City Branding Strategies Research Articles

Towards Credible City Branding Practices: How Do Iran’s Largest Cities Face Ecological Modernization?

City branding is not only increasingly practiced in cities in established economies, but also among municipal governments in countries, until quite recently, rather closed off from the outside world. One country with a strong drive to engage in urban (re)development in the post-oil era through enhancing its ‘ecological modernization’ is Iran. Megacities in Iran have all begun to venture into making profiles of what they think they are or would like to be. However, some of the adopted city branding strategies lack sophistication. In this article, the authors examine what indicators can be used for evaluating the credibility of city brands and apply these to Iran’s 15 megacities. After offering brief descriptions of the generic features of each of these cities, they map their use of city brand identities and popular city labels related to ecological modernization and analyze the credibility of their city branding practices. Based on their findings, the authors distinguish five types of cities and explain what makes some types more credible in their use of brands than others. Generally speaking, compared to cities in other nations, Iranian cities pay special attention to historical, natural, cultural, and religious aspects.

Explaining city branding practices in China's three mega-city regions: The role of ecological modernization

As global cities, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing operate in international economic networks; however, they are also each firmly embedded within a regional context and are surrounded by less populous and less internationally recognized neighbors. Together they form so-called mega-city regions referred to as the Greater Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Bohai Rim, each encompassing a dozen or so cities. In the wake of staggering economic growth and threatening pollution, these cities are compelled to respond to the challenge of ecological modernization (EM): aim for higher economic value added at lower environmental cost. Cities have particular industrial and regional profiles; consequently they follow different developmental pathways. In order to attract coveted investors, green and high-tech corporations, well-endowed residents and talented workforce, these cities engage in city branding practices. In this contribution, a typology of EM developmental pathways is presented and the 41 cities in the three Chinese mega-city regions are analyzed in terms of their respective pathways and city branding practices. We argue that different industrial and regional profiles allow for different developmental pathways making different city branding strategies likely. Most cities brand themselves in comformity with what their pathway would lead us to predict, except cities with a strongly manufacturing oriented profile; the brands of the latter type deviate markedly from their current reality. Cities adopting branding strategies that contrast sharply with their historical legacy and current profile risk promoting themselves in ways that the outside world is likely to perceive as lacking in credibility.

Wonderland in winter and little Europe in summer: a case study on how Harbin promotes its international image

This study used mixed methods, including in-depth interviews with Harbin’s policymakers and a survey given to Harbin’s foreign residents, to obtain their opinions on how Harbin promotes its international image. After examining Harbin’s policymakers’ international policymaking processes and foreign residents’ evaluations of the city, we found that the combination of government policies, city branding strategies, and relationship building promotes a city’s international image. From the theoretical aspect, this paper not only expands public relations research by applying it to a city’s promotion of its international image, but also enriches current city branding literature by revealing how a city conducted a city branding process. From the practical aspect, cities that are similar to Harbin can refer to this model to enhance their international image, and draw lessons from Harbin’s international image promotion process.

Linking city branding to multi-level urban governance in Chinese mega-cities: A case study of Guangzhou

This article contributes to the academic discussion on city branding as a form of multi-level urban governance, by investigating city branding tied to urban policies and state strategies in Chinese mega-cities, using Guangzhou as a case study. The findings illustrate that city branding is an integrated part of multi-level urban governance, highlights how city branding is interlinked with national, regional and local levels, and exemplifies how city branding strategies and practices are utilized to formulate and implement growth-driven urban policy in China, shedding light on multi-level perspectives in city branding, in China and more generally.

Definisanje ličnosti brenda grada - kako književnost može da pomogne?

City branding has a strategic dimension. When it comes to defining city branding strategy, creating city brand personality, that is, defining a set of human characteristics that are connected to city brand, is particularly important. In this way, a city can increase its recognisability and differentiate itself from the competition on location market. The main aim of this work is to show the experience of defining city brand personality within the project 'Vranje as a brand'. In the first part of the research, we used quantitative techniques (residents and visitors of Vranje were surveyed), while in the second part qualitative techniques were applied (focus group). On this occasion, the results of the research were complemented with the personality elements, that were taken from the literary works of the famous Serbian writer Borisav Stanković, who was born in Vranje and whose literature is connected with this city. That gave an additional element of authenticity to the brand personality. This is an example of how art can shape city personality, or discover the attributes which describe this personality.

