CITY MARKETING: FROM BRANDING TO INVESTMENT

Abstract

The article argues that contemporary city branding extends far beyond visual identity and symbols, encompassing narrative meaning, the quality of urban experience, and digital touchpoints. It is conceptualized as a governed system of public management that, through aligned policies, services, and communications, converts the attention of target audiences into measurable economic outcomes. At the core lies an integrated framework that combines identity and positioning, the quality of urban experience, digital presence, and institutional mechanisms for investor servicing. A causal chain is proposed—“brand → risk reduction → intention to invest or visit → outcome”—where semantic and visual coherence of communications shapes perceived relevance and trust, while digital touchpoints reduce frictions at the conversion stage. The study demonstrates that inclusive co-creation with residents and businesses enhances brand legitimacy and crisis resilience, whereas safety standards, service-quality protocols, and transparent regulations amplify the impact of promotional efforts. It delineates a set of success determinants: a clear city value proposition, coordinating institutions, guidelines for identity use, a KPI framework, and public analytics that ensure repeatability and managerial control. To accelerate capital attraction, an “investment-readiness package” is advanced, comprising shovel-ready sites, transparent incentives, a one-stop-shop service, and professional deal facilitation. Practically, the work proposes a “brand operating system” that specifies who coordinates the process, how decisions are made, through which channels communications flow, which SLAs are applied to investor inquiries, and how public reporting is conducted. Methodologically, the research integrates and synthesizes marketing, urban, and managerial approaches into a single interdisciplinary applied construct, forming a holistic methodological framework for the analysis and development of a city brand. In contrast to the fragmented approaches prevalent in current scholarship, the proposed model provides a coherent analytics-to-implementation system that systematically integrates the tools of place-marketing theory, sustainable urban development concepts, and strategic city management. The author establishes clear benchmarks for outcome measurement—ranging from perception metrics to investment deals and job creation—thereby converting the city brand from a “promise” into evidence of its competitiveness.