A group of Sloan MBA students go on a field trip to New York each fall to visit future employers. Their entire schedule and walking plan are built around a certain coffee chain. This ubiquitous chain functions as a landmark in the older sense of the word (wiki): a “placemark” or “a geographic feature used by explorers and others to find their way back or through an area”. While waiting for their colleagues to assemble, the students usually buy a drink or a cookie depending on the time of day; that’s twenty students making at least five purchases throughout the day, largely on impulse and out of boredom.

Brands that become landmarks (or – buzz, buzz – brandmarks) are guaranteed a place in the daily routines of thousands and perhaps even popular culture. A few thoughts on what it takes for a place to become a landmark:

1. Physical presence. Fairly obvious; I can’t think of an example of a non-physical landmark. It doesn’t have to be a restaurant or a store, though, and can take many shapes: a billboard, a clock, a bus shelter.

2. Persistence. People need to be sure the landmark won’t go away by the time they or the other party reaches it. People also need to get used to the object’s presence before they begin referencing it as a landmark. Name permanence is as important as the physical presence. It’s still pretty awkward to refer to the recently renamed Fleet Center as Banknorth Garden.

3. Location. Good landmarks are easy to get to and fit into the general traffic flow. The ideal location must be next to the natural flow breaks such as bus stops or intersections. Intersections also work well because they function as secondary landmarks and are easier to refer to than mid-block locations. They are easier to spot from afar, too, especially if equipped with traffic lights.

Landmarks also need to be easy to get close to. You don’t tell someone, “I’ll meet you two hundred yards from that restaurant” because then you’d need to specify the direction, and the path to destination can be obstructed. Unless it’s a landmark for drivers, like the Citgo sign (wiki), the landmark also needs to be close to the ground. Few people ever look that far up.

4. Space. Popular landmarks have ample space to accommodate large groups of people. There’s one caveat, though. People who’ve never met before would go to a less crowded place where they can easily recognize each other.

5. Distinctiveness. The landmark needs to stand out from its immediate surrounding. It could be a different type of object, or have a different characteristic, such as size or color. In some cases, this distinctiveness can be intangible and derived through a unique meaning shared by a particular group “I’ll meet you on that bridge where we had our first date” would make perfect sense to the people who were on that date but not to anyone else.

6. Clarity. People need to be able to recognize the object for what it is. Post-modernist sculptures probably make lousy landmarks for everyone except experts in post-modernist sculptures. These objects are often hard to describe and to match with their description, unless the sculpture can simply be described as “that weird thing” and it’s the only obviously weird thing around.

7. Convenience. Given choice, people tend to gather around places that provide shelter from rain or sun and have other amenities such as payphones (less relevant now that everyone has a cell), things to look at while waiting, and benches.