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2 City Branding
City branding is a tool cities use to define themselves and attract positive attention within
the highly competitive national as well as the international environment
3
. With a strong
brand a place is able to bring more people and more companies to the city to increase the
value everyone can gain from.
According to Kotler a brand is defined as a name, term, sign symbol, or a combination of
these, that identifies the maker or seller of the product
4
. Additional, Stigel and Frimann
outline that a brand makes a product being differentiated from its competition by these
attributes and values which form a unique combination
5
. However the terms brand and
branding are not equal, since a brand is an overall image or set of perceptions and
associations that resides in people's heads
6
whereas branding focuses on establishing and
maintaining this brand
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involving promotion.
2.1 Importance
Due to the globalization it is essential for a city to have good qualities to be able to brand
itself successfully and create an attractive factors to individuals. Nevertheless, a vast number
of aspects and important characteristics, such the employment, housing, public
transportation, education, climate, etc. needs to be considered.
Nowadays people can live and work almost everywhere which leads to competition between
cities for consumers, tourists, businesses, investment, capital, students, rich inhabitants or
talented people as they can chose a location which provides them with the most benefits.
Moreover the fact that half of the world's population live in urbanized settings by now,
should motivate planners to brand a city well to bring more people in their city and to
stimulate economic growth. Creating a distinctive brand that captures the spirit of a city
must be able to inspire the travellers, the industry and the general population itself
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.
3
Cf. CEOs for cities, 2006
4
Kotler, 2013
5
Cf. Stigel and Frimann, 2006
6
Cf. Hildreth, 2008
7
Cf. Stigel and Frimann, 2006
8
Winfield-Pfefferkorn, 2005
5
2.2 Brand Strategy
A Brand strategy is a deeper, more emotionally shared vision that influences actions
9
. Van
Gelder adds to the definition the aim of a brand strategy, which is to achieve particular
consumer behaviour
10
. Initiating a brand strategy there is a need to investigate the current
position of the city:
· What does the place stand for today
· Strengths and weaknesses
· What makes the place unique
Involving a variety of stakeholders assures that multiple perspectives and issues are
weighed, a city can follow an eight-step process to develop a place brand strategy
11
:
Figure 1: Brand Strategy Prozess
Source: CEOs for cities, 2006
9
Wiscnews, 2013
10
Van Gelder, 2005
11
Cf. CEOs for cities, 2006
6
2.2.1 Define Brand objectives
To pursue a clear goal and be able to measure the success at the end it is important to
determine realistic brand objectives. The objectives should be SMART, specific, measurable,
attainable, relevant and time sensitive
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.
It is necessary for decision makers to understand the goal and objectives of the branding
campaign, whether it is primary objective to attract and retain residents, to drive commerce,
to attract visitors or change current perception. After the objectives are defined, the scope
of the project can be specified as well as the appropriate stakeholder
13
.
2.2.2 Understand the target audience
According to Thomas O'Guinn a target audience is a particular group of consumers singled
out by an organization for an advertising campaign. This audience are always only potential
customers, since a company cannot assume for sure that the message will reach them
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.
A vital factor is to identify target groups as this can help to achieve the objectives. Knowing
the needs and wants of the right target audiences, precise and adapted strategy can be used
to achieve them
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. Not every target group is significant, therefore the most relevant should
be selected, followed by the analysis of their needs and requirements in the certain city.
Without a previous research, the comprehension of the target audience might be difficult as
the current perceptions of the place and attitudes are not known. Therefore in-depth
interviews or focus groups are required. The respondents should cover different sectors, e.g.
business people, residents, visitors, political leaders, media and student groups.
2.2.3 Identify current brand image of the place
After the target audiences were identified it is crucial to conceive how they currently
perceive the city and what the desired aspects are. In order to be able to gain insight on
associations the target audiences have with the place, a research has to be done in this field.
Questions like "What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about the
12
Cf. Lee, Kotler, 2011
13
Cf. CEOs for cities, 2006
14
O'Guinn, 2012
15
Cf. Tapp, 2008
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city x", "What benefits does the place provide you" or "What are the weaknesses of the
place?" are essential to identify the current image of the city.
From the anonymous online primary research, which was done to determine the
contemporary associations with the city Ravensburg, it can be inferred that the first thing
people think of when they hear "Ravensburg" are the old town area and Rutenfest, which
can be compared with Oktoberfest, Figure 2.
Figure 2: First thing comes into your mind when you think about Ravensburg
Source: Online primary research
This aspects can be seen as top-of-mind awareness for inhabitants. A top-of-mind awareness
is a position where a consumer thinks of your brand first. It is a `first mention' or the brand
that first comes to mind
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.
A characteristic sign "Veitsburg" was quoted as the favourite place by more than a half
interviewees. Moreover 72% of the respondents stated to like the city a lot, even though
people are aware of weaknesses of this place like crime, no green places, less shopping
facilities or small number of restaurants.
16
Kelley and Jugendheimer, 2011
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Duala Club
Ravensburger games
Rutenfest
Old town
What is the first thing that comes to your
mind when you think about Ravensburg? %
8
When people were asked to indicate traits they associate with Ravensburg, all respondents
stated Ravensburg to be a historical city, followed by beauty of the city, as can be seen in
Figure 3.
Figure 3: Association with Ravensburg
Source: Online primary research
Gaining this discernments the right brand strategy can be developed and satisfy the
customer needs in the right place.
2.2.4 Set the aspired brand identity
Knowing the current image in the city the next step is to specify what the city wants to
represent and how does it want to be perceived. Whether it is desired to change the top-of-
mind awareness or to add some experience the place should have. It is crucial to think about
what you want your target audience to associate with the place in the future and which
benefits they should obtain, both for businesses and the community.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Traditional
Historical
Busy
Beautiful
Inviting
Modern
Crowded
Which traits do you associate with
Ravensburg? %
9
2.2.5 Develop the positioning
As Uche Okonkwo stated in her book, a brand positioning answer the question where you
are located in consumer's mind. This is the point where the relationship between a brand
and a consumer become apparent
17
. Other authors define brand positioning as the means
for transitioning from a place's current brand image to its aspirational identity
18
. Therefore
the benefit that a place wants to own in the minds of the target audience needs to be set.
The current primary benefits Ravensburg is providing to the respondents are entertainment
and a comfortable feeling as this was found in the primary research, Figure 4.
Figure 4: Benefits
Source: Online primary research
2.2.6 Create value propositions
As soon as the positioning is clear, it should be translated into promises and bring them to
each target audiences. Furthermore clear key messages should be created which can
influence the perception of people. Not only one message for all target audience, but rather
adapt separate messages to different target groups.
17
Okonkwo, 2007
18
Cf. CEOs for cities, 2006
[PROZENTSATZ]
[PROZENTSATZ]
[PROZENTSATZ]
40%
What benefits does Ravensburg provides you?
%
Great city center
Good Education
Feel comfortable
Entertainment
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Value propositions describes what improvements or differences a company offer for their
customers in comparison to the competition
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. Various authors discern between three
generic value propositions. Porter makes a distinction between low-cost and differentiated
value propositions
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. Treacy and Wiersema complemented and divided the differentiated
value proposition into customer intimacy and product leadership
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. Furthermore, Arnoldo,
Hax and Wilde identify lock-in as a value proposition
22
.
2.2.7 Execute the brand strategy
When it comes to a marketing plan, it is important to think about different possibilities
where your target audience can be faced with your brand, so called touch points. These
touch points can be divided into three sections: Pre-visit/decision; during a visit/while
making a decision; and post-visit/decision
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as can be seen in Figure 5.
Figure 5 Touch points
Source: CEOs for cities
`Pre-visit' is responsible for the increase of brand awareness, for example advertising or
word of mouth. Next touch point `during a visit' include everything what can arise during the
visit, for example the park was clean, where `after the visit' contain actions which can be
delivered to the target audience later on, like email marketing of the place the person
visited.
19
Abramowicz and Tolksdorf, 2010
20
Porter, 2004
21
Treacy and Wiersema, 1996
22
Arnoldo, Hax , Wilde, 2001
23
Cf. CEOs for cities, 2006
Pre-visit
· Advertising
· Word-of-mouth
During a visit
· Cleanliness
· Satisfied atmosphere
Post-visit
· E-mail marketing
· Magazines
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- , 2013, City Branding, Hamburg, Bedey Media GmbH, https://www.anchor-publishing.com/document/317160
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