The ONLYLYON Case by |Global Citizens|
We are a three-member team of Cultural Management students, interested in Athens’ regeneration through culture and co-creation. Within the context of the workshop “Athens Co-Creation City Branding Project”, hosted by Betty Tsakarestou, we took a journey around the world to explore initiatives, campaigns and cases that apply to vibrant cities and have a message to communicate to the world.
Global citizens a.k.a. Eva Anagnostaki, Ourania Mavriki & Anastasia Rizou
After Berlin and the BeBerlin campaign, time to make a stop at Lyon!
Lyon is a lively city of 1,3 million inhabitants, at the central-east part of France. At a glance, Lyon is a smart, student, creative and business friendly city, known for its great vibe and the famous Festival of Lights.
But let’s check where Lyon stands at the Global Citiness Rankings:
- 1st French city for executives — APEC 2014
- 15th among most attractive cities for foreign investment — Financial Times — FDI Intelligence 2014
- 33rd at the Reputation Institute rating || characterized as a little-known city with a strong reputation
- 38th at the Mercer Quality of Living ranking
In order to promote this fascinating city, the ONLYLYON campaign was launched in 2007, emerging from a Public Private Partnership (PPP), with a clear goal to build Lyon’s international reputation. Since 2013, the campaign is promoting the slogan “Addicted to Lyon” and focuses on making Lyon better known, generating appreciation and bringing more people to the city.
Strategically, the campaign focuses on six sectors which are perceived as key-assets of the city. These sectors are:
In order to translate intangible values into tangible figures, each sector’s successes and strong points have been translated to actual figures, making it easier to communicate the message and build on an effective campaign.
The campaign’s communication strategy is based on a 360 ° marketing approach, as all mediums are used to promote Lyon as an international city. Since 2013, with the “Addicted to Lyon” slogan, storytelling is a basic tool to engage local residents and the globe, by sharing experiences, hidden Lyonnaise places and unique stories. This approach is also reinforced by the Ambassadors’ concept which helped the campaign promote the city to a wider public. The idea is to transform key-influencers from Lyon into the city’s Αmbassadors in order to attract attention, using their strong network to communicate the message.
Furthermore, social media are used in an innovative way, which led to a Best Use of Social Media report by OnlyLyon, which indicates the main objectives and results of the campaign throughout the years.
So, what has been achieved so far? The following graph, from the ONLYLYON’s website, gives us an idea.
But there is more to it.
Geopolitically, since January 2015, the wider area of Lyon, its suburbs and other 58 small cities, have all been paired to form the Metropole of Lyon or the Grand Lyon region. This decision gives a greater political power to the city, as now Lyon is the key-player of a wider area and can lead the way. Notably, a masterplan for a smarter Grand Lyon has already been shaped and the following graph reveals its main concept.
The ONLYLYON campaign seems to be going well, as results show. However, as creative city makers we identify two points to be further considered:
- The Lyonnais are participating in the campaign either as Ambassadors or as social media users. This is a great way to engage them to the campaign, as participators but not as co-creators.
- GRAND LYON’s main goal has been to make Lyon the #1 European city for start-up companies. Despite the fact that new investments are brought in to Lyon, start-ups and creative industry representatives don’t seem to respond to the call. A lack of creativity in design and communication strategy could be a reason.
Lyon has its unique vibe and a strong cultural presence. It’s ideal for students, young creatives and families. It would be a challenge for local city makers to build a strategy around the city’s unique cultural identity and express itself to the world in a glocal way.
You can find our presentation for the case of Lyon here.
Follow us at our next stop, Madrid!!