Exploring city branding strategies and their impacts on local tourism success, the case study of Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan

ABSTRACTCity branding is a managerial procedure which offers any given city a distinct identity; providing cities with a chance to present as different, positive and distinguishable from other competitors. In Japan, the use of mascots for city branding is often part of urban planning strategy. Kumamon is the most successful regional mascot in Japan and offers an opportunity to explore the nature of mascot city branding strategies. Employing a large number of promotional strategies, the local prefecture created a unique Kumamon city brand and enhanced the local image, resulting in significant economic benefits. The paper argues that five main factors contributed to the success of Kumamon: government support, power of emotional attachment and anthropomorphism, efficient public transport and tourism services, the mascot branding, and social media. Understanding how Kumamon mascot branding succeeded can assist makers to decide whether to replicate the use of mascot branding in other cities and regions.

A Study of Holistic Approach on the Urban Musicscape Focusing on the Musicscape Elements and Factors of Gwangju Metropolitan City

도시의 음악경관 분석은 도시를 총체적으로 이해하는 하나의 방법론이 될 수 있다. 이 연구는 광주광역시를 사례로 도시의 음악경관에 대한 총체적 분석을 시도하였다. 이를 위해 우선 음악지리와 사운드스케이프 등 기존의 관련 연구를 바탕으로 음악경관 개념을 정립하였다. 다음으로 분석틀로서 음악경관 분석의 3대 요소와 6대속성을 도출하였다. 이를 통해 광주 음악경관의 역사적 변천과정을 경관 요소와 속성을 중심으로 다섯 단계의 시기별로 살펴보고, 마지막으로 광주 음악경관의 속성별 특성을 종합하였다. 도시음악경관 분석은 도시정체성과 장소성 분석을 통한 도시브랜딩과 장소마케팅 전략 수립에 유용한 자료로 활용될 수 있을 것이다.The urban musicscape analysis is one methodology of holistic understanding of city. This study tries a holistic approach on the urban musicscape from case study of Gwangju metropolitan city. First of all, the concept of musicscape is defined from existing related studies about music geography and soundscape. Secondly, the three elements and the six factors of musicscape are drawn as an analysis framework. Following this framework, five historical transition processes of Gwangju musicscape examined, focused on the landscape elements and factors. Lastly, the characteristics of Gwangju musicscape are synthesized. The studies of urban musicscape will be used for city branding and place marketing strategies from research on the city identity and placeness.

Portuguese Sardines - from the ritual to the brand

Place branding is a network of associations in the consumer’s mind, based on the visual, verbal, and behavioral expression of a place. Food can be an important tool to summarize it as it is part of the culture of a city and its symbolic capital. Food is imaginary, a ritual and a social construction. This paper aims to explore a ritual that has turned into one of the brands of Lisbon in the past few years. The fresh sardines barbecued out of doors, during Saint Anthony’s festival, has become a symbol that can be found on t-shirts, magnets and all kinds of souvenirs. Over the year, tourists can buy sardine shaped objects in very cheap stores to luxurious shops. There is even a whole boutique dedicated to the fish: “The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines” and an annual competition promoted by the city council to choose the five most emblematic designs of sardines. In order to analyze the Sardine phenomenon from a city branding point of view, the objective of this paper is to comprehend what associations are made by foreigners when they are outside of Lisbon. As a methodological procedure five design sardines, were used of last year to questioning to which city they relate them in interviews carried in Madrid, Lyon, Rome and London. Upon completion of the analysis, the results of the city branding strategy adopted by the city council to promote the sardines as the official symbol of Lisbon is seen as a Folkmarketing action. The effects are positive, but still quite local. On the other hand, significant participation of the Lisbon´s dwellers in the Sardine Contest was observed, which seems to be a good way to promote the city identity and pride in their best ambassador: the citizens.

