ATHENS CITY BRANDING PROJECT 2020
1ST PART : Meeting with the Cultural Spirit
The beginning
As part of the Cultural Marketing and Communication course of the MA Program in Information Society, Media and Technology, as students we had the opportunity to get in touch with the field of culture in a different and more applied way. The center of action and thought is cities as open and dynamic platforms of co-creation and innovation, considering that a city can belong to these fields and create a unique city brand. Through a series of courses, the aim was to acquire all the necessary knowledge and skills, to learn to think and act collaboratively, locally, and internationally, providing solutions with a positive impact on complex challenges. To achieve this, we received all the necessary guidance and training from our lead professor Mrs Betty Tsakarestou, by studying dominant models that stand out culturally and through the analysis of official indicators of a city’s development, we successfully implemented in practice what we learned to develop in real time the City Brand of our city, Athens.
The Brand Value of a City
In the first two courses that took place, we talked about the cities — standards, cities that have developed their brand, investing in their special features but also in the possibilities they had to innovate, create and make their city more attractive to their citizens and visitors. Questions such as, what are these elements that make a city’s brand strong, how have they managed to enhance their image, or what is the image that residents and visitors have of a city, form the appropriate pillars of analysis and exploration of their structural model of cities, surrounded by some characteristics — values that ultimately create a city brand.
1st Example: I am Amsterdam
A typical example we talked about was Amsterdam city and the slogan I am Amsterdam. What makes this city attractive, and what strengthens its own city brand? I am Amsterdam is a comprehensive online tourist guide, starting as a busy shopping hub that has welcomed other cultures and has a rich history. Starting with the issuance of a tourist card with which each visitor can wander around the city, he can visit world-class museums, festivals, theaters, live music, relaxed bars and wonderful restaurants, and become a member of this capital. I am Amsterdam has also its own YouTube channel.
2nd Example: Barcelona & World Mobile Conference
Another typical example in which special emphasis was placed on the second lesson is that of Barcelona’s model, for which we also prepared a special presentation, after a relevant research that we did to highlight what are these elements that make the city special and attractive. Barcelona is a Mediterranean city, rich in cultural heritage, a high tourist destination and smart technological systems. It is the second most densely populated city in Europe, and wherever you find the architectural heritage that characterizes it, it emerges through the modern character of the city. Barcelona’s brand has been further strengthened through the Mobile World Conference, an annual international trade fair that aims to bring all modern technological advances to a specially designed space where people of innovation and the business world connect, discuss, exchange views and ideas, co-create and collaborate. The focus of the exhibition is the mobile technology industry and what implies its development in this industry. The Mobile World Conference was first organized in Barcelona in 2006 and every year until 2023 it is set to be organized in this city. But what makes the city of Barcelona a pole of attraction, so that in the category of conference tourism, technology and the character of the conference perfectly match its brand and strengthen it at the same time? The secret lies in the fact that the city has invested in its highly architectural elements, and incorporated them into the modern technological present and the innovative future. For next year the Mobile World Conference prepares the new 2021 theme that will be connected with “Connected Impact”.
MWC 2017: When something special happened
Mobile World Conference 2017 was a special year for Barcelona, as it focused on the city’s unique architecture, and its connection to innovation and technology. The subject of the exhibition was the connection between Science and Art, that is, how Imagination and Practical Application can be harmonized and bring something unique in practice. That’s what SOFTlab did in collaboration with IBM, creating “The First Thinking Sculpture”: Emotions and Thoughts. First Thinking Sculpture is inspired by Gaudi’s architecture associated with the city of Barcelona and the cognitive systems through IBM “Watson Assistant”, a technology assistant that helps expand the visitor’s recruitment experience through two technological tools, Visual Recognition and Alchemical Language. Pictures were viewed through visual recognition — works by Gaudi and local architecture to identify design elements, objects and trends while recognizing the movements of web robots, while the alchemical language detected patterns in documents about Gaudi and other famous local architects, song lyrics and historical articles, including themes from nature and the use of objects such as geometric shapes, mosaics and stone that resonate through Catalan culture. So, they managed to create a live sculpture, where in real-time the sculpture changed colors based on the thoughts and feelings of the visitors, receiving the reactions and comments on Twitter about their impressions of the Mobile World Conference. Visitors through a Touch Screen could observe the visualized data of Twitter, the top trends of the topics to be discussed at the conference and the top emotions that occupy them at the conference.
So, by seeing that a trade show can favorably highlight the Brand of an entire city, the theme of 2020 focused on mobile communication called “Intelligent Connectivity” and the participation of top communication giants (Deutsche Telecom, Ericsson, Intel, LG, Nokia, STMicroelectronics, Vivo, Vodafone) with the motto “These MWC Shorts prove that innovation is truly without limits”. So technology and innovation can be connected without limits, as long as the right people are at the right time. Unfortunately, the arrival of Covid-19, turned the world upside down, with the result that the organizers of the conference had to manage this crisis, starting with the postponement of the exhibition and finally its cancellation.
