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Paris, London and Barcelona
are Europe’s top city brands
Research by Saffron Consultants
28 August 2008: In a unique study, which ranks Europe’s largest cities based on a comparison of their assets and attractions against the strength of their brands, Paris emerges as Europe’s number one city brand, followed by London, Barcelona, Berlin and Amsterdam. The research also reveals that the French capital is the most asset-rich city in Europe, ahead of, again, London and followed by Munich, Barcelona and Amsterdam. Bradford, UK, is the lowest-ranked city in both categories.
Debate city brands
|
Brand strength
Top and bottom 10 |
Asset strength
Top and bottom 10 |
| 1 | Paris, France | 1 | Paris, France |
| 2 | London, UK | 2 | London, UK |
| 3 | Barcelona, Spain | 3 | Munich, Germany |
| 3 | Berlin, Germany | 3 | Barcelona, Spain |
| 3 | Amsterdam, Neth. | 5 | Amsterdam, Neth. |
| 6 | Munich, Germany | 6 | Rome, Italy |
| 7 | Stockholm, Sweden | 7 | Vienna, Austria |
| 8 | Prague, Czech Republic | 7 | Milan, Italy |
| 9 | Rome, Italy | 9 | Madrid, Spain |
| 10 | Athens, Greece | 10 | Athens, Greece |
| 62 | Wroclaw, Poland | 61 | Poznan, Poland |
| 64 | Leeds, UK | 64 | Belgrade, Serbia |
| 65 | Sofia, Bulgaria | 64 | Leeds, UK |
| 66 | Sheffield, UK | 66 | Birmingham, UK |
| 66 | Poznan, Poland | 66 | Liverpool, UK |
| 66 | Lodz, Poland | 68 | Duisburg,Germany |
| 69 | Vilnius, Lithuania | 69 | Newcastle, UK |
| 70 | Duisburg, Germany | 70 | Gdansk, Poland |
| 70 | Chisinau, Moldova | 70 | Chisinau Moldova |
| 72 | Bradford, UK | 72 | Bradford, UK |
The study, entitled ‘The City Brand Barometer’ and created by London-based Saffron Consultants, ranks 72 of Europe’s largest cities based on a comparison of their assets and attractions against the strength of their brands. To support the analysis, Saffron commissioned a YouGov poll of 2,000 consumers to find out what people most want from a city.
Unsurprisingly, Paris and London emerged as the cities with the best assets and the strongest brands to match. Among old Europe’s other capitals, Berlin is the striking example of a city with a brand that is significantly stronger than its assets. On the other hand, Rome is more blessed with what people want than the German capital but it is not as effective at communicating this – hence its brand is considerably weaker than Berlin’s. Vienna, Austria, was the only city deemed to get precisely the reputation its assets deserve – its brand was judged to be fully consistent with what the city has to offer.
However, the Barometer also reveals a clutch of undervalued cities, which could provide pointers to Europe’s future ‘city gems’, provided they learn how to promote themselves. Bulgaria’s Sofia has many of the assets tourists want from a city but doesn’t have the reputation to match. To a lesser extent, the same applies to other EU accession cities, such as Poland’s Krakow and Wroclaw and Lithuania’s Vilnius – Europe’s Capital of Culture in 2009. These cities are hidden gems and greater devotion to flaunting their wares can help them onto Europe’s top table.
Saffron’s research suggests a handful of old Europe cities, including Antwerp and Lisbon are in a similar position, punching well below their weight. They have many of the qualities people want in a city but are losing out by failing to promote themselves.
Conversely, Scottish capital Glasgow, Irish capital Dublin and English city Liverpool emerge as some of the cities whose brands punch above the weight their attributes deserve. The study finds that other cities, like Bradford, England, which have neither good assets nor strong brands, risk obscurity if they do not act to improve their brand, which requires both material improvement of assets and better promotion.
The study also underlines the contrasting fortunes of Barcelona and Naples – two potentially comparable cities in terms of regional significance, yet the Catalan capital has trounced its Italian rival in projecting a distinctive idea of what it stands for and who it’s appealing to. The southern Italian city is rich in good climate, history, culture and gastronomy but it has devoted little time to creating a reputation among Europe’s cities. Naples’ well-documented refuse crisis makes the need for deliberate action to improve its image even more acute. It has the necessary attractions to help shift perceptions in its favour.
The report concludes that a city wanting to improve its standing in the world should work on a set of ten things, which Saffron has identified as the factors which determine a city’s brand. These include factors such as a distinctive sense of place, ambition/policy vision and business climate and civic pride.
