We Are Made in NY

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We Are Made in NY is a multi-platform branding and visibility initiative launched in 2013 by New York City to expand the "Made in NY" logo program from film and television to the city's digital and technology startup sector.
What are the main aims and objectives?

The primary goal of We Are Made in NY was to support and grow New York City's technology and digital startup sector by increasing visibility, connecting jobseekers to opportunities, and fostering pride of place among the local tech community. Recognizing that New York's tech sector employment had grown by approximately 80% between 2007 and 2011, the city sought to capitalize on this momentum by extending the successful "Made in NY" branding model—originally used for film and television—to digital companies based in the five boroughs. The initiative aimed to attract new startups and talent to New York, promote the city as a leading global tech hub, and diversify the local economy beyond traditional financial services. Additional objectives included providing practical resources and support to entrepreneurs through a centralized online platform, aggregating job listings from hundreds of startups to facilitate labor market matching, and creating a cohesive, recognizable brand identity that would generate both internal pride and external recognition of New York's homegrown digital talent and innovation.

How does the program work?

We Are Made in NY operated through an integrated suite of components designed to increase visibility and connectivity within New York's emerging tech ecosystem.

The Made in NY Mark of Distinction

The cornerstone of the initiative was an expansion of the existing "Made in NY" logo program, originally created in 2005 for film and television productions. Digital and technology companies could apply to use the "Made in NY" mark—a distinctive logo featuring a stylized retro New York City subway token design—if they met specific eligibility criteria. These criteria included: (1) at least 75 percent of development work conducted in New York City across the five boroughs; (2) at least one full-time employee based in the city; and (3) at least 10,000 monthly users or visitors for consumer-facing digital services. Companies meeting these thresholds could display the hyperlinked badge on their websites and marketing materials, signaling that their products and services were genuinely "made" in New York. The mark provided both symbolic recognition and practical visibility through inclusion on official city lists and promotional campaigns.

The Online Hub and Digital Jobs Map

We Are Made in NY launched WeAreMadeinNY.com, a comprehensive digital platform consolidating resources for entrepreneurs and showcasing the broader tech ecosystem. The centerpiece was the Digital Jobs Map, an interactive visualization displaying:

  • The locations of digital and technology companies across all five boroughs.
  • Which companies were actively hiring and links to their open job listings.
  • Co-working spaces, incubators, and investor locations.

The website also aggregated practical resources for startups, including information on subsidized office space, broadband connectivity programs, grants for expansion, and community events. Companies could contribute videos profiling their businesses, founders' stories, and reasons they chose to operate in New York, creating a narrative-driven view of the ecosystem beyond simple directory listings.

Advertising and Awareness Campaign

At launch in February 2013, the city deployed a multi-channel advertising campaign featuring diverse local startups (including Etsy, LearnVest, DoSomething.org, AppNexus, Songza, and Kickstarter). Advertisements appeared on:

  • Subway platforms, subway cars, and bus shelters.
  • The sides of buses and Taxi TV screens.
  • Digital media channels and tech-focused publications.

The campaign deliberately avoided limiting visibility to only the most high-profile startups, instead showcasing companies from different neighborhoods and sectors to reflect the ecosystem's diversity. NYC Digital, after initial experimentation, found that **letting companies and employees speak for themselves"—rather than relying solely on city-authored messaging—created a more authentic and resonant brand identity.

Tiered Visibility Structure

The program created two levels of participation. All active digital companies based in NYC could be listed on the Digital Jobs Map, providing baseline visibility. However, only firms meeting the 75 percent development threshold and other criteria could display the "Made in NY" mark, creating a curated tier of companies signaling deeper local roots and operational scale.

Eligibility

Any digital startup with at least 75 per cent of their development activities and at least one full-time employee based in New York City (plus a minimum of 10,000 monthly visitors) is eligible to use the brand. For a startup, this can enhance credibility and access to external markets.

What is the overall cost?

No available information. 

How was it implemented?

The We Are Made in NY initiative built upon the foundations of the original Made in NY program, launched in 2005 by the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (later part of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment). That program offered a distinctive logo to films and television productions completing at least 75 percent of production in New York City, coupled with free outdoor media (subway ads, bus shelter placements, Taxi TV) as a marketing incentive. The logo became a recognizable symbol of homegrown creative work and proved highly effective in branding New York as a premier production location.

As New York's digital and technology sector expanded rapidly, city leadership recognized an opportunity to replicate this branding model in a new domain. Between 2007 and 2011, employment in digital media companies had grown approximately 80 percent, and by 2012, the city had seen over 8.3 billion USD in technology company acquisitions, ranking second nationally. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Media & Entertainment Commissioner Katherine Oliver, and Chief Digital Officer Rachel Haot championed this expansion.

In parallel, the city established NYC Digital as a dedicated entity within MOME and published the NYC Digital Roadmap, a strategic framework positioning digital industry support as a pillar of the city's economic development strategy alongside existing finance, media, and cultural sectors.

