City marketing (related to city branding) or Place Marketing is the promotion of a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
, or a
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
within it, with the aim of encouraging certain activities to take place there.
Place marketing "refers to the application of marketing instruments to geographical locations, such as cities, towns, regions and communities i.e. coordinated use of marketing tools supported by a shared customer-oriented philosophy, for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging urban offerings that have value for the city's customers and the city's community at large.
The orchestrated attempt to differentiate place (city/ town or cities) aims at associating through:
* Design: describing place as a character
* Infrastructure: describing place as a fixed environment
* Basic services: place as a service provider
* Attraction: place as entertainment or recreation
It is used to alter the external perceptions of a city in order to encourage
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
, attract inward migration of residents, or enable business relocation. A significant feature of city marketing is the development of new landmark, or 'flagship', buildings and structures. The development of cities as a marketable product has led to competition between them for inward investment and government funding. It is often manifested in the attempts by cities to attract international sporting events, such as the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
. Competition between cities exists at the regional, national and international level; and is an effect of
globalisation
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
.
Some places are associated with certain brands and build on each other, but sometimes the commercial brand is so powerful that eclipses the place brand. An example of this is
Maranello
Maranello ( Modenese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy, 18 km from Modena, with a population of 17,504 as of 2017. It is known worldwide as the home of Ferrari and the Formula 1 racing ...
, Italy, which uses the Ferrari headquarters as a primary attraction for tourists.
City marketing can occur ''strategically'' or ''organically''. An example of strategic city marketing is
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
. The city is promoted through a variety of efforts with the strategic intent of acquiring cultural and economic bonuses. A case of organic city marketing is
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. The city is marketed without a grand strategy, as disorganized stakeholders over the course of centuries have glorified the city and encouraged pilgrimage, yielding cultural and economic bonuses. Both cases demonstrate city marketing, each with varying strategic and organic involvement. Generally, organic marketing occurs alongside strategic marketing, as the
perception
Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...
of the city is impossible to solely construct with strategic efforts.
According to
Scott Cutlip
Scott Munson Cutlip (July 15, 1915 in Buckhannon, West Virginia – August 18, 2000 in Madison, Wisconsin) was a pioneer in public relations education.
Biography
Cutlip was born in Buckhannon, West Virginia, the son of Okey Scott Cutlip and Janet ...
, "one of the first, if not the first, municipal promotion programs" was led by
Erastus Brainerd
Erastus Brainerd (25 February 1855 – 25 December 1922) was an American journalist and art museum curator. During the Yukon Gold Rush, he was the publicist who "sold the idea that Seattle was the Gateway to Alaska and the ''only'' such portal".'' ...
for the city of
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
beginning in 1896. Seattle was in competition with Portland and Victoria as the preferred city in which to get supplied for the
Klondike Gold Rush. A Bureau of Public Information was established within the city's
Chamber of Commerce
A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...
.
Like with any successful marketing effort, cities must be willing to commit to a long-term plan in order for their identity and message to be communicated effectively. A shared vision between stakeholders will help develop a cohesive overarching strategy for a city's image.
City Brand Index
The City Brand Index is released biannually and ranks the image of 50 cities on 6 components: presence, place, potential, pulse, people, and prerequisites. In the 2015 report, Paris took the top spot, with London, New York, Sydney, and Los Angeles taking the 2nd–5th spots respectively.
See also
* ''
''
References
See also
*
*
Philip Kotler
Philip Kotler (born May 27, 1931) is an American marketing author, consultant, and professor emeritus; the S. C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (196 ...
, Donald H. Haider,
Irving J. Rein (1993) ''Marketing Places: attracting investment, industry, and tourism to cities, states, and nations'',
Free Press, .
*
*
{{Authority control
Promotion and marketing communications
Cities