Branding & Cities

Branding can help humanize our megacities

by Peter Knapp, 20.10.2014

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How branding can help humanize our mega-cities

As cities grow faster, bigger, wider, taller we are all being dwarfed. In 2011, there were 23 urban agglomerations that qualified as megacities, with populations exceeding 10m inhabitants. By 2025, there will likely be 37, writes Peter Knapp, global creative officer at Landor Associates.

Peter Knapp,global creative officer, Landor Associates

Along with the rise of megacities is the rise of equally mega developments. From East London to Guangzhou in China, huge faceless canyons of concrete and glass are springing up every year that dwarf what we are used to: a sense of human scale. City growth is of course a prerequisite of urban development, something that’s been going on for thousands of years. We can't stop it but how do we adapt to it?
The answer is to break these architectural jungles down into something that we can relate to. There is growing demand for a more profound sense of territorialism to our urban environments, a new age of tribalism if you like, and in order to meet that challenge we must create stronger and more distinctive regions, territories, places, districts, boroughs and landmarks.
The rate of city growth today means leaving it to organic progression, where it is driven largely by local citizens, is no longer realistic. A more robust, civic approach is required, with place branding principles at the heart.

Manageable segmentation

Place branding is of course nothing new. In fact, it’s an ancient art. The Old Quarter, Down Town, the High Street, the West End, the town square, the market place, Soho, Dumbo, NoMa: all are examples of how society breaks down the scale of a city into manageable, human entities by which we navigate our lives.
And developing these local brands can go far beyond simply giving them a new logo or slogan, although these can also be worthwhile. What really differentiates a place are the subtle urban details we notice as we walk along the streets: the benches we pass, the street lamps or directional signage.

"Barcelona is capitalising on its growing brand strength, recently being named the world’s sixth most valuable city brand"

Over time, these tangible elements become synonymous with a place and help to differentiate it. Branding can play a crucial role here too and, if done right, the design can blend with and ultimately enhance the organic character of a city borough.
Melbourne and Vancouver are perfect examples of cities adopting a robust strategy to creating stronger identities, drawing millions of tourists and fostering a sense of local pride for citizens. Both often feature in lists of the world’s most liveable cities.
And despite its relatively small size, Barcelona is also capitalising on its growing brand strength, recently being named the world’s sixth most valuable city brand. Part of Barcelona’s strength is the vibrant and distinctive identities of its districts, from the old charm of El Gotico (the Gothic Quarter) to the bohemian cool of Gracia.

 

 Altering perceptions

Even the once infamous inner city district, El Raval, is managing to create a distinctive identity that encourages local pride. Barcelona City Council commissioned a campaign in 2011 to challenge negative perceptions of the neighborhood and its high levels of crime and social deprivation.
The campaign included the addition of a new verb to the Spanish language, Ravalejar, to define the rough charm of the area. Instead of using bold colours or strong graphics, it simply featured the newly-created verb in the style of a dictionary definition and hung it in specially selected sites across the neighbourhood.

"As urban growth continues to snowball, replicating what cities like Barcelona have achieved will be a defining challenge for society"

The campaign sought to bolster El Raval’s identity by playing to the edgy attitude of the neighborhood in a light and unpretentious way, enhancing the existing local character rather than reinventing it.
As urban growth continues to snowball, replicating what cities like Barcelona have achieved will be a defining challenge for society. There’s a danger that mega metropolises will foster a generation increasingly alienated by their living and working environments.
As a result, there will be growing demand for cities to provide a greater sense of belonging and place. When it comes to defining our urban environments, branding proves itself as much more than just a marketing tool; it’s a human requirement to create scalable entities to relate to and navigate by. If not, what do we have? Google maps and concrete canyons.

"Place" Branding

Smart Ideas for Smarter Cities

Branding Is Complex. Branding is Simple.

