In spite of cutbacks, municipalities are investing in city marketing
UTRECHT, 16 June 2010 – Large municipalities in the Netherlands will continue to invest in city marketing during the upcoming term of council, in spite of cutbacks. They want to increase the appeal of their municipality and profile themselves better this way. This is evident from an analysis of the G30’s council agreements carried out by the Berenschot organisation consulting firm. Nevertheless, cities are still missing opportunities.
It is striking that in spite of cutbacks, 20 of the 30 municipalities want to invest in city marketing over the coming term of council. In terms of ambitions, Berenschot notes that city marketing has professionalised and has surpassed the hype stage. This first of all concerns regionalisation. Cities are seeking a stronger link with their environment to jointly put themselves on the map, nationally and/or internationally. For example, Amsterdam, Haarlem, Maastricht, Delft, Sittard-Geleen, Den Haag and Westland have decided to collaborate with regional municipalities and regional platforms.
Secondly, this is evident from the strengthening of integrality. More than in the past, in addition to marketing, cities are also focused on strengthening 'the product': the actual offer that makes the city attractive. This is the case for Breda, Nijmegen, Ede, Delft and Eindhoven. Events are an unabated key element in this respect. Furthermore, attention is also focused on improving the business climate to attract target groups as part of the product’s development.
Professionalisation is also evident from improvements made to the way city marketing is organised. A number of cities has stated the ambition of wanting to look for or strengthen collaboration with partners within the city. A few cities that already have experience with city marketing, including Maastricht, Nijmegen and Amsterdam, want to streamline the organisation and increase its effectiveness.
At the same time, many cities are lacking three key elements according to Berenschot that are part of professional city marketing. This includes the identification of the city’s strategic task, the formulation of a differentiating position and the clear delineation of the city’s target groups. Amsterdam, The Hague and Almere are positive exceptions in this regard. Consequently for many cities it is not clear exactly what city marketing is expected to contribute to. Furthermore, the council agreements do not explicitly refer to ‘warm city marketing’ – the retention of the city’s own residents and businesses. Councils consequently miss the opportunity of legitimising their city marketing-related budget and activities with their voters as a means of creating support.
Another comment concerns the involvement of partners. A good thing, according to Berenschot, but municipalities may end up being deceived in the end if they hope to reduce costs by letting the business community contribute to the cost of city marketing. After all, if companies are already cutting back on their own marketing, there will not be a great deal of money left over to contribute to marketing the city. Berenschot consequently recommends that cities entice their partners to match their offer and communications to the marketing of the city’s brand.
The summary of the analysis of the council agreements can be found at www.berenschot.nl and at the City Marketing Expertise Centre’s website (www.city-regiomarketing.nl), a joint venture between Radboud University and Erasmus University, INHolland University of Applied Sciences and Berenschot.
