City and Town Branding – a Case Study of the Slovenj Gradec Brand

A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Fink, Lucija Conference Paper City and Town Branding – A Case Study of the Slovenj Gradec Brand Provided in Cooperation with: IRENET - Society for Advancing Innovation and Research in Economy, Zagreb Suggested Citation: Fink, Lucija (2020) : City and Town Branding – A Case Study of the Slovenj Gradec Brand, In: Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference, Virtual Conference, 10-12 September 2020, IRENET - Society for Advancing Innovation and Research in Economy, Zagreb, Vol. 6, pp. 430-440, https://proceedings.entrenova.org/entrenova/article/view/344 This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/224709 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. 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Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ www.econstor.eu ENTRENOVA 10-12, September 2020 Virtual conference, Croatia City and Town Branding – A Case Study of the Slovenj Gradec Brand Lucija Fink Faculty of Commercial and Bussines Science Celje, Slovenia Abstract The research deals with a relatively young and complex area of branding, i.e. the branding of cities and towns, on the example of Slovenj Gradec brand. The empirical part consists of two approaches to the town's brand recognisability. First, an analysis of in-depth interviews of professional representatives of the six areas or shareholder groups (economy, health care, tourism, culture, education and sport) is presented. Second, an analysis of the survey research is presented with the results in the following areas: the key qualitative elements of the professional public, noticeable characteristics and values (noticeable profile) of the town of Slovenj Gradec, the core of the town's brand (focus), the criteria of urbanism that influence the perception of the town. Keywords: city branding, recognisability, quality criteria of brand and urbanism, shareholders, Slovenj Gradec JEL classification: M31 Paper type: Research article Received: Apr 21, 2020 Accepted: Jun 4, 2020 430 ENTRENOVA 10-12, September 2020 Virtual conference, Croatia Introduction City and town branding is a relatively new phenomenon that has only been explored by branding experts for over a decade and is also associated with the concepts of destination branding and city or town marketing. The foundation of the city branding theory can be found at the intersection of corporate branding and city elements: city identity, products and services of a city brand, city values, city brand shareholders, city marketing, and decisive elements for the success of a city brand. The more unique these elements are and the higher the quality, the more valuable the brand is. Alongside its name and graphic image, the brand communicates and personifies the identity traits of a city or a town. City and town managers are recognising the importance of branding marketing laws that build a strong identity, creating brand value and competitive advantage. They are aware that the perception of shareholders is strongly influenced by the reputation the cities and towns create with their urban, natural and living environment (work, culture, sports, education). Studies of different branding areas offer a starting point for exploring the traits of city branding, which I have further investigated through the existing Slovenj Gradec town brand. This study explores the current state of perception and the reasons behind it while offering guiding points for the development or shaping of the Slovenj Gradec brand that, at the time of preparing the study, seems undefined as well as poorly and incorrectly perceived. The study of the Slovenj Gradec brand was made by researching which values and attributes the residents and users of the town services perceive and attach to the brand. At the same time, I have researched the recognisability of Slovenj Gradec by interviewing professional representatives of different institutions that shape the products and services of the town as well as its identity traits. I researched the perception of Slovenj Gradec is a unique town with a high quality of living projected through the minds of its residents, entrepreneurs, investors, tourists, representatives of the state, and municipal institutions. Thus, the study employs qualitative urbanism criteria that influence the perception of quality through certain important elements: living, mobility, green spaces, appearance, conformity of diversity, and ease of orientation (Pompe, 2015). This article is a summary of my Master's thesis. The study is based on the research encompassing five Slovenian cities (Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje, Koper, and Novo mesto) conducted and authored by Andrej Pompe (2015) in the first Slovenian monograph of this kind, Znamka mesta (City brand), where he used the brand perception study (BPS), a research tool for perceptual studies of marketing brands. Urbanism and branding A city brand is also an expression of its uniqueness. It is understood as the means both for achieving competitive advantage in order to increase inward investment and tourism and also for achieving community development, reinforcing local identity and identification of the citizens with their city and activating all social forces to avoid social exclusion and unrest (Kavaratzis, 2004). Urbanism and branding share two common aspects affecting the quality of urban life and its attractiveness: sociological (human contact) and marketing (managing a city). The sociological aspect is often in conflict with the understanding of planning and managing urban spaces that promote the city image and encourage consumer activities and economic growth (Hanafi et al., 2013). 431 ENTRENOVA 10-12, September 2020 Virtual conference, Croatia Table 1 Correlation between qualitative urbanism criteria and qualitative brand criteria Qualitative brand criteria Qualitative urbanism criteria Number of brand associations (memes) Context, wealth, readability Number and quality of touchpoints Variety, wealth Memorisation speed Visual adequacy, readability, variety Recall and recognition speed Visual adequacy, readability, variety Number of meanings to the shareholder Accessibility, context, adaptability Source: Pompe (2013) Qualitative criteria of urbanism consist of (Pompe, 2015): 1. Context: Creates associations related to a city brand and influences the image of the city. It is about connecting types of constructions, shapes, architecture, local interpretations and functioning into a uniform urban organism. 2. Accessibility: Physical access to urban structures influences the brand and gives a sense of accessibility to city products. Appropriate transport infrastructure with an emphasis on pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. 3. Diversity: Urban diversity is the uniqueness and distinctiveness of the city, as well as the brand of the city. It refers to the diversity of shapes, uses and meanings of space. 4. Readability: Relates to user orientation through points of reference provided by architectural and design solutions. It influences space speed command and mental perception of the city. 5. Adaptability: The degree to which urban structures satisfy the needs of city shareholders: accessibility from open areas to buildings, space lightning, and movement flow (on one hand enabling social life, but on the other also have quiet spaces for leisure and rest). 6. Visual adequacy: The degree to which users are aware of what is at their disposal in urban space; visual adequacy of a brand promotes users to shortlist it for their final selection between competitors. 7. Variety: Refers to the architectural expression of buildings and design solutions, visual satisfaction and aesthetic wealth. Slovenj Gradec The Slovenj Gradec, municipality, which is part of the Koroška statistical region, measures approximately 174 km2; this ranks it 29th among Slovene municipalities. Latest statistical data for 2018 reveal that about 16,580 people live in the municipality (27th among Slovene municipalities), with a population density of 95 people per square kilometre. The mean age of people in Slovenj Gradec (43.1 years) is lower than the national average (43.3). Among working-age population, about 64% were persons in employment, which is less than the national average (65%). Average monthly gross earnings per person employed by legal persons were about 7% lower than the annual average of monthly earnings for Slovenia (Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2018). Slovenj

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