Top City Brands Revealed in New 2016 U.S. Place Equity Index
In DMAI’s Destination Next report last year, leaders of destination marketing organizations around the world identified the development and management of their destination’s brand as one of their highest priorities. They’ve recognized that when it comes to attracting tourism, talent or capital, the perceived brand of a city plays an ever-increasing role in determining where that talent, tourism and capital flows.
While most people associate “branding” with logos, slogans and advertising campaigns, the brand of a city or destination cannot be approached like a consumer product or service. Yet that’s the most common mistake that cities, destinations and economic development agencies make. The results often make the news — the wrong kind.
The brand of a city is determined not by the managers of the brand, but by the visitors, residents and businesses that consume — and increasingly review — its constantly changing places, spaces and events, and use its infrastructure. Then there’s a multiplicity of stakeholders who need to feel they fit into a “brand”. So trying to apply traditional consumer-based branding approaches and techniques to something as dynamic and fluid as a city is a bit like playing pin the tail on the donkey.
How, then, does one go about evaluating a city or destination’s brand — essentially its positioning and identity — and then managing it?
The Resonance approach to place branding starts by identifying what makes a city or destination unique or different relative to its competitive set. Our new 2016 U.S. Place Equity Index is a measure developed to quantify and benchmark the relative competitive identity — we call it “place equity” — of one city to another by analyzing and comparing factors in six key areas. Research by ourselves and others has shown these six aspects to be most important in shaping our perception about the desirability of places to visit, live or invest.
Place: Perceived quality of a city’s natural and built environment
Product: A city’s key institutions, attractions and infrastructure
Programming: The arts, culture and entertainment in a city
People: Educational attainment, immigration and diversity of a community
Prosperity: Employment, income, poverty and corporate head offices
Promotion: Quantity of articles, references and recommendations online
Based on our analysis, the 10 strongest city brands in the U.S. are as follows:
For factors in some of these areas, statistical measures are readily available. But how does one evaluate the relative quality of the culinary scene or parks and nature in one city to the next? For these experiential aspects, we’ve analyzed millions of ratings in social media channels such as TripAdvisor and Yelp to quantify how many very good or excellent experiences a city offers. This makes the Place Equity Index a unique measure that combines both core statistics with qualitative rankings produced by locals and visitors themselves.
By collecting and analyzing this information relative to its competitive set, a city can better understand its comparative advantages — which should then inform its branding and marketing — and identify potential gaps or weaknesses that require investment to attract the audiences it seeks to engage.
To view the full index and see where your city ranks, download your free copy of the Resonance 2016 U.S. Place Equity Index here.
To learn more about our approach to place branding and how we can help your destination, stop by our booth at the DMAI annual conference in Minneapolis August 1–3. We hope to see you there!
