engleski

IDENTITY AND BRANDING OF EU CITIES – INVESTIGATING ATTITUDES OF CROATIAN STUDENTS

City branding, as well as its long-term marketing strategy, is a challenge for cities which already have strong image, as well as for those who still need to build it. In the process of branding, cities promote themselves as places good for living and as a desirable tourist destination, at the same time seeking to attract significant investments. Brands are the basis of long-term survival for every company in the market, including the cities. Creating and building strong brands requires a clear definition of brand identity and its positioning in the minds of consumers (Paliaga, 2007, 45). Marketing activities result in increased brand equity, and in the case of cities, we talk about the growth of their market recognition, and thus their image. Conducting marketing activities to build a city brand, we highlight its perceived strengths on which we want to build growth. The Creative City Index, developed by Charles Landry and Jonathan Hyams, evaluates the ‘creative pulse of places’ by exploring their urban dynamics, processes and achieved projects. It looks at the city as an integrated whole, including economic, cultural, technological and social factors, where the dynamics interweave either reinforcing or counteracting each other (Landry, 2014). Competition among cities is expressed most strongly in the field of attracting new investments and jobs. It manifests through two levels, in the global market cities are competing to attract the headquarters of new international companies, while in the national market they compete for resources and incentives from various funds, in order to invest into infrastructure, as well as cultural, economic and other development projects. The main goal of this Paper is to investigate the image of European city brands and their emotional impact on Croatian students from all university regions in Croatia as authors target research group. In order to find out their preferences, authors will conduct a quantitative research. Authors will also focus on whether or not some of Croatian cities would be included in their list of brands.

city branding; Croatian students; competition; image; market

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