Towns, regions, provinces and countries are increasingly turning to marketing and branding techniques to put themselves on the map. This has given rise to a raft of new terms: 'city marketing', 'destination branding', 'place branding', 'city branding' etc. In conceptual terms, there is a difference between 'city marketing' and 'city branding'. Marketing uses consumer wishes and needs as its guiding principle for the operations of an organisation; in the case of branding, a chosen vision, mission and identity play that role. 'City branding' refers to the application of branding techniques to geographical locations in the widest sense of the word. 

In his City Branding Communication Model, Michail Kavaratzis summarizes those forms of communication that drive the image of a city. The primary target group this model focuses on is made up of the inhabitants of the city in question, with a view to bettering their quality of life. Kavaratzis identifies three forms - or sources - of communication: primary, secondary and tertiary communication.

City branding is hot. But the question remains whether the laws and rules of branding can be applied to geographical locations just like that. After all, a city is only mouldable up to a certain point, and brand management is generally organised quite differently than in business. This paper by Rik Riezebos (Brand Capital, EURIB) goes into three aspects of city branding: brand architecture, positioning and organisation structure of a city brand.

• Kotler, P., Haider, D.H., Rein, I. (1993), Marketing places. The Free Press, New York, N.Y.
• Morgan, N., Pritchard, A., Pride, R. (2004), Destination branding (creating the unique destination proposition). Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, U.K.
• Anholt, S. (2006), Competitive identity: the new brand management for nations, cities and regions. Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, U.K.

• Moilanen, T., Rainisto, S. (2009), How to brand nations, cities and destinations (a planning book for place branding). Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, U.K.

Competition between European cities is becoming ever fiercer. Amsterdam therefore changed city branding tack in 2004, with the slogan: I amsterdam. Amsterdam and surrounding area want to bring their most enterprising, innovative and creative side to the fore. Amsterdam Partners is a public-private partnership of local authorities, regional bodies, business parties and covenant partners set up to enable these parties to work together on city branding initiatives.  Read more about this case in the memorandum Choosing Amsterdam.

The Anholt Nation Brands Index is a measuring tool implemented by GMI. Each quarter, over 25,000 consumers in 35 countries are polled on their opinions regarding the attractiveness of these 35 countries. Consumers are asked about their views on cultural, political, commercial and human matters, business climate, and opportunities for tourism. Simon Anholt subsequently uses the results of these polls to calculate a national brand power score.