Cities are embroiled in increasingly intense competition for branding, with digital and social media having transferred marketing from city officials to citizens, according to the president of European Cities Marketing (ECM). 

“City branding is more complex than ever. CTOs (chief technology officers) have lost share of voice in the age of digital and social media. The city belongs to the people,” said ECM president Ignasi de Delàs in the run up to the next ECM meeting on 24-27 February in Madrid.

“And it’s definitely no longer just about the tourists. Cities compete more than ever for private investments, business conferences, world sports events, talents in research and science, film productions, political summits, international students, cruise ships, international headquarters and new airline connections.

“Ultimately, it’s all a battle for job growth, prosperity and quality of life. The winners get a global window and a place in the sun. The losers remain in the shadows among the non-places of globalisation.”

At the ECM Meeting in Madrid, February 24-27, ECM and Madrid Destino will present a parade of thought leading international experts highlighting European and North-American perspectives. 

Experienced city brand marketeers will share their most valuable insights and learning for a full two-day conference on the latest trends, the pitfalls and the upsides of a branding discipline undergoing rapid change.

Among key speakers, Fred Dixon, President and CEO of NYC & Company and Robert Govers, Founding Chairman of the International Place Branding Association will provide opening notes with a seemingly joint message: “Leave the branding to the people”.

Copenhagen will discuss how it leaves its marketing voice and buzz to the people, while Nantes will describe how it uses culture to morph an old industrial port to a new global city. Other cities showcased include Munich, Istanbul, Hamburg and Paris, as well as small destinations such as Davos, home of the “The World Economic Forum” and Billund, the hometown of Lego Corp which aspires to be world’s “Capital of Children”.

A day of seminars will be coordinated by Peter Rømer Hansen, Former Executive Vice President – Strategy & Market Communications at Wonderful Copenhagen and actual Founder and CEO of Rømer Agency.

To find out more visit http://www.europeancitiesmarketing.com/ or contact Flavie Baudot, press@europeancitiesmarketing.com, +33 380 56 02 00

International sports governing bodies are now more than a hundred years old, many having emerged in response to the rise of international sporting events: FIFA was established in 1904 and the IAAF in 1912, for example. 

World Expos began in London in 1851 and their international governing body, the BIE, was established in 1928. New governing bodies continue to be established today as event properties emerge – the International Tent Pegging Federation, for example, was founded in 2013. 

Sports event rights holders have many opportunities to share experiences, through a number of different membership organisations. But a unifying body for the host cities themselves has been lacking. While many event properties (the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup for example) have their own knowledge sharing procedures for organising committees, there has been no publicly recognised organisation in place to support and regulate cities in their perennial quest to benefit from hosting major events. 

Some stakeholders involved in attracting and hosting events have their own international networks: the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC); the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA); and European Cities Marketing, for Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) – but the city halls themselves are not yet fully connected.

This is in the process of changing. City meetings have started to take place at all the significant sector gatherings. The City Roundtable at Host City 2015, chaired by Paul Bush Direcor of Events for VisitScotland, saw a very large group of city officials sharing experiences. Host City is also pleased to have supported the “City Day” at SportAccord Convention. 

Event hosts have now publicly agreed to form a self-determining international association, a process Host City continues to fully support. Host City 2016, taking place in Glasgow on the 16 and 17 November, will be the next important gathering of cities and all types of events – not just sport, but business, culture and entertainment. We look forward to sharing experiences with you in the marketplace.

Attending HOST CITY 2015 in Glasgow on 9th and 10th of November is an attractive opportunity for cities to get ahead in the competitive international market of hosting major events, according to keynote speaker Sir Craig Reedie, IOC Vice President.

“From my point of view of being involved in HOST CITY 2015, I am delighted that the event is coming to Glasgow, because Glasgow has shown that it is a sporting city with the way it has developed its facilities, the way it ran a major multi-sport event, the Commonwealth Games in 2014, and what it’s been doing since then – not least a couple of hugely successful Davis Cup tennis ties,” said Sir Craig Reedie.

“So if you look at the excitement that generates locally, and the promotion that it gives the city on a worldwide basis, then I think this indicates that the market out there is a buoyant one.