CITY-BRAND BUILDING – FROM CITY MARKETING TO CITY BRANDING

Thanks to the mobility of the population and the development of economy, nowadays much more attention is payed to the competitiveness between nations, regions and cities. In the early 90s, a special marketing trend appeared, known as "Place branding" which allows cities, regions and nations to differentiate themselves from others (competitors). Nowadays, the "city marketing" approach is a well-established practice which is widely applied by many cities all around the world. During the past 30 years, when the competition between cities became bigger and more important, city marketing approach comes to the fore more and more. Although cities can be too complex for branding or to be treated as products, however, city branding has become a widely applied practice in the past years, ever since cities began to "fight" for: tourists, residents, prestige, wealth, power, commerce, entertainment,etc. By "too complex for branding" we mean that by implementing the city branding strategy we need to keep in mind the past, the cultural identity and the historical background of the city. When we say the past, we refer to all events and happenings in one specific city. For example, Madrid, London, New York, Paris, Brussels are just a few of the largest, but also the best branded cities in the world. Indeed, all of these cities experienced terrorist attacks in their past. Experienced, but survived. However, it is obvious that these events have had a huge impact on their positioning and branding. In order to become sustainable, successful destination (city) brand development must be, first of all, original and different, but convincing (based on physical and emotional charachteristics of the destinations) and relevant (directed towards the consumer in an appropriate way) as well. The authors' starting point is the hypothesis that the branding of cities is based on a combination of various factors and components and that with their combination we can build a recognizable image, which further contributes to higher tourism turnover and stronger competitiveness. Having in mind the previously mentioned, and when it comes to cities, marketing moves from a „city marketing“ to a „city branding“ concept. The aim of this paper is to carry out a symbiosis of key components, so we could offer guidance regarding the creation of a branding strategy to decision-makers in this field of marketing in our area.

In Melbourne tonight

In recent decades the ‘music city’ has emerged as an important series (and exchanges) of representations, capital, labour, sounds and commodities. City heritage and histories—particular narratives of music development, genres, venues and personnel—continue to inform contemporary city branding, tourism and industrial strategies. This article explores how both the practices and discourses of the ‘music city’ circulate in terms of specific histories, and how, in turn, they might inform contemporary practices and future intent. Melbourne, the self-proclaimed music and cultural capital of Australia, is examined as a case study in how the past and present circulate. The article also explores the challenges in documenting the emergence and development of popular music in Melbourne from the 1950s to the present as a three-year Australian Research Council Discovery project, Interrogating the Music City: Cultural Economy and Popular Music in Melbourne, funded from 2016 to 2018.

Determining effective urban design factors within the branding strategy due to brand city spaces and evaluating city spaces by comparing them to the presented factors. A case study of ChaharBagh Avn, Isfahan, Iran

Thanks to city branding strategy, number of countries and cities which marketing themselves is increasing. In this regard, branding urban spaces is one of the crucial subdivisions in reach to boosting the publicity of one place. Therefore, it is fundamental to investigate the factors and indicators which have crucial effect on turning a regular urban spaces into branded one with respect to urban designing. This research is going to discover the most important factors that influence urban spaces from the point of city branding by studying some relevant resources and then by presenting a table contains the effective factors and indicators in branding city spaces. The outcome of the study is a basic chart that could been used in comparing urban spaces with major standards. The conclusion of the research reveals the fact that how many factors a selected urban space contains in comparing to the other branded urban spaces.

The Strengthening of Region Competitiveness by Implementing City Branding in Yogyakarta

This study is about City Branding. This research is motivated by the potential of City Branding creation as a way to improve regional competitiveness. The purpose of this study is to describe the various efforts made by the local government of DIY to improve the competitiveness of the region with City Branding. This research uses the qualitative method. Data collection method is done by triangulation technique of data source. While data processing researcher does data reduction. The results obtained in this study are First, City Branding DIY has been running well. Rebranding DIY is likely to increase the competitiveness of regions, including local revenue. This is evidenced by the increase in investment achieved by the Government of Yogyakarta. It’s just that City Branding is still focused on tourism, but it can be used for other sectors. Second, the DIY rebranding (2014) provides many improvements, especially in terms of concept, logo, and tagline. In addition, the Yogyakarta provincial government has established city branding councils, city branding strategy roadmap and governor regulation of city branding in DIY. It’s just that there has been no evaluation since the rebranding was done by the provincial government of DIY, how this rebranding can be implemented by the local government and city branding council and there is no extent to which the strategy in the roadmap implemented.