Jeremy Hildreth, Saffron’s head of place branding, told City Mayors that the main purpose of the study was to identify the ‘undervalued stocks’ amongst European cities. “Interestingly, although we have a tendency to think of a city’s star as permanently fixed, in reality the fortunes of places rise and fall over time. Our perceptions shift, too, but they are imperfectly correlated with reality. We continue to think well of a place even if it no longer deserves it. It seems we’ll forgive a place anything provided it’s sexy and going there gives us something to talk about when we get home. A city’s brand is an overall image and set of associations that resides in people’s heads and branding means the deliberate actions taken to alter or improve an image. It entails a place gathering its leaders together and deciding what assets it has to work with and what weaknesses it needs to correct,” Hildreth explained.
Results for all 72 cities researched by Saffron Consultants
|
Cities
|
Asset
score |
Asset
rank |
Brand
strength |
Brand
rank |
Utilisation
score |
Utilisation
rank |
|
|
Average 59
|
|
Average 60
|
|
Average 91
|
|
| Amsterdam, Neth. |
83
|
5
|
96
|
3
|
115%
|
3
|
| Antwerp, Belgium |
72
|
11
|
47
|
39
|
65%
|
61
|
| Athens, Greece |
73
|
10
|
80
|
10
|
110%
|
8
|
| Barcelona, Spain |
86
|
3
|
96
|
3
|
112%
|
4
|
| Belfast, UK |
50
|
57
|
50
|
32
|
101%
|
14
|
| Belgrade, Serbia |
47
|
64
|
38
|
55
|
80%
|
41
|
| Berlin, Germany |
70
|
16
|
96
|
3
|
137%
|
1
|
| Birmingham, UK |
46
|
66
|
44
|
42
|
96%
|
21
|
| Bradford, UK |
29
|
72
|
22
|
72
|
76%
|
45
|
| Bratislava, Slovakia |
53
|
54
|
36
|
58
|
68%
|
54
|
| Bremen, Germany |
65
|
28
|
39
|
54
|
60%
|
64
|
| Bristol, UK |
51
|
56
|
45
|
40
|
89%
|
31
|
| Bucharest, Romania |
61
|
36
|
44
|
42
|
73%
|
47
|
| Budapest, Hungary |
59
|
42
|
55
|
25
|
93%
|
24
|
| Cardiff, UK |
58
|
43
|
40
|
53
|
70%
|
51
|
| Chisinau, Moldova |
39
|
70
|
27
|
70
|
70%
|
51
|
| Cologne, Germany |
61
|
36
|
51
|
29
|
83%
|
38
|
| Copenhagen, Denmark |
66
|
26
|
65
|
17
|
99%
|
18
|
| Dortmund, Germany |
48
|
61
|
34
|
61
|
71%
|
48
|
| Dresden, Germany |
66
|
26
|
51
|
29
|
77%
|
44
|
| Dublin, Ireland |
69
|
18
|
74
|
14
|
107%
|
10
|
| Duisburg, Germany |
44
|
68
|
27
|
70
|
62%
|
63
|
| Düsseldorf, Germany |
61
|
36
|
41
|
51
|
68%
|
54
|
| Edinburgh, UK |
67
|
22
|
70
|
15
|
104%
|
11
|
| Essen, Germany |
57
|
45
|
51
|
29
|
89%
|
31
|
| Frankfurt, Germany |
72
|
11
|
67
|
16
|
93%
|
24
|
| Gdansk, Poland |
39
|
70
|
35
|
59
|
89%
|
31
|
| Genoa, Italy |
63
|
32
|
42
|
50
|
67%
|
56
|
| Glasgow, UK |
56
|
47
|
56
|
23
|
101%
|
14
|
| Gothenburg, Sweden |
54
|
50
|
35
|
59
|
64%
|
62
|
| Hamburg, Germany |
68
|
20
|
65
|
17
|
96%
|
21
|
| Hannover, Germany |
67
|
22
|
45
|
40
|
67%
|
56
|
| Helsinki, Finland |
58
|
43
|
54
|
26
|
93%
|
24
|
| Kraków, Poland |
63
|
32
|
44
|
42
|
70%
|
51
|
| Leeds, UK |
47
|
64
|
31
|
64
|
66%
|
58
|
| Leipzig, Germany |
60
|
40
|
43
|
46
|
71%
|
48
|
| Lisbon, Portugal |
70
|
16
|
59
|
21
|
85%
|
36
|
| Liverpool, UK |
46
|
66
|
53
|
28
|
115%
|
3
|
| Lodz, Poland |
48
|
61
|
29
|
66
|
60%
|
64
|
| London, UK |
88
|
2
|
97
|
2
|
110%
|
8
|
| Madrid, Spain |
75
|
9
|
77
|
11
|
104%
|
11
|
| Málaga, Spain |
60
|
40
|
54
|
26
|
91%
|
28
|
| Manchester, UK |
56
|
49
|
50
|
32
|
89%
|
31
|
| Marseille, France |
56
|
47
|
44
|
42
|
79%
|
42
|
| Milan, Italy |
77
|
7
|
75
|
13
|
97%
|
20
|
| Munich, Germany |
86
|
3
|
87
|
6
|
101%
|
14
|
| Naples, Italy |
69
|
18
|
56
|
23
|
82%
|
40
|
| Newcastle, UK |
43
|
69
|
43
|
46
|
99%
|
18
|
| Nuremberg, Germany |
64
|
30
|
38
|
55
|
58%
|
69
|
| Oslo, Norway |
71
|
15
|
60