“Cities should be very well prepared to become involved and therefore they should be thinking ahead; they should be innovative – and with a bit of luck they will reap the benefits that Glasgow has.”

Under the theme of “Creative Innovation Connecting Cities with Sports, Business and Culture Events”, HOST CITY 2015 is an opportunity to meet, influence and network with a unique collection of city leaders and cross-sector rights holders and gain intelligence on the challenges and benefits of event bidding and hosting.

Sir Craig Reedie was deeply engaged in the IOC’s own “Olympic Agenda 2020” process of creative innovation, one of the primary aims of which was to make bidding for the Olympic Games more appealing to cities.

“We came up with a coordinated and sensible view of how we wanted to run the Games but also to promote the Olympic movement for the future. 

“There were some fairly dramatic discussions on the bidding process of the Games. We wanted to make it more inclusive, we wanted to make it more cooperative, we wanted to make it cheaper, we wanted to make it encouraging to more cities to become involved. 

“In the process of bidding for sporting events, it’s a competitive field. The Olympic Games are the greatest show on earth; it’s important that they maintain this status. It’s important that the athletes regard them as the greatest show on earth and something they really want to take part in. 

“So therefore a process of change is a perfectly reasonable thing to undertake.”

More than 200 delegates have already confirmed their attendance at Host City 2015. Read the agenda and Register at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net to get involved and get ahead.

The Olympic rings have been a constant presence at each Games since 1920. But while they provide a symbolic continuity from one Games to the next, each edition also features its own distinctive identity – from the modern and youthful vibe of London 2012 to the patchwork quilt of Sochi 2014 – which provides an eye-catching backdrop to the sporting action and adds to the visual spectacle of the Games.

The task of creating this unique Look of the Games – which is seen everywhere from signposts and souvenirs to venues and volunteers’ uniforms – falls to the Organising Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs), which seek to produce a visual identity that is built upon the foundation of the Olympic rings, while also incorporating designs and colours that reflect the culture and history of the host city.

For Alison Gardiner, who was the Vice President of Brand and Creative Services at the Vancouver 2010Organising Committee, it was important to have the rings as a strong starting point for this huge task. 

“The Vancouver 2010 brand strategy drew from the Olympic brand as well as Canada’s, and this combination provided the foundation for everything we did,” she explains. “Our goal was to ensure there was one integrated, powerful experience that was unique to our country and our time, and could also engage and inspire as many people as possible.”

However, building a visual identity around a globally recognised symbol, which already has so many values and meanings attached to it, can also present challenges for OCOGs. 

“We couldn’t get away from the fact that as soon as we put the rings on something, there was immediately an association with something great and powerful and a standard of Olympic excellence that we had to live up to,” says Gardiner. 

“But the Olympic brand is also incredibly inspiring to work with because of what it stands for – just the symbol on its own, everyone on the planet recognises it and associates it with excellence and bringing people together in celebration.”

According to Beth Lula, Branding Director at the Rio 2016 Organising Committee, another of the challenges for Games organisers is building a visual identity that is representative of the host city and nation, as well as the values inherent within the rings. 

“It’s important for engagement,” Lula says. “If you have something that people can recognise and understand, they can feel that it represents them and their nation and they can feel proud of it. When we were developing our brand, we were looking for universal symbols – that’s why we have people embracing as our Games emblem. It’s a global symbol. We want people throughout the country to recognise themselves and feel proud of our designs.”

While the Olympic rings provide a globally recognised symbol for OCOGs to draw on, Lula also believes that each edition of the Games adds something special to the Olympic brand as a whole. 

“Every time that the Olympic Games go to another culture, they absorb some aspects of that culture and that’s what really makes the Olympic brand global,” she says. 

“The Games have never been to South America, so we said throughout our bid process that we would be new territory for the Olympic Games. We have a unique way of celebrating things, we love sport and we are a passionate people with a lot of energy. I think that is going to be something very special that we are going to add to the Olympic brand.”

Lula hopes that what her team is creating for Rio 2016 will live on long after the Games through the rings themselves. “When we return the Olympic rings to the IOC after the Games, they have to be even more valuable than they were before,” she says. “That’s our mission.”

