Warsaw. Fall in love with Warsaw. Innovative Place Brand Management _ URBACT CityLogo Baseline report _

Transcription

1 Warsaw Fall in love with Warsaw Innovative Place Brand Management _ URBACT CityLogo Baseline report _

2 AN AGGLOMERATION OF 1.6 MILLON, CAPITAL OF POLAND Warsaw is the capital of Poland and also the biggest Polish city (1,600,000 inhabitants in 2011). As such, it plays an important political, administrative, cultural and economic role not only in Poland, but also in Europe, in a context of increasing influence of the country in European affairs. The city is the seat of the majority of Poland s national government bodies, national institutions, diplomatic missions, leading national media, financial entities, etc. Many big companies are headquartered in Warsaw as well as many national institutions, e.g. National Museum, National Stadium or Warsaw University. The city is also home to the provincial authorities and regional institutions. Warsaw is also strong of a well developed services sector and the highest concentration of research capacities in Poland. It is also the most attractive labour market in the country, with the highest number of people with university degree. Driven by the national process of integration in the club of democracy and free market countries and the access to European Union membership, Warsaw has converted into a city that is constantly changing, growing in every way, drawing people and capital from Poland and abroad. It has the opportunity to be a major, recognized European capital. Another important feature of Warsaw is the destruction of the city at 80% during World War II. Consequently, it has a limited historical built heritage in comparison with other European capitals. In this situation, and according to city branding practitioners from the municipality, heritage is concentred on its famous people. Warsaw is the city of Chopin, and also the place of birth of Noble Price winner Marie Curie, whose family home still exists in Warsaw. CITY BRANDING IN THE LOCAL AGENDA FOR NEARLY 10 YEARS The development of a city branding strategy of Warsaw emerged in this context of raising influence, with the principal objective to help the city catch up with other European capitals and become a global player. The Municipality is aware that global visibility means the necessity for a strong brand, with a consistent management of the city s identity and consciousness of its reputation and perception. In 2004 was launched the city s logo, taking as visual reference the world famous Polish school of poster. The logo shows a mermaid, the symbol of Warsaw, and contains the slogan of the city: Fall in love with Warsaw. The design and launching of the logo was accompanied by a brand manual, which contains guidelines for its use. Since then, the activities of city branding carried out by the Warsaw Municipality have concentrated on the following delivery channels: Innovative Place Brand Management _ URBACT CityLogo Baseline report _

3 Use of big vents to promote the city: UEFA EURO 2012, Polish Presidency of the EU Council, Celebration of the Chopin Year 2010, Year of Chemistry or the application to the European Capital of Culture Advertising in the media: spots on TV, radio, press and also on line advertising. Warsaw s website and city profiles in social media. Outdoor advertising in the city: billboard, info screens, posters. Promotional stands in investment fairs. Design of special tourist routes, like the one on Chopin, including key places, audioguides, apps for smartphones, street art, etc Since the creation of the logo, the City of Warsaw has done a lot of research about image and perception of the city by its target groups (annual surveys). One finding is that there is a widespread and growing recognition of the city logo among the inhabitants of Warsaw (currently around 80% know the logo). The city is also active in trans national projects and forums dealing with the issue of city branding, namely: Participation in INTERREG IV B s BaltMet Promo and ONE BSR projects, along with members of the Baltic Metropoles Network (Warsaw is member since 2002). The BaltMet project was aimed at attracting tourists, talents and major international investment projects to the Baltic Sea Region. Participation in the EUROCITIES Branding Management and City Attractiveness Working Group. ADRESSING AN INTEGRATED CITY BRANDING STRATEGY In spite of these efforts, the general opinion in the Municipality is that the city is not well known internationally. The Anholt GfK Roper City Brands IndexSM 2009 report describes a Warsaw s Innovative Place Brand Management _ URBACT CityLogo Baseline report _

4 international image which does not make flattering reading. This is a city that people have generally heard of and whose qualities and importance are perhaps beginning to be understood in the rest of the EU, but is still a very long way from enjoying any accurate, detailed, nuanced, up to date or positive associations in most people s minds. It is one of the factors that have led the Municipality to consider revising the achievements and elaborating an integrated brand strategy. The present challenge for the City of Warsaw is to prepare the brand management strategy with the perspective of year Target groups for this strategy are basically native and influx residents, tourists, foreign investors, public opinion (Polish general public and opinion leaders) and students. To that end, it has contracted a brand consultancy firm the elaboration of a draft branding strategy. The document consists of 2 parts. One deals with issues like brand concept, brand handbook, brand positioning, training for officials, image bank, etc. The other part deals with promotional campaigns, different for the various target groups. This work has been based on the many marketing researches and studies which have been done in past three years. In addition to the annual surveys on perceive image of the city, a brand asset valuator research was carried out at national level, as well as audits of the brand handbook. A draft strategy is currently well advanced, and some concrete activities and programmes have already been pre defined: Warsaw Varieties: promotional campaign on foreign markets, especially in the capitals of European countries, focused on overcoming negative stereotypes and build a new image of Warsaw, based on a new identity as a city with an interesting history, authentic and inspiring, giving the opportunity to meet in many areas, also a very attractive city, trendy for business (a city of many possibilities). Inspiriada: weekly European festival of creative disciplines in the arts, science, and even the industry for amateurs. Get Know Me!: programme of cooperation with the world's major media. It includes the organization of press trips and press tours for Polish and foreign journalists. Pop Up Store Warsaw: where people could buy souvenirs and design gadgets of the city. Ambassadors Warsaw: long term cooperation with well known Varsovians, for promotional (e.g. PR, presence in media, etc.) and lobbying purposes. Joint Motion Warsaw: programme engaging people in exploring and creating the identity of Warsaw, including trough a series of quests and games in different districts of the city. Innovative Place Brand Management _ URBACT CityLogo Baseline report _