|
20
|
85%
|
36
|
| Palermo, Italy |
68
|
20
|
49
|
35
|
71%
|
48
|
| Paris, France |
89
|
1
|
99
|
1
|
111%
|
7
|
| Poznan, Poland |
48
|
61
|
29
|
66
|
60%
|
64
|
| Prague,Czech Republic |
72
|
11
|
83
|
8
|
115%
|
3
|
| Riga, Latvia |
57
|
45
|
37
|
57
|
66%
|
58
|
| Rome, Italy |
79
|
6
|
81
|
9
|
102%
|
13
|
| Rotterdam, Neth. |
52
|
55
|
43
|
46
|
83%
|
38
|
| Sarajevo, Bosnia |
49
|
59
|
43
|
46
|
86%
|
35
|
| Seville, Spain |
65
|
28
|
48
|
37
|
75%
|
46
|
| Sheffield, UK |
49
|
59
|
29
|
66
|
60%
|
64
|
| Sofia, Bulgaria |
67
|
22
|
30
|
65
|
45%
|
72
|
| Stockholm, Sweden |
72
|
11
|
85
|
7
|
118%
|
2
|
| Stuttgart, Germany |
67
|
22
|
64
|
19
|
96%
|
21
|
| Thessaloniki, Greece |
62
|
35
|
41
|
51
|
66%
|
58
|
| Turin, Italy |
64
|
30
|
50
|
32
|
78%
|
43
|
| Valencia, Spain |
63
|
32
|
58
|
22
|
91%
|
28
|
| Vienna, Austria |
77
|
7
|
77
|
11
|
100%
|
17
|
| Vilnius, Lithuania |
54
|
50
|
28
|
69
|
52%
|
71
|
| Warsaw, Poland |
52
|
55
|
48
|
37
|
93%
|
24
|
| Wroclaw, Poland |
61
|
36
|
33
|
62
|
53%
|
70
|
| Zagreb, Croatia |
54
|
50
|
33
|
62
|
60%
|
64
|
| Zaragoza, Spain |
54
|
50
|
49
|
35
|
91%
|
28
|
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Bradford came bottom in a list of 72 cities
Research methodology
The Saffron European City Brand Barometer
The Barometer measures the strength of cities’ brands and assesses how well cities use branding to exploit their assets. Saffron analysed European cities with populations of 450,000 or more, plus Manchester, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds and Newcastle (important UK cities with populations less than that). Altogether there are 72 cities. The analysis is based on two components: City Asset Strength and City Brand Strength. All cities were scored out of 100 and ranked according to both these two factors.
City Asset Strength
To measure how strong a city’s brand could be, Saffron found what the most desirable attributes in a city were and then analysed how each city measured up against these attributes. To determine what people want most in a place, Saffron commissioned a YouGov poll of 2,000 people in the UK. Respondents were asked two questions with a series of multiple choice answers. The most desirable attributes, in order of weighted importance, were:
Cultural: Sightseeing and historical attractions; Cuisine and restaurants; Good shopping
Amenity: Particularly low cost; Good weather; Ease of getting around on foot or by public transport
City Brand Strength
How strong is a city’s brand right now? Saffron’s experts chose four factors, equally weighted, to measure a city’s Brand Strength: Pictorially recognized (meaning, could many people recognize the city from a postcard without having to read the description on the back); Quantity/strength of positive/attractive qualities (meaning, what prompted and unprompted associations do people have of the city); Conversational value (meaning, how interesting would it be at a cocktail party to say, “Hey, I just got back from city xxx; Media recognition, which we determined statistically by counting media references to the city over a set time period
Brand Utilisation
A third score and rank was given for each city. Brand Utilisation reveals quantitatively how well the cities are living up to their brand potential (by calculating Brand Strength as a percentage of Asset Strength for each city).
About Saffron
Saffron is a global brand consultancy chaired by Wally Olins. Saffron has advised the Portugese Tourist Board, Northern Ireland, the government of Poland and Visit London. Saffron operates from four locations – London, Madrid, New York and Mumbai.