Exploring the dimensions of place branding: an application of the ICON model to the branding of Toronto

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the place branding dimensions of a city undergoing a concerted effort to build a distinctive brand for itself.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative, exploratory approach is adopted, applying the ICON model of place branding to the multistakeholder city branding strategy of Toronto. A combination of interviews, participant observation, content analysis and professional reflection inform the study.FindingsToronto’s emergence as a creative city with global standing has been achieved, in part, through a holistic and collaborative approach that is integrated, contextualized, organic and new.Practical implicationsPlace and destination promoters are offered a practical application of the ICON model of place branding, informing future initiatives and offering insight into good practice.Originality/valueViewed through the lens of the ICON model, the paper provides insights into the collaborative and innovate practices that characterize effective city branding.

Trends and applications in city branding: A case study in Izmir

This study aimed at analyzing the trends and unique different applications of city branding, which is a very popular and updated topic in the field of city management nowadays. This research covered a literature review on the global trends in city branding, new application types, and a few examples of successful city branding experiences. The study concluded with a real life case study in the form of SWOT analysis on Izmir’s city branding applications, efforts, and strategies.

City branding in polycentric urban regions: identification, profiling and transformation in the Randstad and Rhine-Ruhr

ABSTRACTIn polycentric urban regions several distinct cities, none of which is dominant, cooperate and compete with each other to attract inhabitants and firms. In such settings city branding strategies do not solely affect one city, but the entire region. We examined how city branding in the face of ecological modernization, that is, delivering higher added economic value, while lowering environmental impacts, is playing out in the Dutch Randstad and the German Rhine-Ruhr. Our findings show that regional identity formation occurs at the sub-polycentric urban region level, coinciding more with (historical) economic profiles than with planning imaginaries. The Dutch cities profile themselves more along the lines of ecological modernization than their German counterparts. Differences between subregions within each polycentric urban region are also noticeable, where more industrialized regions, such as the Ruhr or southern Randstad focus on ‘green’, ‘liveable’ and ‘knowledge-oriented’, while cities with stronger knowledge-intensive sectors portray themselves as ‘smart’ or ‘sustainable’. Cities generally substantiate their profiles through projects, but a significant gap persists between reality and aspirations for improved environmental conditions. This is especially true for the Dutch cities, where many claims, but little visible action can be observed.

Cities for sale: Contesting city branding and cultural policies in Buenos Aires

This paper examines the role of culture in shaping and contesting city branding strategies. Throughout the world, the private and public sectors are jointly engaged in branding cities by mobilising a cultural rhetoric with the aim of attracting business, boosting tourism and revitalising urban spaces. Adopting a critical sociological perspective, the paper examines whether or not culture-based city branding brings benefits to community cultural organisations and explores the reasons why this might be the case. Based on the experience of Buenos Aires and drawing on in-depth interviews with both policy-makers and community cultural centres, different notions of culture, underpinning contrasting imagined cities, are discussed. The paper argues that city branding, founded on a commodified notion of culture, driven by profit-making goals and oriented towards international tourism, can create an urban vision of consumption to which cultural organisations are opposed. The paper concludes by showing how a particular entanglement between politics, businesses and urban marketing in the Latin American city gives way to ongoing contestations over the city brand and configures the possibilities and distribution of potential benefits.

The business of stadia: Maximizing the use of Spanish Football venues

In 2014, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid presented a project for the remodelling of their stadia. The new stadia of both clubs will be, not only a place to attend live sports events, but also somewhere fans will be able to consume both football brands permanently, every moment of the day. Currently, stadia have become commodities themselves. At a time when TV rights in Spain were thrown into crisis, sports organizations understand that sports venues allow them to create other significant income sources that could help them to increase their season’s turnover. Hospitality and events packages, for example, are part of this leisure product that professional football clubs offer in their venues. The aim of this article is to analyse how Spanish professional football clubs attempt to maximize the use of their stadiums, and how these venues are also part of a wider city branding strategy for the host cities. Data for this qualitative research are taken from the Spanish football clubs that have UEFA Category 4 stadia: FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid, Atletic Club de Bilbao, Málaga CF, Real Sociedad, RCD Espanyol and València CF.