5 Finally, it is worth adding that the Warsaw Municipality is preparing a Tourism Development Strategy, with the same time frame. The basic idea is to transfer strategic goals of the brand strategy to this tourism strategy, as far as tourism branding is concerned. Last year, it was established the Warsaw Tourist Organization, together with a dozen of cultural, arts, science and business organizations. It develops activities (funded by the members fees) which are rather focused on business tourism. DEALING WITH FRAGMENTATION AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT Fragmentation of city branding activities (a complex local administrative division generates problems for effective promotion and branding) and the need for broader stakeholder engagement are at this stage main challenges for the forthcoming strategy, mainly a governance issue. Although the draft city branding strategy is going to include propositions regarding stakeholder involvement, the Municipality is already working on finding solutions. The CityLogo project comes timely with regard to this important stage of the strategy elaboration, along with submitting the contents of the draft strategy to consultation. Warsaw needs a particular management and Innovative Place Brand Management _ URBACT CityLogo Baseline report _

6 planning approach to meet the great variety of stakeholders in a country capital, so as to maximize coordination of promotional activities and enhancing the brand appropriation. This challenge of stakeholder engagement and management has two dimensions: internal (within the Municipality s organization) and external (with the related stakeholders). Thus, there are currently a wide range of municipality departments involved in marketing and promotion activities: City Promotion Bureau: the main unit of the city marketing management structure. It consists of the Brand Management Department, the Outdoor Promotion Department and the Internet Projects Department and City Projects Department. There are about 40 employees and 3 directors working in this unit. CPB activities are: Warsaw brand building, implementation of city s promotion policy, preparation and coordination of the city s participation in national and international fairs, management of the Municipality s official website, economic promotion of Warsaw. Public Communications Centre: it deals with projects focused on the city s inhabitants, for instance information and promotion activities in the field of social policy, cooperation with NGOs, etc. Culture Bureau: organization and promotion of cultural events and activities, collaboration with the city districts on cultural initiatives. Sports & Recreation Bureau: promotion of Warsaw through sport. Warsaw Tourist Office: promotion of Warsaw as a tourist destination under the supervision of the City Promotion Bureau. It has about 47 employees and 2 directors. WTO s activities include implementing the tourism development strategy, promoting business and congress tourism, participating in tourism fairs and other promotional events, dissemination of information and promotional materials, cooperation with public and private entities to improve the attractiveness of Warsaw. 18 local districts with their own Mayors, and own promotion and communication policies. The CPB is in charge of coordinating and overseeing the implementation of the promotion activities by districts in order to ensure consistent city promotion policy. However, this administrative organization is source of difficulties, which may harm the implementation of a common approach to brand identity and discipline, because districts may claim their own identity. As for the external dimension of stakeholder management, the Municipality still needs to precisely define the relevant entities in relation with each of the target groups of the branding strategy. In this sense, the Municipality is currently working on the idea of two governance entities for it s branding strategy: Innovative Place Brand Management _ URBACT CityLogo Baseline report _

7 A Coordination Team on city promotion, which should consist of the various departments of the municipality which have a relation with city promotion and marketing, and also the financial department of the city. A Brand Council, which would basically bring together opinion leaders and representatives of the various entities that have the greatest impact on branding in the context of the different target groups. In this context, the URBACT Local Support Group to be established within the CityLogo project could consist of the members of the Coordination Team on City Promotion, along with representatives from the Brand Council (with at least one representative from each category dealing with a specific target group): Relevant departments of the Warsaw s municipality, in line with the Promotion Coordination Bureau. Tourism and visitor economy: Mazovian Regional Tourist Organization (coordination with the regional level in this field will be an important issue); Warsaw Tourist Organization, Warsaw Chopin Airport. Research and knowledge: University of Social Sciences and Humanities, etc. Business and industry: representatives of business associations and main clusters (currently members of the so called SME team) along with representatives of the Municipality, Warsaw Stock Exchange, etc. Marketing and communication: SAR Marketing Communication Association. Other valuable representatives of the civil society. Warsaw s national stadium Innovative Place Brand Management _ URBACT CityLogo Baseline report _

8 SYTHESIS Strengths / contributions Gaps / demands main challenges / LAP As capital of Poland, with a population of 1.6 million, the city hosts a wide range of assets and high concentration of potential prescribers. Existing city logo since 2004, with high recognition among the local population. Clear institutionalization of city branding in the Municipality: Brand Management Department belonging to the City Promotion Bureau. A city brand strategy now in progress. Consistent research on perceived image of the city. Management of big events as channel for city promotion. Work already done involving stakeholders in relation to tourism promotion: Warsaw Tourist Organization. Low level of inter department cooperation within the Municipality around city branding issues. Administrative barriers and low leadership for a sound city branding policy. Lack of platforms for stakeholder involvement and management in integrated city branding. Poor engagement of the private sector in the promotional initiatives. Unbalanced city brand development, more focused on tourism and less in branding the city as business place. New organizational system for integrated city branding in Warsaw, based on internal cooperation and effective stakeholder involvement clustered by target groups. Innovative Place Brand Management _ URBACT CityLogo Baseline report _