When Covid — 19 “Disrupted” our Course
Following the official announcement by the government that all public places, services, education, and workplaces are closed due to Covid-19, the lessons were overturned in the way they were conducted, interacted and taught. After proper preparation for the new way of conducting the courses, in online format, the second project assigned to us in order to understand what city branding and city development indicators mean was the search for a city — a model of our choice and the presentation of features of those who make it special and attractive. So we chose the city of Helsinki.
Helsinki & City Branding
The development of the Helsinki model and the promotion of city branding was based on the “institutionalization” of its tourism. The history of its brand begins in the 1850s, with the publication of tourist guides and brochures related to the city and the need for systematic city promotion. In the 1950s, the Sport and Excursion Office of the City Helsinki launched its promotional campaign by publishing a series of tourist brochures with Helsinki being called the “White City of the North”, where the concept of “whiteness” is based on architecture and brightly colored buildings. in the city center and its connection to the Helsinki Cathedral.
In 1963, the first Tourist Office was opened in the city and thus its promotion became even more systematic. The aim is to highlight the city’s advantages and improve infrastructure in relation to urban life and tourism, while the mission is to call for collective support from local residents and learn to look at the city through the eyes of the visitor. Thus, the importance of the city lies in the comparative contrasts between nature and architecture, the major attractions and islands, the old imperial style of the city and the suburbs, with symbolic representations and locations that represent the spirit of the city. The city’s new slogan was “Daughter of the Baltic” to emphasize the shipping side and marine natural coastline of Helsinki used in a series of tourist brochures, posters between 1960–1980. In the decades 1970 and 1980 “Helsinki — Daughter of Baltic” was published in 20 languages (including Arabic, Japanese and Portuguese) while “Daughter of the Baltic” was the centerpiece of the central market, as a tourist symbol and the most photographed place in the capital. The slogan was placed next to the Cathedral, which is Helsinki’s most iconic landmark — along with Senate Square.
In 1980, place promoters were inspired by Western countries through the use of the concept of “image” (brand) as a new way of referring to the mentalities, perceptions and beliefs that people have about cities. In Helsinki, the term “image” was first introduced to tour guides in the 1980s to create the visitor’s mental image that he has for a city. This new methodological tool contributed to the economic reconstruction of the city, but was also used as a detailed tool for studying the Helsinki links, where it showed that the capital remained unknown, neutral and not clear in its character.
In 1997, the Tourism Development Strategy of the Capital Region contributed to the development of the general image of the region based on its proximity to nature and the sea, interesting architecture, the human part, functionality, safety and cleanliness. Tourism promoters were also interested in developing products in separate markets, “the hustle and bustle — good vibes, swinging Helsinki” for “the young, young adults and dinks (double income, no kids)” and “Helsinki seen from a child- eye view. ” And so the above revision criteria contributed to the increase of the city’s promotional image, where the city should be more lively — activities for tourists and locals through the “liberalization of shops’ opening hours” and plans to provide immediate services to private citizens to locate on the street level ”. The marketing plan was also based on the balance between “exoticness” and the production of more dominant promotional images.
In 1994, the city of Helsinki issued the brochure in support of its candidacy as the Capital of Culture in 2000, and in 2007 it became a center of discussion to promote the meeting point between West and East, such as Istanbul to the South. There have been reactions from the public as they say the city should be proud of its strengths and weaknesses. Thus, the emphasis was on the way the locals perceive the character of the city.
In 2015 -2016 Helsinki City Council acquired a new brand concept and emphasized the need to use the city’s branding as a connecting tool for urban development among locals and stakeholders and the “Brand New Helsinki 2020” project started from the advantages and weaknesses of the city and reaching what they would like the city to be in the future, for example by 2020. The goal is to make the city an attractive place to work, live, but also an interesting destination for visitors and for organizing events. The need to share their experiences in the city is also growing, and the city has changed slogans: “One Hel of an Impact” and “Here is the city — use it!”, So that Helsinki, by 2020, will be one a city full of people, actions, and supporters. My Helsinki as a website and as a hashtag, enables people to share their experiences and give their own tips, emphasizing attractive contrasts as mentioned above, such as calm — noise, bright summers — dark winter nights, city — nature , uniqueness — variety, smart — functional, the role of people as co-creators, instead of consumers and so citizens make a difference through their active action.
Below is a summary of the Brand Equity model from Helsinki:
Brand Equity of Helsinki
• Place (Perceived quality of a city’s natural and built environment): The attractive contrasts of the city
• Product (A city’s key institutions, attraction and infrastructure): the architecture of the buildings and the symbolic attractions
• Programming (The arts, culture and entertainment in a city)
• People (Immigration and diversity of a city)
- Prosperity (Employment, GDP per capita and corporate head offices): high levels of employment and urban living
Team: Zinovia Sapouna Areti Tatsi
