At City Nation Place, we talk about creating and implementing nation branding strategies that engage all stakeholders. The Brand Summit South Africa is a working example of an initiative to bring together all the key voices of a nation to focus on how to develop and promote the brand to the world. Ahead of the second Summit, taking place on 6 & 7 June in Johannesburg, we caught up with Solly Moeng, the convenor of the Summit, to find out more.
Is the USA ahead of the UK when it comes to integrating destination marketing and economic development, and securing funding? Politicians and the private sector can be more supportive of economic development over tourism with funding – integrating tourism and economic strategies more effectively can secure longer-term financial security. John Lambeth, CEO and Founder of Civitas, shared his insight into the challenges DMOs face to secure funding and how collaboration is the key to long-term success.
A year ago, a report by the Center for an Urban Future highlighted a record increase in tourism to New York City over the past two decades and outlined the economic benefits that this had delivered for thousands of Brooklyn residents. Brooklyn has no doubt benefitted from NYC & Co’s strategy of promoting the outer boroughs and lesser-known neighbourhoods. Fred Dixon, CEO of NYC & Co discussed this at the first City Nation Place Americas conference in 2017, which also included a presentation from Franz van der Avert, head of Amsterdam Marketing, outlining a similar policy of sharing the load of over-tourism to create a broader distribution of economic benefits by encouraging visitors to explore further afield than the centre of the City – taking in neighbourhoods that, technically, were even outside the city.
We were fortunate enough to be able to discuss some of the key challenges facing Los Angeles with Ernest Wooden Jr, President & CEO at Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Bureau, and our closing keynote. LA is now planning for the Olympics in 2028, and Ernest will be joining us to explore how they are developing a strategic plan to engage citizens, develop infrastructure to support sustainable development in tourism and its economy and secure collaboration between the key stakeholders to build a unified vision for the future of LA.
At City Nation Place, we were able to talk to both Tony Attard, Chairman at Panaz Limited and Rachel McQueen, Chief Executive, Marketing Lancashire to share their views on brand vision, tourism and engagement within the UK.
With just three weeks to go until Brexit D-Day and few signs of a deal being agreed upon by the parliament, it’s clear that, whatever the outcome, the Brexit story will have an impact on international perceptions of Britain. Ahead of our inaugural City Nation Place UK forum, we surveyed a select snapshot of place branders and marketers from across the UK to find out how coverage of Brexit and the actual exit of the UK from the European Union is likely to impact on place branding strategy, and on the flow of tourism and investment to the UK.
We were lucky enough to be able to catch up with Kian Kamas, Chief of Economic Development at the Mayor's Office in the City of Tulsa to discuss her views on the latest trends impacting on the landscape of economic development in Canada and the USA.
We asked Victor Hoskins, Director at Arlington Economic Development, to share his thoughts on some of the key trends affecting place branding in the USA and Canada, such as pro-active advocacy, positive citizen engagement and the challenge of reacting to negative publicity and policy.
Ahead of the inaugural City Nation Place UK conference, we asked Conrad Bird, Director of the GREAT Britain campaign, why he believed it was important for the key decision makers in UK place branding to share their insights and learn from each other's experiences, as well as what he considers to be the international perception of Brand Britain.
We were fortunate enough to be able to catch up with Doug McLean, Director at Edmonton Events, to discover how culture can be leveraged to drive your place brand strategy.
It’s sometimes possible that, when you are convinced of the value of what your organisation is achieving, you neglect the task of helping others to share the same vision. At City Nation Place events we’ve often talked about engaging citizens, politicians, and the private sector in the process of place branding – working together to understand your place’s assets, creating a plan to grow and leverage your assets, and implementing that strategy with the consensus and contribution of all stakeholders. However, in our research for future agendas, a new word is appearing in the conversations we are having with place branding practitioners around the world: “advocacy”. There’s a growing recognition of the need to advocate for the beneficial impact of your place branding strategy – as Victor Hoskins, Director of Arlington Economic Development in Virginia USA [one of the winning places in the race to host the new headquarters for Amazon] commented, ironically it can be when you are most successful that you need to advocate the most.
David Aboulkheir is an expert in place branding and is currently in charge of attractiveness at Lille Metropolis development and urban planning agency (ADULM). This article draws on the learnings of a workshop organised for the 39th national meeting of French urban planning agencies, which focused on design and innovation. It took place in Lille and Dunkerque, November 2018.
To make sure we’re on the right track at City Nation Place, we’ve been talking to place branding leaders around the world – those responsible for place making strategy, for tourism promotion, for economic development, for nation branding, for regional development and for city marketing strategy. There are come clear themes emerging around the common challenges, and perceived opportunities and so, as a preview of the topics we will be building into the Forum agendas, here’s our list of the eight key place branding trends for 2019…
City Nation Place UK will provide a new Forum to bring national, city and regional teams together to focus on how strategic place branding and marketing can drive economic development.
Some of the scariest words in economic development are, “it’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” It’s a trope because it’s a sentiment people express every day. It speaks to the reputation of a place in general, and to aspects of that perception specifically. Cities and nations are places where people live, visit and work.
Amazon’s search for a second North American headquarters city has made economic development a headline-grabbing topic. So it’s important to ask: What drives the reputation of a place?
Solly Moeng
Convenor, South Africa Brand Summit & Awards