유교문화 콘텐츠를 활용한 도시브랜드 활성화 방안 연구 - 안동시와 중국 곡부시 사례를 중심으로

본 논문에서 유교문화콘텐츠를 기반으로 도시 브랜드화 전략을 통해 도시가 활성화된 사례를 분석하고 도시 브랜드의 가치 향상과 도시의 활성화 요인을 고찰하고자 한다. 유수의 도시들이 문화자원을 통해 경쟁력을 확보하고 있으며 특히 전통문화는 차별성을 확보해주는 중요한 자산으로 그 가치가 더욱 부각되고 있다. 우리나라 문화 전반에 흐르고 있는 유교는 건축학적인 문화유산 뿐 만 아니라 예법, 문묘제례, 교육, 음식 등의 다양한 콘텐츠를 담고 있어 활용가치가 높은 문화자원이다. 그러나 대다수의 유교문화자원은 보존 및 운영에 어려움을 겪고 있으며, 무형의 자산 또한 활성화되지 못하고 방치되고 있는 실정에 있어 이를 지역의 특색에 맞게 특성화하여 도시의 브랜드화 전략에 적극적인 활용이 필요하다. 이를 위해 대표적인 유교문화도시인 안동시와 중국 산동 곡부시의 사례를 살펴봄으로서 유교문화콘텐츠를 활용한 도시브랜드 활성화 방안을 도출하고자 한다. This study considered the factors of city brand reinforcement and city revitalization through a case study of two cities that were successful in revitalizing using a brand strategy. World leading cities are securing city competitiveness through the culture resources, particularly traditional culture, as a key asset to highlight the cities' uniqueness in increasing their value. The Confucianism influence on Korean traditional culture has a valuable content like etiquette, ritual ceremony, food, education, etc. as well as culture heritage in historical architecture. Therefore, it can be used as the city's assets to promote it worldwide. On the other hand, there is difficulty in preserving most Confucianism culture content and the intangible cultural properties have been neglected. This needs to be applied actively to be used on a city brand strategy. This study reviewed the successful case of Andong city in Korea and Qufu city in Sandong, China and suggests ways of raising the cities' brand power.

City Branding Strategy on the Evaluation of Tourism Destination Problems in Rural Area (Evidence from Pasuruan City, Indonesia)

This research find the essential problems of tourism destinations in rural area in Pasuruan City, Indonesia. Based on the phenomenology method and using an open questionnaire, researcher make a deep interview with manager of 10 tourism destinations in Pasuruan city relating with their condition. All of the tourism destinations sample in this research represent four tourism destinations categories includes natural, cultural, agricultural and special destinations. In general the essential problems was meet by most of the tourism destinations are poor management system, unspesific additional facilities, and no innovative marketing strategy. In the evaluation of this problems, city branding strategy is offered to cover a comprehensive solution. The main dimensions of city branding strategy for this problems are green space branding, identifiable image and positive brand experience. Keywords: City Branding, Rural Area, Tourism Destinations.

The urban cultural appeal matrix: Identifying key elements of the cultural city brand profile using the example of Madrid

The complexity and diversity of the cultural offering in cities on a global scale is increasingly evident and raises the need for considering further implications of this complexity in urban planning and city branding strategies. The purpose of this research is to deepen the understanding of the key elements, perceptions and experiences associated to the cultural dimension of a city brand, using the case of Madrid as one of the top urban destinations with an extensive cultural offer and cultural consumption options. The urban cultural appeal matrix, built on the main conclusions of the research, contributes to mapping cities according to their prominence in either hard or soft and global or local elements of their cultural offer. The proposed mapping can be relevant for the identification of the cultural profile of any urban destination.