In The Spotlight

What Ukraine is fighting for

One year after the invasion began, Brand Ukraine launched a new campaign - #WhatWeAreFightingFor – which gave Ukrainian citizens the opportunity to share the reasons they kept fighting for their homeland. We reached out to Maria Lypiatska, Head of Brand Ukraine, to discover how the team are leveraging strong, authentic communication in the face of adversity, and how they’re giving a voice to more than 40 million Ukrainians.

label_outline Citizen EngagementCrisis ManagementPlace BrandingReputation

A tale of two business improvement districts

The Brixton X Harlem festival reached across continents to celebrate shared stories and weave together the rich tapestries of two iconic neighbourhoods that are deeply rooted in the African and Caribbean diaspora. We sat down with Gianluca Rizzo, Managing Director, and Jessica Dyer, Cultural Manager at Brixton BID, to understand how they put community at the heart of this placemaking initiative and what it took to make the twinning partnership successful.

label_outline CollaborationPlace MakingPrivate Sector

How Vilnius leveraged global news coverage of mass layoffs from the tech giants into a successful talent attraction campaign

When the headlines broke that Meta and Twitter were laying off huge swathes of their staff, Go Vilnius launched an opportunistic, guerilla marketing campaign to tempt people into moving to the city. Pija Ona Indriūnaitė, Head of Marketing for Go Vilnius, shares what inspired the strategy and what it means for the future of Vilnius as a Tech Hub.

label_outline Economic Development Place BrandingTalent Attraction

Travelling Bahamian style: How The Bahamas are connecting visitors with their residents

For 45 years, the team at The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation has been connecting visitors to residents for a truly authentic experience. Bernadette Bastian, the Ministry’s General Manager and the driving force behind the People-to-People programme, joined us to talk about how they’re transforming tourists into temporary locals and creating lasting memories that unite residents and travellers. 

label_outline Citizen EngagementDestination MarketingTourism

Micro-adventures with major impact: Crafting a visual story for the Seattle Southside region

Explore Seattle Southside’s new visual identity is a testament to the power that a creative design can have in shaping perceptions of your place. Bringing together three distinct cities under one brand narrative, this new strategy celebrates micro-adventures and the quirkiness you can find under the surface of the most unexpected of places. To understand what the secret was to Seattle Southside’s success, we sat down with CEO Mark Everton to find out how they breathed new life into the region’s tourism marketing.

label_outline CollaborationDesignPlace Branding

The Leiden Equation: Unpacking the city’s successful formula for place branding

The Dutch city of Leiden is steeped in history – and is home to the country’s oldest university, founded in 1574. Fast forward some five hundred years, the city is leaning into its long heritage of scientific innovation to create an impactful place brand strategy that is engaging residents, businesses, and government alike in celebrating their proud history.

label_outline Citizen EngagementPlace BrandingPrivate Sector

Inside Fiji's award-winning place marketing campaign, ‘Where Happiness Comes Naturally’

Fiji’s stunning landscape has never been in question – but you need more than beautiful beaches to stand out from the crowd in an era of overwhelming competition for attention. Recognising that tourists were looking for more authentic travel experiences and that the Fijian need for storytelling was deeply rooted in their culture, Tourism Fiji set out to overhaul their strategy – and in the process, were named winners at the City Nation Place Awards for their efforts.

label_outline Citizen EngagementDesignPlace BrandingReputationTourism

Data wizardry and the future of Glasgow’s tech ecosystem

At the 2023 City Nation Place Awards, Glasgow became the first city to take home the trophy for Best Use of Data, in recognition of the comprehensive and innovative work undertaken to map out the city’s tech ecosystem and create a foundation for data-driven storytelling around the sector. We sat down with Glasgow City Council's Gavin Smyth to understand precisely what it is that led to this data-driven triumph.

label_outline DataEconomic Development Investment PromotionPrivate SectorTalent Attraction

Investing in women: ApexBrasil’s commitment to gender parity

Investment promotion agencies have a huge role in shaping the future of their place. Instead of chasing growth for growth’s sake, economic development agencies can shape a more resilient and equitable future by targeting the businesses they attract and support. ApexBrasil's Ana Paula L. A. Repezza talked to us about how her team are making a clear commitment to gender parity, as well as steps they’re taking to develop a positive working environment within the organisation.

label_outline CollaborationEconomic Development Investment PromotionReputation

The story behind Brussels’ daring new place brand strategy

In June 2023, Brussels launched their new international city brand to address the fragmentation of their international reputation. visit.brussels' Annemie Verschueren explains how they developed and launched a place brand that shows Brussels as perfectly imperfect and how they’re working with residents and stakeholders to tell the story of Brussels with one voice.

label_outline Citizen EngagementCollaborationPlace BrandingPrivate SectorReputation

The role of nation branding in fostering peace and unity

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moldova saw thousands of Ukrainian refugees fleeing across their border. As a former Soviet republic, the country was facing a communication crisis. Invest Moldova's Irina Tolstousov explains how they launched the 'Moldova for Peace' campaign and what this means for their citizen engagement and soft power one year on.

label_outline Citizen EngagementCrisis ManagementPlace BrandingSoft Power

‘People saw themselves reflected in the story’: Behind Brand Tasmania’s place branding success

Brand Tasmania’s mission is to inspire and encourage Tasmanians in their quiet pursuit of the extraordinary – a mission that the team have seen huge success with. Jess Radford, Director of Place Branding at Brand Tasmania and one of our 2023 CNP Awards jurors, outlined what it is that contributed to the success of their place brand strategy.

label_outline Citizen EngagementCultural HeritagePlace Branding

Putting residents at the centre of your place marketing

Cleveland, Ohio, has the same challenge as many places – they want more people to love Cleveland the way that their residents do. Before she joins us as a judge at the CNP Awards this year, Hannah Belsito, Chief Experience Officer for Destination Cleveland, caught us up on how they’re providing residents with a platform to showcase their passion for Cleveland.

label_outline Citizen EngagementPlace BrandingTalent Attraction
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