On February 19, 2013, Mayor Bloomberg formally launched We Are Made in NY at BuzzFeed headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, unveiling the initiative in partnership with NYC Digital, the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, and dozens of private sector partners who donated resources and media inventory. The operational structure included:

  • NYC Digital, a dedicated team within MOME, managed the mark application process, maintained the Digital Jobs Map, and updated the WeAreMadeinNY.com website.
  • NYC Department of Small Business Services and NYC Business Solutions Centers integrated with the initiative to offer training, financial assistance, and recruitment support to participating companies.
  • Private partners—including New York Tech Meetup, LinkedIn, Mashable, BuzzFeed, Clear Channel (outdoor media), and others—provided both resources and donated advertising inventory to amplify the campaign.

In the first five months following launch, the initiative achieved substantial early metrics: 10.3 million online ad impressions, 2,308 companies listed on the Digital Jobs Map, 973 companies designated as "Made in NY," and 491 applications for the mark. During this period, NYC Digital refined the campaign's messaging approach. The team discovered that authentic storytelling—featuring real entrepreneurs and employees telling their own narratives—resonated more powerfully than centralized messaging, leading to a shift in creative strategy.

In September 2014, the city launched Digital.NYC, a more expansive digital platform explicitly built "on the City's original Made in NY Digital Map and the We Are Made in NY campaign." Digital.NYC expanded the dataset to include over 6,000 tech and digital companies and investors, and became the primary digital infrastructure for NYC's startup ecosystem, integrating job listings, investor information, event calendars, and educational resources.

What impact has been measured?

In the first five months of operation, We Are Made in NY generated:

  • 10.3 million online ad impressions through the advertising campaign.
  • 2,308 companies listed on the Digital Jobs Map.
  • 1,307 companies actively hiring for over 3,000 open positions.
  • 973 companies designated as "Made in NY."
  • 491 companies applied for the Made in NY mark of distinction.
  • 15 companies submitted videos for the We Are Made in NY video series.
What lessons can be learned?

Lessons Documented in Official Sources

  • Authenticity of voice matters: NYC Digital found through iteration that the campaign resonated more powerfully when companies, founders, and employees told their own stories rather than relying on centralized, top-down city messaging. This authenticity became a key design principle for future campaigns.
  • Diversity of featured companies is more powerful than only spotlighting stars: The team learned that intentionally showcasing companies from different neighborhoods and sectors—rather than only the most high-profile firms—better reflected the actual ecosystem and generated stronger community resonance.
  • Simple, clear eligibility criteria support credibility: The 75 percent development threshold, full-time employment requirement, and user/visitor minimums created transparent, defensible standards for the mark, balancing inclusivity with meaningful signals of local embeddedness.
  • Maps and directories can be quickly replicated: The underlying model—an interactive visualization of companies, jobs, and investors—was successfully adopted in approximately eight other cities, suggesting it functions as a transferable policy tool.

Limitations and Structural Constraints

  • Branding alone cannot solve structural ecosystem gaps: Academic and policy analyses highlight that NYC's tech growth faced major underlying constraints—lack of technical talent, limited seed capital, scarce affordable space, and a fragmented community. The branding initiative addresses visibility and connectivity, but by design cannot overcome deeper structural challenges requiring complementary programs (coding bootcamps, seed funds, affordable workspace, etc.).
  • Eligibility criteria may exclude earlier-stage companies: The 75 percent development threshold and 10,000-user minimum create a tiered system in which very early-stage or pre-launch startups—those most in need of visibility—may not qualify for the Made in NY badge. While these criteria maintain the integrity of the mark, they also create a two-tier perception between badge-holders and non-badge companies, potentially generating gatekeeping concerns.
  • No rigorous impact evaluation: Available documentation provides output metrics (impressions, participating companies, jobs listings) and ecosystem-level statistics, but no causal evaluation isolating the program's impact on startup survival, hiring, investment, or economic outcomes relative to a counterfactual. This limitation makes it difficult to benchmark the initiative's cost-effectiveness against more resource-intensive interventions.
  • Limited budget transparency: Official sources describe the program as "in-house development with private partner support" but do not provide a clear line-item budget or total program cost. This obscures the initiative's true resource requirements and complicates comparative policy analysis.
  • Sustainability across political cycles: We Are Made in NY was launched under one mayoral administration and later integrated into the broader Digital.NYC platform under a successor administration. Sustaining consistent branding, visibility, and organizational identity across political transitions remains a governance challenge; the specific "We Are Made in NY" brand identity has evolved as platforms and priorities have changed.
  • Digital platform dependency: The program relies on continuous maintenance and updating of WeAreMadeinNY.com and the Digital Jobs Map to remain current and useful. Lapsed maintenance or inadequate resourcing could quickly diminish the platform's utility and the initiative's credibility.
Notes + Additional Context

About city branding as a policy tool (excerpt from Nesta's ‘Idea Bank’ for Local Policymakers):

Brands can be useful in creating a feeling of identity and belonging, and serve as simple representations of complex ideas. In the same way that a country’s flag or a company’s logo can give a sense of coherence and be a tool to connect people with similar values, so city branding has the potential to bring together entrepreneurs within a certain area, and raise their profile externally.

CURATED BY

Siddharth Bannerjee

Researcher, Digital Startups
Nesta
United Kingdom