How to build successful city brands? – Case Auckland in comparison to previous studies

Abstract

This thesis is a part of an international research program called "City Brands – Cornerstones of success in place branding". The cities studied in the City Brands research program are based on the The Globalization and World Cities Research Network classification. The aim of this Bachelor’s thesis is to identify the required competences and the success factors in creating and maintaining a successful city brand, both from the managerial and organizational point of view. As sub-questions this thesis examines, what is the definition for a brand, what are the brand planning, implementation and monitoring processes like and who executes these processes. The sub-questions are addressed in the theoretical framework. This thesis does not rank the cities. This thesis will contribute both the practice of city branding and the discussion important for science.

The data for the empirical section was collected by interviewing the key people responsible for the creation and management of a city brand. The author carried out the in-depth interview using structured interview with a pre-prepared structure of the inter-view. The results are based on the analysis of the text contents and the data classification. The study is sufficiently comprehensive and it can be considered that the work meets the criteria for validity. As the majority of the results reflect the previous study, it can be stated this thesis is reliable.

The brand planning and implementation processes had more differences than similarities. Even though the organizational structures behind the brand management in the case cities were different, it can be considered all of them have succeeded in their city branding process. To summarize the matter, key competence required in a successful city branding lies in the brand extension that can be achieved with effective relationships with all the stakeholders. In all essentials, the answers provided reflected the theoretical framework. This thesis presents a significant number of viable insights that can be considered as guidelines for the required competences and key factors in creating and maintaining a successful city brand. The results should not be considered as indicative of a more general trend without further research. Based on the research and the result, it can be stated that this thesis has achieved its objectives.