Key Elements of Creating a Brand

Some helpful notes from Graham Roberson of Beloved Brands:

Key Elements of Creating a Brand:

Brand Idea:   A Beloved Brand is an idea that’s worth Loving.  As Brands become more loved, they go beyond being just a product and they become an idea that fulfills consumers’ emotional needs in the consumers life.  Below is the Tool I use to figure out a Brand’s Big Idea revolves around four areas that help define the Brand 1) Brand’s personality 2) Products and Services the brand provides 3) Internal Beacons that people internally rally around when thinking about the brand and 4) Consumer Views of the Brand.  What we normally do is brainstorm 3-4 words in each of the four section and then looking collectively begin to frame the Brand’s Big Idea with a few words or a phrase to which the brand can stand behind.  

As an example Apple’s Big Idea is about “taking the complexity and make everything simple enough, so that everyone will be part of the future”.  Accordingly, everything in the organization should line up to delivering a simple experience whether that’s the day they turn on the product, installing an App on an iPhone or when they show up at the store to ask questions from the Genius Bar.Once you have your Big Idea, you should then use it to frame the 5 different connectors needed to set up a very strong bond between your brand and your consumers.

• Brand Vision:  It’s the End in Mind Achievement.  What do you want the brand to become?  Think 10 years out: if you became this one thing, you would know that you are successful.  Ideally it is Qualitative (yet grounded in something) and quantitative (measurable)  It should be motivating and enticing to get people focused.  
• Purpose:  Start with what’s in you:  Why do you exist?  Why do you wake up in the morning?   What’s your purpose or cause behind your brand?   Very personal and connects to your own story.  In the spirit of Simon Sinek:  “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”.
• Five Connectors With the Consumer:  Under the Brand Idea are 5 Sources of Connectivity that help connect the brand with consumers and drive Brand Love, including 1) the brand promise 2) the strategic choices you make 3) the brand’s ability to tell their story 4) the freshness of the product or service and 5) the overall experience and impressions it leaves with you.   Here’s an example of how these 5 connections would look for the Special K brand. 

• Brand Values should come from the DNA, and act as guideposts to ensure that the behavior of everyone in the organization is set to deliver upon the Brand’s promise.  How do you want your people to show up?   What type of service do you want?  How much emphasis on innovation?   What type of people do you want to hire?  What behavior should be rewarded and what behavior is off-side.  Having the right Brand Values will help you answer these questions.   The Brand Values become an extension of what the Brand Leader wants the brand to stand for. To read more this subject read the following:  Brand = Culture
• Goals:  While the vision serves as a 10 year big goal, it’s also important to have annual goals to push and challenge everyone in the organization.  It’s a great way to ensure milestones on the pathway to the vision are being hit. Goals should be S.M.A.R.T. which means they should be specific, measurable, attainable,relevant and time-sensitive.
• Strategies:  These are potential choices you must make in HOW to get to the vision.  Good strategy has focus, early win, leverage and a gateway to something even bigger.  Strategic Thinkers see “what if” questions before they see solutions.  They map out a range of decision trees that intersect and connect by imagining how events will play out.  They reflect and plan before they act.   They are thinkers and planners who can see connections.  There are four main types of strategy:  1) consumer oriented 2) competitive oriented 3) operational and 4) financial.  My recommendation is that Master Brands have 3-5 key strategies, but never more.  This forces you to focus.  
• Tactics:  Activities and executions that fit under the strategies. This could be advertising, media, sales, events, social media and professional influence.   I recommend focusing on 3 key tactical areas per strategy, continuing to ensure focus.  

With this format, having it all on one page forces focus and allows you to keep a tight control over those that will be working under the Master Brand.
Here is an another example of the 5 connectors using Apple:

House of Brands

When working with a house of brands, where you have multiple brand names under one corporate name (P&G, Kraft, General Mills and Johnson and Johnson) the brand plan would look different.  The big differences are the teams are smaller and the culture of each team usually follows that of the corporate name.  
Here’s a good example of a Brand Plan that would fit within the House of Brands and here is the related story on How to Write a Brand Plan

Brand Plans to keep everyone on the same page!