Creating the city canvas of Athens:
Value Proposition Canvas & Business Model Canvas
We are Stefania Koutsoupia, Manwlis Nanouris and Romalea Ntregka, post-graduate students of MA in Cultural Management at Panteion University. As part of the Athens Co-Creation City Branding Project and under the lead of Betty Tsakarestou as our professor and project initiator, we were challenged to discover the best city-branding tactics for Athens, wondering what can make the city a strong player in the worldwide cultural field.
While heading towards the end of our project, the key challenge was to create a city canvas of Athens, consisting of concepts of the city as viewed by the main stakeholders, our ideas about the city as well as the city’s true potential.
Thus, we came in touch with some of the city’s key cultural players. Mrs. Matina Magkou, Communication Manager of ADDMA, highlighted the responsibility of each and every citizen towards the city, emphasizing on the necessity for an effective collaboration between the municipality, stakeholders and citizens. Mrs. Tina Pandi, Curator at the Division of Collections and Documentation, Department of Painting and 3D Projects at National Museum of Contemporary Art, further outlined the fact that through the crisis several self-management initiatives have emerged, a momentum which should be embraced and promoted by the public sector, yet, she accentuated the need for a stronger network among the stakeholders. On behalf of Panteion University, Mr. Nikos Leandros, finance professor and key initiator of the Network of the Suggrou Hub, underlined the bureaucratic and institutional difficulties and lack of financial resources. Last but not least, Mrs. Xenia Kaldara, General Director of Michael Cacoyannis Foundation gave emphasis on the urgency for extroversion, networking and upgrading of local areas.
Bearing in mind the aspects outlined by these important stakeholders, we created a business canvas for Athens, where we developed our ideas about the city’s branding. Core element of the plan were the value propositions and the citizens’ segments. Therefore, we commenced by identifying our main goals for the city: social welfare, diversity and tolerance, inter-connectivity and sustainability, urban redevelopment. Top priority is to make Athens an extroverted and business-friendly city, attractive not only to tourists but citizens as well. To achieve these goals Athens’ leading qualities are cultural hubs, festivals and social awareness programs, as well as its touristic elements (Greek antiquities, night-life etc.). Specifically, all city’ s festivals can be incorporated in the municipality’s cultural policy via funding and communication. Supportive initiatives, such as Polis2, can set the example of stakeholders working closely together with citizens to make sustainable business plans in the cultural field. Additionally, to foster diversity vulnerable groups can be socially integrated through art therapy and cultural involvement. Furthermore, pedestrianization of the historical centre, including creation of bicycle routes, and restoration of abandoned buildings shall promote urban redevelopment.
Indicative key partners in this endeavour are the Municipality of Athens, SNFCC, Athens International Airport, Serafio, Impact Hub Athens, Technopolis, museums etc. Key resources include artificial environment (archaeological sites, landmark buildings), the human factor (municipalities, neighbourhoods, communities, minorities, youth) and the economic resources (funding and investment from both public and private sectors). Major revenue streams can be on one hand endowments, fund-raising, donations, membership dues and on the other hand, providing products and services, such as entrepreneurial toolkit, mentoring, coaching and capacity building. To communicate all these, principal channels for raising awareness can be the social media and web-platforms, like ‘This is Athens’ and ‘Athens Culture Net’. Evaluation processes are also necessary including public opinion surveys and customer feedback. Nevertheless, the city-branding project must be based on a realistic and strategic cost structure, bearing in mind production supplies, staff wages, materials as well as promotion and advertising tools.
All in all, defining and co-creating Athens branding is a prevailing challenge. The city’s new brand name can be: ‘Athens, the city of diversity and start-up creative economy’.
