Razan bogari

Introduction

Cities have always been hubs of activity and change, therefore; they have faced the continuous challenge of establishing and managing their national brands. Brand is a vision with values; followed by an alignment of major projects to transform this vision into reality. This requires a strategy, which has a focus on constant communication to develop such as festivals, events and scenery, also identity and positive images of the city.  So, this characteristic defines as a city branding that takes a diverse and comprehensive idea of a city.  City branding is a complex task and brings with it some difficulty with terminology, because there are many different expressions that, for some, may be interchangeable. For example, destination branding, place of brand, country/ city branding, nation branding, city image and city identity. The aim of this article is to identify the differences among city branding, nation branding, city identity and city image.

Keywords:

City image, city identity, city branding, country branding, nation branding.

City identity and city image

Recently cities are facing growing competition for investors, tourists, and international events, because of radical economic and technological changes. This competition generate a comparison of cities, which can support investors in their choice of location. Therefore, city branding takes place within a communication system that closely connects with the city’s overall image and identity. A city identity aims at an integrative strategy of the city image, which relays a message to city consumers and creates an identity that shapes an overall city image. For instance, the massive investment in infrastructure such as, shopping malls, hotels and establishment of financial services centers coupled with the hosting of prestigious sporting events seek to promote Dubai as modern city.  At the same time, the opening of the tallest building in the world with environmentally friendly features in Dubai in December 2009 helps to reinforce its image as a modern and innovation city for business and leisure. So, an image is a process of structuring a story based on the city and becomes a powerful determining factor in the city’s identity direction and a measure of city development.

Country branding and nation branding

 The city brand cannot just be held as a summary or apex of the country brand’s asset, because London is not the United Kingdom and there are differences between made in France and made in Paris. Countries are so functionally diverse they should leverage the emotive or representational parts of their brand identity, while cities, being smaller in scale, should leverage their more functional facets. The primary goals of country branding are to attract tourism, stimulate the country’s exports, and attract foreign investment and immigration, as well as to create positive international perceptions and attitudes.

Although nation and country are used interchangeably, there is a subtle difference between nation brand/image and country brand/image. The concept of nation brand refers to the nation as a whole; it describes the country’s intangible assets without any explicit links with a product.  Either a single company or an organization can use the country’s name or logo in order to promote sales and export. In addition, place marketing is another form of nation branding to promote the country as the destination for either tourism or inward investment. The evolution of a nation’s image may take years or decades, However, the damage could have been done by a single event overnight as in the case of Bali bombing that has probably changed the island’s paradise image forever, “the place to live, work, invest and visit”.

PhD in city branding and foreign investment

@Razanbogari1