Successes and Failures in City Branding Policies

Images of cities play an ever-increasing role in urban competitiveness. The image of a place is an essential element in the attraction of new economic activities. If the image is good, policy-makers of cities and city-regions may decide to support and maintain, perhaps even strengthen, that image by continuous branding campaigns, even though they are not absolutely required in the short run. However, when the image is not optimal, robust branding campaigns seem to be indispensable. The aim of this chapter is to identify and evaluate the main aspects that contribute to a successful city branding exercise – taking into consideration the difficulties associated with measuring the ‘success’ of this type of strategy – as well as the challenges that this type of exercise may encounter.