Center, or centroid, of the United States has been impossible for me to track down- although this article hints that it is "850 miles west by west-southwest of the nation’s capital".
This idea could expand endlessly- where is the exact geographic center of New York State? New York City? My apartment?
Comments
In advertising (and other entertainment industries), there's always a desire to get in touch with what "Middle America" thinks, especially important when most advertising is created in the self-contained bubbles of New York, L.A., or other urban centers. That's why there are focus groups for everything in most markets (lately lots of product testing in Columbus, OH), that's why the phrase "but will it play in Peoria?" is used, etc.
That's the problem with American marketing and advertising, we head to the middle-American malls for market research, while companies in Europe and Asia do their marketing tests on "elite" crowds.
New Balance, which releases some ultra retro slick sneakers in Japan and Europe (ones I want), do not do so in America. Why? Middle America views New Balance as an "untrendy" brand that is more about comfort and less about looks.
The center of my apartment by the way, begins here with me. So it is a rather dynamic, relative center.
It's my understanding that the actual spot is just across the state border, at Glenvil Nebraska.
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