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In this essay, I will explore and convey the different dilemmas and paradoxes that occur in city marketing, and how we can combine and manage these to our advantage when promoting a city. Firstly, In order for any product or service to be successful, It must have a strong brand Image. This Is also applicable to marketing an entire City. Eric Brain’s article conveys why a city must have a strong brand image in order to appeases all of its stakeholders.
He explains the toughness of the task “Creating a distinctive brand whilst incorporating the input of relevant stakeholders presents one of the main halogens of city branding today. ” This depicts, the reality that the desires of all the stakeholders need to be met, whilst developing a brand image that is original and efficient. It is vital for a city to come up with a promotional scheme to appease its stakeholders. For example, the ‘Amsterdam scheme has taken the focus of making the city extremely tolerant to diverse sexuality, soft drugs and general way of life.
The slogan of ‘Amsterdam refers to “be who you want to be” and attracts consumers from all over the world to come and “experience” Amsterdam. This works extremely well, as t takes into account all of Amsterdam tangible features, such as the canals, museums and architecture, but also types of legal legislation like prostitution, drug use and sexuality. To be rewound for a high level of tolerance, It sets you apart from many other cities in the world, which wouldn’t be able to deliver the same message.
Further, there is talk about city planning being combined with government planning “The fact that city marketing is part of the political process makes the translation of marketing and branding Insights fundamentally different when applied to the Monnet of cities” (Braun) Also Braun comes up with a series of hypothesis related to city branding, and he further supports his previous comment on political priorities “including city branding objectives in the political priorities, programmer and long term city vision has a positive effect on putting city branding Into practice”.
Therefore, believe it is extremely important for the government to come up with political schemes that will promote the image of the city. This, in combination with schemes such as lamaseries is fool proof when taking into account the city as a whole, as Amsterdam does exceedingly well to appease a variety of deferent stakeholders. 1 OFF topic of discussion, as many inhabitants are against the schemes, as it drives them out of their area and forces them to find an area with lower prices.
Gentrification is typically achieved when a group of affluent, intellectual individuals take habitant in an area of poor economical growth, with cheap rent and prices. These people are usually artists, young bachelors and students. As time goes on, the area itself becomes more desirable to live in, and often the crime rate does drop. This attracts ore and more people to the particular area, and in turn, the economical growth of the city will benefit due to the prices rising once again, and the social status of the area having a higher class.
However, during gentrification schemes City marketers must take into account its residents when trying to enhance the reputation, living standards of a particular city as these residents will be forced out of the area in time, due to the increases in rent. In Amsterdam, there have been a series of gentrification projects that have taken place. Take the Jordan for example. The Jordan used to be very poor area in Amsterdam, where many people shared a small flat, and was used for the working class and emigrants.
During the occupation of Germany during WWW it become even worse. However, small gentrification projects, where more and more restaurants, houses were occupied by artists, students etc turned the Jordan in to a very desirable place to live and now it boasts one the of the most popular residential areas in Amsterdam. It is important for city marketers to gentrify areas of poor backgrounds if they are to improve the reputation of the city as a whole. Not only will t contribute to the economy of the city, but also it will make the city more attractive to potential visitors.
Gay marketing and segmentation: City marketing has to take into account the segmentation of gay marketing. Gay marketing has proven over recent years, that it is a very profitable factor when looking at the city as a whole. Due to the high tolerance in Amsterdam towards diverse sexuality, there is definitely a profitable if pursued correctly. This topic is often described as a conflicting dilemma and paradox involving different stakeholders in a particular city. During our guest lecture, we were taught about a variety of statistics that proved how profitable gay marketing really is.
For example, we learnt that in 2009, the average income for a homosexual was ??32500, with 80% of them possessing a bachelor degree or higher. Further, another trend that we were taught was that 44% of homosexuals spend more than ??3000 a month. These trends prove that there is definitely a “gay market” which needs to be considered. This opinion is supported by a study, which showed 1100 As (Shop Owners, Marketing Company’s). 15% didn’t target List’s whatsoever, 74% didn’t see hem as a main target, but considered them, and 13% directly targeted List’s.
City marketers must take into account the gay crowd, when marketing a product (gay advertisements; magazines, billboards etc. ) Amsterdam is an extremely tolerant city, and the gay market is huge; there are several gay districts in Amsterdam, and people are made to feel comfortable in these areas, and completely accepted. Must be marketed very carefully though, as some straight people would not like to be seen which has worked, very well is Absolute Vodka, which sponsored gay campaigns in the US. It used the rainbow flag on the bottle, and it worked extremely well and is now the highest foreign selling vodka.
Homogeneity V Originality: This is an important paradox when it comes to city marketing, as the two ideals, are very much in contrast but must be effectively used together when promoting a city. Homogeneity refers to the notion when everything has identical characteristics. This could be a neighborhood, which has the same social class, the same income, religious preferences etc. In city marketing, you must make a number of factors of the city homogeneous in order so that the suture of different cultures can still enjoy an area that is transparent for all nationalities and beliefs.
For example, restaurants and a shopping mall is homogeneous as people of all religions, sexuality and age can enjoy a variety of different products, styles and tastes in the same district. Further, these areas are also districts such as business hubs and transport methods, which is a necessity for every city. However, when marketing a city you must have a degree of originality to make you stand out from the rest. For example, Amsterdam has bicycles, canals and a high degree of tolerance. This originality symbolisms Amsterdam, and stakeholders will look at these factors when remembering the city.
