Over the last decade retail brands appear to have grown a strong attachment to the eastern Sydney suburb of Bondi.Consider the likes of Bondi Sands, Bondi Boost, Bondi Wash, Bondi Born, Bondi Active, Bondi Joe, Bondi Gin and Bondi Blue, just to name a few. These brands span multiple categories including beauty, athleisure, fashion and alcohol, but one thing they have in common is their name. Building a brand identity around a desirable location is not uncommon in retail, but the volume of Australian brands that have leveraged this particular iconic location suggests a greater marketing strategy at play.A renowned locationBondi Active is one of the many Australian brands that has built its brand, store and community within the suburb of Bondi. The brand has harnessed the very best parts of the Bondi lifestyle and parlayed it into a line of performance-driven activewear business that aims to support its customers through any form of movement.When Bondi Active’s founder and managing director Briony Oayda was asked if she was worried that naming her brand after a distinct suburb would limit its growth or potential appeal, her answer was a definitive, no.          “I think it actually is a benefit to us having Bondi in the name, versus a hindrance in that – particularly wanting to move overseas as a brand – Bondi is well known internationally,” Oayda told Inside Retail.Bondi is featured not only in top travel magazines, it’s also the backdrop to many Australian television shows that have earned themselves an international audience.“There’s that aspiration to be around that Australian beach culture, and similarly, in the US, they have an obsession with Bondi Rescue,” commented Oayda.Beyond the broad awareness of the name Oayda also cites the scenic beauty of Bondi as a strong drawcard for brands looking to ground products in a geographic location.“I’m obviously a little biassed coming from Bondi but there is something so aspirational and it’s such a good backdrop for a brand,” confessed Oayda.“I just love how Bondi is such a melting pot of every kind of type of person, different cultures, where it works in a lot of different areas for different kinds of businesses,” she added.An aspirational lifestyle As it turns out, Bondi’s branding opportunity extends beyond the aesthetic imagery of the eponymous beach and Bondi Icebergs Club, the oceanside swimming pools.The residents of Bondi add an extra layer of appeal and intrigue to the suburban location with their lifestyle.“People there are seen as aspirational in terms of living that kind of healthy, active lifestyle,” said Oayda.The commercial appeal of Bondi is rooted in the way its residents have transformed their healthy lifestyles into somewhat of a contagious culture.“I think the most unique part of that lifestyle is the morning routine, where every man and his dog is out and about,” Oayda said. Bondi in the morning “is almost a social scene, people going for coffee, catch ups, walks along the beach, or doing their workouts,” she elaborated. The beach is host to diverse wellness lifestyles, with Bondi residents embracing many active trends from seated meditation to swimming laps and soft sand runs to training groups, according to Oayda. By borrowing the name, brands like Bondi Active are benefitting from the halo effect of the suburb’s reputation for fitness. “There’s already that awareness of the name of the beach and it’s already perceived as kind of a healthy and wellness area or an active beach lifestyle,” concluded Oayda.