The Branding of Cities

Never really gave it much thought till I read Michele Miller’s post on the branding of Philadelphia to make it friendlier to women. And then I saw Neil Perkin’s “Life With No Ads” post which included the picture above and some other great Gregor Graf photos. We think about branding in relation to products and businesses. In entertainment, its all about personal branding ’cause the performer is the product. But cities? Never really crossed my mind. But how true it is. Cities do have brands. Personalities.

And they can be changed. I remember visiting New York City many years ago and being scared to walk on the street after seeing a Broadway show. It was deserted 5 minutes after the show let out. I guess I wasn’t the only one to be creeped out. They launched the “I Love New York” campaign, cleaned it up big-time and now you feel just as safe at midnight as at noon. The joint is jumpin’!

I noticed also that The City That Never Sleeps had healthier food choices than any city I’ve ever visited on the east coast. (Maybe that’s why they call it The Big Apple…) Check out Anna Farmery’s post on Brand New York for an engaging account of seeing New York City with first-timer eyes.

So how can a city revitalize itself? Years ago, The state of Virginia turned to an ad agency who came up with “Virginia is For Lovers”. Saw an interesting Global TV documentary about a small Saskachewan town called Big River. The town was dying so they turned to some branding experts for help it, but eventually they came up with their own tag line, Nature’s Doorstep, which succeeded in attracting some new life.

Chicago is The Windy City. Toronto The Good. Think about it. How is Rio different than Prague?

Where are you from? What’s your city’s brand?