Urban Branding

Branding is the associations that a person (or people in general) makes with a company, organisation, product, service or individual. Coca Cola is one of the biggest brands in the world - very few people would fail to recognise the red and white logo or the shape of their glass bottles. Branding is really important - just last month Marks and Spencer hired Dame Helen Mirren along with several other famous women to lead their new ad campaign, in an attempt to boost their brand.

While it is obvious for companies that a strong positive brand should bring in sales, the same is said for cities. City branding refers to the changes made and the promotions that turn a city, from a location, into a destination. It will make a city somewhere where people want to visit, work and live. With cities no longer just competing for attention with towns down the road, it is important their brand is strong to attract people from all over the world.

Many urban areas will go through a stage of re-branding to try and alter people’s perceptions of a city or town. This could be environmental (improving building quality), social (reducing poverty), economic (increase job opportunities) or political (successfully bidding for grants). One example is Manchester, which in 1991 embarked on a major rebranding exercise. It aimed to portray the city as lively, cosmopolitan, dynamic and culturally enlivened and was accompanied by visual images presenting Manchester as energetic, innovative and culturally sophisticated. The new brand also came with the slogan “The Life and Soul of Britain”. The regeneration and rebranding was pushed again after the 1996 Manchester IRA bombing, in an attempt to bring people back into the city. With thanks to the 2002 Commonwealth games, which were hosted in Manchester, the city is now known as being a city of sport. Not only are there two football stadiums, the National Squash Centre and the Manchester Aquatics Centre, the National Cycling Centre is also based in Manchester, which is home to British Cycling (who train up Team GB hopefuls). 

References

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2008/oct/01/city.urban.branding

http://www.retail-week.com/in-business/marketing/marks-and-spencer-hires-dame-helen-mirren-to-lead-all-star-ad-campaign/5052215.article

http://www.placebrands.net/reading/citybranding.html

http://www.geography-fieldwork.org/urbanfieldwork/urban_rebranding/stage1.htm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/42/2002_Commonwealth_Games_logo.svg/175px-2002_Commonwealth_Games_logo.svg.png

http://www1.imp.unisg.ch/org/idt/ipmr.nsf/0/7e675f0a71bd4d16c1256e0400524fa5/$FILE/IPMR_4_2_THE%20REBRANDING%20OF%20CITY%20PLACES.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester#Geography