A series of six articles.
It must be the dream of every ambitious brand maker: to turn a city into a strong city brand. It is certainly a highly fascinating task. But is it realistic that cities can be turned into brands? Going even further: is it desirable for cities to be turned into brands?
These questions are addressed in six articles that are published on an ongoing basis in the business of brand management. The articles are each excerpts from Häusler and Häusler: How cities become brands. Developing city brands purposefully and thoughtfully, Springer 2024 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-43776-3 (German version, Springer Gabler 2023 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-41456-6). The articles have been slightly shortened and edited.
Squaring the circle?
Article 1 of 6.
The intention to turn a city into a brand seems—at first glance—like trying to square the circle. Fundamentally impossible. Doomed to fail.
City and brand belong to those things for which universally valid definitions cannot exist. Different perspectives and approaches necessarily lead to very different ideas of what is to be understood by the two phenomena. Moreover, both are always also contested and disputed terms with immediately normative and conflict-laden connotations. The difficulties are obviously not eliminated by combining the two concepts and thinking about the development of city brands. One should probably not undertake this attempt.
Nevertheless, it is undeniable that cities are brands. And even more significant: cities became brands long before the term brand was widely used. Cities—analogous to artists, religions, or political movements—must be interpreted as precursors of what was later labeled as a brand. Cities are archetypal brands. For millennia, cities have been competing with each other, famous cities enjoy a supra-regional ‘reputation’, are associated with very specific ideas across space. Many people around the world share these images—even if they have never personally seen and experienced these cities. As a result, certain cities are attractive to specific target groups: they are entertaining for young tourists or relaxing for retirees in need of peace, perhaps stimulating for hopeful young scientists, promising for profit-hungry investors, or liberating for those seeking exile.
Photo: Wolfgang Fach
Successful city brands thus promise that benefit which makes strong brands valuable. Perceived differences create attention. Exciting offers promise satisfaction of needs and thus create demand. And once positive ideas have been established, they ensure that stable loyalty relationships are formed. Being a strong brand therefore pays off for cities—and this promise makes it understandable that cities want to become brands.
If this desire is actively pursued, then new patterns of thought and behavior emerge in the respective cities. Then it is no longer enough for the inhabitants to enjoy the pleasant city life in its evolved form. Then it is not enough for the responsible city fathers and city mothers to maintain the existing advantages of a city (to administer). They can no longer rely on the correct (desired and successful) reputation spreading somehow. In order to be able to exploit the potentials of strong brands, more must be done: the promising city brands must be developed and maintained. As a result (or as a prerequisite), there is a perceived compulsion for cities to think and act more entrepreneurially and to become brands—especially when others push ahead and threaten to gain a significant advantage in the competition between cities.
