Today communities already compete for investment, professionals and tourists, as well as economic and cultural flows. You can increase your chances of success by forming a clear positive brand, and hence the image of your area.

Ihor Chava is the Head of the Tourist Information Centre of Drohobych Municipal Utility Company, an analyst at the Agency for Tourism Initiatives. During the webinar “City branding. Why it is important to do everything at one try” this concerned and active citizen of Drohobych and a branding specialist spoke about how to create the image of your city and community.

Branding is not a city logo. This is its identity, emotions, specificity of the area and development strategy at the same time. The public always pays attention to these processes, so it is important to think about participation and openness in advance. One should also understand that the brand of an area is targeted rather at tourists and residents of other areas; when looking at the logo or a slogan, they have to understand what exactly your community or city is.

Logo

The most important characteristics of any logo, including the logo of an amalgamated territorial community: it should be easily memorized and be simple. It should be as simple as possible to facilitate its usage on merchandise, documents, vehicles, etc.

Process

At the webinar, Ihor Chava presented his own city brand creation layout. It consists of the following components:

–       Team building (a designer, a public officer, a local activist, a marketing specialist, a manager);

–       Media support (television, radio, printed and online media, bloggers);

–       Conditions of the contests (collection of ideas, the website of the process);

–       Slogan contest (choose the three best ideas of ALL the proposals and put them to a vote);

–       Logo creation (hold a contest or choose a contractor);

–       Resource management (from government and business, 50/50).

When creating the brand of an area, you should already look for its first bearers. These may include the following:

–       Government institutions able to use the logo in different forms (put it on documents, in the halls of buildings, on billboards, on business cards, etc.);

–       Catering establishments and recreation facilities (you can issue a brochure with a list of such establishments in your city bearing the new logo);

–       Taxi services, bicycle rental systems;

–       Public transport:

–       Activities of the community and activists (for example, murals, photo zones, creative works, the use in design and landscaping).

After the launching

First, you have to make the brand recognisable. For this purpose, it is necessary to make it close to consumers (city residents and tourists) so that they not only perceive the brand and are in contact with it all the time but promote it as well, for example, through photo zones or recognisable objects.

The important peculiarity of working with a brand is the necessity to communicate with the community, to listen to feedback. This is because the reaction of the community after the presentation can be just the opposite to the reaction of the creative team.

Reference information. The Campaign “Set the Course for Power” is supported by the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

Note. The mission of Active Community Initiative: to achieve prosperity through the democratic development of Ukrainian communities. The goal set for 2025: to activate at least 1% of the citizens and to involve them in decision-making process and promotion of reforms in Ukraine on a systemic basis for prosperity of Ukrainian communities. This initiative was established as a part of the activities of the Institute Republica. We work to increase the conscious activity of citizens.