Author Archives: mk302

by | 28/04/2011 · 14:11

Their big-fat-royal wedding (A joke or should I watch it live?)

By Mihalis Kavaratzis

Earlier today I went to buy a new lighter. The lady in the shop said: “We have on offer these royal-wedding lighters; same price as a normal one – only today and tomorrow.” It was  a lighter featuring the faces of Prince William and Princess-to-be Kate. The date of the incident: 28th April 2011, the day before the royal wedding in England. The place of the incident is more interesting: the centre of Budapest, Hungary. Then I remembered that the week before, two (as far as I know) popular lifestyle magazines in Hungary published a 20-page supplement on the royal wedding. Then I remembered the cups, mugs, plates, silver spoons, scarves and all the rest of royal wedding paraphernalia I had seen in England. Then I went to check my emails and the internet as I do every day. The Greek news-site that I normally check had two separate articles on the royal wedding on its home page! Continue reading →

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by | 05/04/2011 · 13:45

Place Branding Online Conference (Barcelona, 6-7 October 2011)

Universitat Pompeu Fabra is organising a conference on On-line Place Branding.

For information , Call for Papers, Deadlines etc. visit: http://www.tourl2011.eu/

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by | · 13:35

There are right and wrong ways to place making (From the Guardian)

The Heritage Economic Regeneration Trust aims to inject vitality into the city through effective marketing of its assets such as Norwich cathedral. Photograph: Alamy

Media criticism brought on Bristol city council for hiring a director of place-making was not in itself misplaced, says Andrew Stevens, but councils shouldn’t be blamed for trying to foster a sense of uniqueness.

Read the rest of Andrew Stevens’ article in The Guardian

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by | · 13:26

The challenge of promoting the unique city

Zaragoza tourism promotion of the Holy Week

By Mihalis Kavaratzis

It is a common feature of city promotion to attempt a presentation of the city as unique. We see so many advertisements that describe the distinctive characteristics of the city in terms of the city’s unique history, its unique people, its unique cultural/entertainment offerings, its unique business opportunities, its unique function as a hub in a regional or world-wide network etc. As has been noted many times in relevant literature this attempt leads to a homogenisation of cities as re-presented in promotional material. What the audience finally encounters through this material is yet another city that is the perfect shopping destination, the perfect cultural centre in the region, the perfect entertainment (infotainment, artetainment, edutainment etc.) ‘playground’ for young and old. These are all understandable but desperate attempts. The problem is that they lead nowhere. There is no doubt that all cities are different; that all cities are unique. How does this uniqueness come about, though? Continue reading →

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by | 28/03/2011 · 14:49

Into the great wide open (between theory and practice

By Mihalis Kavaratzis

There is great value in city associations where practitioners can come together and exchange ideas on common practices, challenges and lessons for the future. ‘Eurocities’ is such an association and the people who have set it up need to be commended. In November 2010, Eurocities published their report on ‘A shared vision on city branding in Europe’ (the report is available through the Eurocities website at:
http://www.eurocities.eu
). The report consists of 40 examples from city branding practice in Europe. Unfortunately, this is a report that, in my view, takes us many steps back. Continue reading →

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by | 22/03/2011 · 23:15

Symbolic planning or simply unnecessary?

By Mihalis Kavaratzis

In a series of vivid and well-argued recent posts to this blog, Ares Kalandides has talked about the relationship between urban planning and city branding using the city of Athens, Greece as an example.  There was a distinction between symbolic planning (i.e. the shiny projects with obvious city branding potential -  in this case Panepistimiou St.) and local-improvement planning that is attempting to solve ‘real’ problems of the city in the sense of making life for (part of) the city’s population better (in this case Phylis St.). Let me start by stating my agreement with the argumentation and, to an extent, with the distinction. Continue reading →

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by | 05/03/2011 · 09:30

On place promotion and beautiful women

By Mihalis Kavaratzis

I came across an older advertisement for Germany as an investment location. It was a photograph of the famous top model Claudia Schiffer who was lying naked, covered with the German flag. The ad read: ‘Invest in Germany boys!’. Then I tried to find more of this style of advertisements. Continue reading →

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by | 16/02/2011 · 11:47

Three reasons why I got inspired by the Bogota conference

By Mihalis Kavaratzis

The 2nd International Place Branding Conference attracted both academics and practitioners from all over the world. Intense discussions took place during the three days in Bogota. Although at first glance the discussions might not seem to lead to concrete conclusions, in my view, their value lies in the process and not the end result. Here are the three reasons why I think that the conference was a success or the three inspirations that this conference has generated: Continue reading →

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