CityLogo
CityLogo-Innovative Place Brand Management [Utrecht, Zaragoza, Coimbra, Warsaw, Oslo, Genoa, Vilnius, Aarhus, Dundee] was an URBACT Action Planning Network that was conceived as a reaction to most common gaps in city branding, since the practice is often under the major influence of a too conventional marketing approach. We were appointed by the city of Utrecht as lead expert to conduct the international learning itinerary, which was organized in four pillars: governance models; city narratives and politics of city representation; channels & communication tools, with a focus on the impact of the digital shift; and new segmentation of city´s target groups. This working agenda was also joined by the Eurocities Working Group on City Attractiveness, including the active participation of group members like Rotterdam, Birmingham, Bologna, Barcelona, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Gothenburg and Ghent.
The role of lead expert included the following tasks:
- Provision of a comprehensive model for innovative city branding.
- Study visits to all the partner cities and partner profiles on their state-of-play, as part of a baseline report.
- Advising partners in the production of local action plans, aimed at promoting or strengthening their city branding strategies.
- Organization and facilitation of four thematic workshops, including ad-hoc thematic papers.
- Organization of two key study visits to Barcelona and Zurich.
- Organization of peer-review exercise.
- Elaboration of case studies on innovative city branding.
- Final report.
- Co-organization and facilitation of the project final conference.
Video on the Utrecht experience
Videdo on the Aarhus experience
Convencidos de que la dimensión comunicación cada vez juega un papel más central en las estrategias de desarrollo económico, hemos desarrollado un modelo propio sobre gestión innovadora de Marca Ciudad, como reacción a las prácticas banales y superficiales en este campo. No se trata sino de un método para construir y comunicar identidades urbanas competitivas. Este método sirvió de guía a un proyecto de amplio alcance destinado a mejorar las prácticas de placebranding y marketing territorial en 10 ciudades europeas: Utrecht, Zaragoza, Coimbra, Varsovia, Oslo, Genova, Vilnius, Aarhus y Dundee. A nivel red se organizaron 4 workshops internacionales y sendas visitas de estudio a Zurich y Barcelona, entre otras actividades. Un itinerario de aprendizaje que también fue compartido por el Grupo de Trabajo de Eurocities sobre Atractividad.
