We’ve spent a bit of time this month thinking about how best to market our cities. This has been triggered by a number of things. Birmingham planning and regeneration chief Clive Dutton made a few ‘exit interview’ comments about the city trying to market itself by committee before heading off to his new job in London; while Marketing Birmingham and inward investment body Locate in Birmingham have moved closer to a merger by ‘co-locating’ in the same office.
We’ve spent a bit of time this month thinking
about how best to market our cities.
This has been triggered by a number of
things. Birmingham planning and regeneration chief
Clive Dutton made a few ‘exit interview’ comments
about the city trying to market itself by committee
before heading off to his new job in London; while
Marketing Birmingham and inward investment body
Locate in Birmingham have moved closer to a
merger by ‘co-locating’ in the same office.
It is not just an issue for Birmingham, of course. You will be able to gain an idea of what others around the patch feel about how to market a city in our Power of Ten (p13), but the likes of Leicester and Coventry have led the way. Derby, with its Derby Embassy series of events in London, has attracted headlines and admiration in equal measure.
It seems that sometimes the marketing strategies employed by cities are over-complicated and, thinking as a journalist, need heavy editing. There is a danger in trying to provide too much information in the first instance, especially when talking to potential relocaters. There are probably a hundred reasons company or person A might consider moving to Midlands city X but a succinct, hard-hitting campaign highlighting the most important reasons, targeted in the right place and at the right people, can work. And be witty rather than boastful and self-effacing rather than smug.
I know such techniques work. I lived and worked in London for 17 years and commuted to work on hot, overcrowded Tube trains. Towards the end of my time there I started to see some witty, pithy little ads on the Tube promoting the quality of life in Yorkshire. Guess what? I moved to Yorkshire.
I have some sympathy with those who argue that the private sector should be more involved in< campaigns to promote our cities. Use the expertise that’s on the doorstep to get the job done. And, as it is in the best interests of the advertising agencies that the city they work in is successful, they might even be persuaded to do some work pro bono.
As pressure on the public purse increases, there will be a need for these public-private alliances for the greater good. The cities that understand this and move quickest are likely to be the winners. It’s been a tough year for most of us so have a great Christmas and let’s hope for better from 2010.
Andy Coyne, editor
Also in: January 2010
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Coining it in
The 2012 showcase is down in the Big Smoke, so how involved can the Midlands be? Stuart Wilkin reports.
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Conventional wisdom
NEC Group boss Paul Thandi is a man with big ideas, about his own business and the city. John Duckers went to meet him.