This article was written by and reproduced with kind permission from the International Olympic Committee. For more information visit www.olympic.org

Seductive, wise and visionary. Copenhagen shares her story as a spectacular host for events in the new branding film This is me, where the city, a woman inspired by the spoken word tradition, shares her tale as an old yet inspirational lady: With the legacy of ancient old wisdom, I’m the recipe for shaking your whole system.

Over the years, Copenhagen has proved to be a creative event host punching above her weight by taking events to the streets, the sky, and even to the top of the opera house, from where contestants have dived  into the clean harbour water: I have the purest water running in my veins. To the Danes it remains basic fuel for the brains.

While other cities boast enormous arenas, Copenhagen brings events to the historic city centre, invites you to swim in the clean harbour and to ski down a waste management plant. This combined with world class organisational skills makes Copenhagen an event host like no other.

2021 will be a big year for the Danish Capital that is set to welcome both the postponed EURO2020, the combined World Pride and Eurogames and the Canoe Kayak Sprint World Championships. This will be followed by Tour de France - Grand Départ in 2022.

These events all highlight Copenhagen’s strengths as an inclusive and visionary city that is a frontrunner within sustainable solutions. Thus, Copenhagen aims to be carbon neutral as the first capital by 2025 through green transformation, renewable energy, upcycling and recycling, green mobility and smart city solutions.

The city’s approach to sustainability is reflected in events taking place in Copenhagen. Hosts make it a priority to limit their carbon footprint and make use of the city’s state of the art public transportation, environmentally certified hotels and restaurants and amazing cycling facilities, which represent an important part of the city’s DNA: My wheels are spinning with eagerness. For real cyclic living is a treat for less.

Have Some Copenhagen – the city is your arena.

See film here

Contact: Jonas Løvschall-Wedel, jlw@woco.dk

Major events can have an incredibly positive impact on their host cities and citizens. If we are to avoid the lack of public support that can lead to the likes of Calgary and Graz withdrawing their bids for the 2026 Winter Olympics, we must ensure that major events achieve an international reputation for being cost effective, inclusive and having long-term sustainable benefits. We need to work together to engage with all stakeholders, including the general public, so that everyone feels involved.

In my 37 years with CSM Live (in its different guises) I’ve had the pleasure to work with many great organisations and hosts that understand the benefit of branding not only event spaces and fan zones, but entire cities and countries, and the importance of wide public engagement.

London 2012 is a fantastic example of this attitude. They worked to get the public onside right from the start, launching the 2004 / 2005 bid in tandem with a major PR campaign which included events and a city dressing campaign around the whole of the UK. This commitment to bringing the excitement of the Games into the public domain only increased during the actual games, with the aim to ‘Inspire a Generation’. CSM Live took point on both the venue and the city dressing, creating the space branding guidelines, and producing and installing the branding.

To ensure uniform, easily-accessible branding across the country, we created an online catalogue from which local authorities and institutions could order Games Look and Feel elements based on a pre-designed Kit of Parts. In the end, we dressed 33 London Boroughs, 11 Host Cities, 43 Live Sites and communities throughout the UK, with everything from banners and bunting to giant shot putts falling from the sky and over-sized inflatable mascots rising from the ground; we lit up buildings in brand colours; installed branded planting, pavements, transport and transport hubs; and created soundscapes across bridges and light projections in the sky.

Obviously, this approach can be very expensive, but one solution is to find a sponsor or partner with similar goals. The Tour de France Grand Depart found that in Yorkshire Building Society, who were extremely proud to be able to sponsor this iconic event as it travelled through their heartland during their 150^th anniversary celebrations. We worked closely with the event organisers, local councils and Yorkshire Building Society to create activations and branding concepts that helped local people celebrate their proud Yorkshire heritage.

For a perfect example of how a unified and integrated major events policy can positively impact a whole country, just look to the country that’s hosting Host City. I have had the pleasure of working in Scotland many times including both the Ryder Cup and the Commonwealth Games during their amazing 2014 year - the “Big G” logo, which we created for the Games is now a permanent selfie inspiring fixture, and I expect big things as they continue the ‘Scotland the Perfect Stage’ strategy onto 2025.

Hear Andrew Hodson’s “lightning talk” at Host City 2019, the largest meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events in Glasgow on 26-27 November