Further, these original factors must coincide with areas of homogeneity to make the city look more attractive, and give it a sense of character that is different to any otherworld city. There is great argument to suggest that the growing influence of globalization is simply Just homogeneity. People are starting to use the same consumer products all over the world; from planes, trains to staplers. Featheriness, Robertson & Lash 1995 describe that homogeneity is imposed on people by market forces.
This suggests that people are treated like objects, and we are subject to the changes in the market, and the technological and intellectual advancements that have taken place during globalization. However, a persons cultures and norms cannot be changed automatically. Tomlinson 1999 explains, “People are not mere objects of cultural influences, but subjects who can sift various influences and reject or integrate them”. Therefore individuals have the power to conform or reject to new ideals. There has often been a constant conflict between new innovative products and rand, and retro brands, which convey nostalgic leanings of the past.
The key is to balance these two factors, to give the city a sense of originality but with a modern, up to date twist. Polio and Allocated (1994) report that classic brands not only embody the moral values of craftsmanship and lasting value but also hack back to a time when the world seemed safer, more comprehensible and much less commercial. An example of this can be Coca Cola. Coca Cola has stayed the same for decades, and it continuously promotes Americana lifestyle, patriotism, globalization and Christmas. All of these promotions are positive, and people worldwide are well aware of the Coca Cola brand.
Brand repositioning is one way of reevaluating and maintaining the brand heritage of a product. This ideal can be done through the use of retro branding. Retro branding is the combination of up to date cutting edge forms and older, nostalgic leanings of a certain brand with an up to date, more advanced version. Brown states an example of this can be the Chrysler APT Cruiser that amalgamates its sass Sedan look with a futuristic, comfortable car. The same can be said about the brand Nikkei. The high top, retro trainers were a big hit in the sass, and have recently come into fashion again, with youngsters wearing them worldwide.
To get a broader picture of nostalgia we must take into account the argument of primitivism vs.. Progress. We can depict that over the years, we have made technological advancements, but we have also lost touch with communities and nature. Is this how it should have happened? Students are in demand for retro branding. Students wish to feel a sense of “village life” where they have their own community in an old environment. For example, they need to be close enough to get to university. This is evident in many cities, where the students have their own area in town.
Further, some cities are actually designed purely for the University. An example of this could be Plymouth in the I-J, where 31000 students study, and out of term time the city is very quiet. Cities like this are built so that students are close to everything they need; shops, bars, parks etc. If the students feel as if they have their own community in a particular city, then they will be more inclined to study there. The higher demand for the universities, the higher the entry requirements will be, which in turn will enhance he levels of intellect in a particular area, and improve the economy.
A city must be accessible and must have an efficient network of travel in order to people to travel in and out of the city. This means that transport must be of a high quality and standards must be maintained. Further, communication within the city must be easily accessible meaning high quality Internet and phone signal. These are the minimum requirements for an international city. However, to enhance the experience for consumers, the city must offer a degree of originality. For example, in Amsterdam the main form of transport is a bicycle and cars are seen as quite insignificant.
The bicycle culture actually symbolizes the Netherlands as a whole, as bike lanes have made any part of the city accessible. Further, another example could be the yellow taxis in New York which contribute to a significant part of road traffic. Although these forms of transportation are very original, they are also a complete necessity for residents living in their respective cities. However, in a global context, people must be able to travel to and from a city. This means that the infrastructure of city must be top quality, and have a strong transport network, which can shift goods worldwide.
In relation to a global scale, Cavity and Cantor 1995 explain how you must enhance the city’s local assets to become successful in the long run. “It is the manipulation of local assets that maximizes the attractiveness of the city for capitalist development” Shifting focus from internal assets to external relations, the implication was that positioning the city within a wider network of world cities is the key to economic prosperity. Therefore, when promoting city image, or the branding of the itty, it must be positioned so that it can communicate effectively with other cities. Imitativeness. However, this paradox is extremely important when it comes to city marketing. The city obviously needs to have its own competitive edge, but without sharing knowledge with other world cities, then it is very much on its own. This view is supported by Stopper (1997) who suggests “no city exists, let alone prospers in isolation” This reinforces the assumption that a city must have a degree of connectivity with other world cities, in order to share ideas, and combine worldwide social norms and values to have a positive effect.
In conclusion, it is a fundamental objective to ensure that certain paradoxes are managed effectively so that a city’s brand can be promoted and maintained. For example, a city marketer must balance its local assets with its global assets to ensure that progress can be made internally firstly, and then progress at a global level. Although globalization is taking its toll and technology is enhancing, and more and more consumer products are becoming homogeneous, it is absolutely necessary for a city to maintain some originality.
Without originality, the city has no character, which will not appease its stakeholders needs. Finally, it is down to all stakeholders of the city to regulate the changes that are taking place through globalization. However, marketers can also use paradoxes as a framework to overcome study issues and problems in marketing theory and practice. The benefit of this is that many different marketing phenomena can be addressed in a non-exclusionary approach. (Drilldown) An example of this can be shown when analyzing a particular market through contrasting research techniques; qualitative and quantitative.