Branding Your Hometown

Posted by Rowland Hobbs on January 30 at 7:10 PM Nations, states, cities, and towns are brands. Regions grow organically and come to represent a meaning to those who live there and those that visit, those that do business and those that invest or trade. But when a brand needs to work harder, deliver more than one meaning, attract a different group or stand-out anew, we look to how to inject new life into the brand. But a region isn’t a product, making such an exercise one of the most challenging in our industry.

For he is an Englishman!

Taking on such an assignment as marketing nation, state, or city is tricky. Witness the recent “statement of values” for the British.  Mocked. And derided.

Mostly because it has been perceived as coming out with simply a “motto”, or tagline. Certainly the plans call for a more extensive plan than just a tagline--although “British Day” is rather amusing to think about—it may come down to a poorly communicated plan to the public that sunk the start of this campaign.

Yeah, Sure, Youbetcha…

Minneapolis Saint Paul has also gone through similar soul-searching.  The Twin cities—formerly known as Minneapolis-St. Paul--has removed the hyphen, and spelled out the name in full. They have also the tagline: “More to Life.” It seems to be catching on: uniting two cities, extending to the larger metropolitan area (recall my issues with Bellevue….) and placing them with Austin, Seattle, and Portland who have become hot-beds of creative, young, and tech-savvy talent.

But why do we go on such endeavors? Why “brand” at all for a location?   

I found the best answers to this question from a paper entitled: “Image of the City: Urban Branding as Constructed Capabilities in Nordic City Regions”.  Branding works either inward, the paper argues, or outward: the former helps boost the attractiveness of a region through stronger identity and pride, while the latter is concerned with attracting investment.

The trouble is that regions are not like regular products. They have grown organically, and taking the reigns and centralizing is a tricky matter. The paper concludes that a complete look at a region is necessary for a successful marketing communications effort. Here are a few of  thier top conclusions:

“No Recipe for success”

Some brands work better with a single message, some with a portfolio. While the paper does not focus on Las Vegas, I was reminded in this of the current change in Las Vegas’ marketing. There could not be a more successful campaign than “What Happens here Stays Here”, yet recently they have changed the focus. The new campaign touts the theme: “Your Vegas is Showing”. Many can’t believe they would drop such a successful campaign, but it hardly needs any advertising push at this stage. Its in the common lexicon. And brand Vegas wants to focus on a tamer crowd: especially those in the trade show circuit. Both themes and campaigns can work at once, a portfolio of meaning for Vegas. Much more targeted. In the end, more successful.

“Urban Branding is a little part of community building.”

At DMD we’ve certainly learned the power of architecture with museums and local communities through our upcoming original research Whitepaper entitled: “The Museum Brand Footprint”.  Brands without people make no sense; far too often these marketing communications exercises don’t properly involve local communities, leading to intense backlash and derision.

“Uniqueness and innovation is key”

The paper advises seeing local characteristics through the “eyes of a stranger”. They recommend outside marketing communications firms to help in this, and to play up, rather than play down, local flavor and quirkiness. Topics: advertising, branding, economic development, public relations        SHARE: