EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Developing a competive brand image for the Glasgow city region

Developing a competive brand image for the Glasgow city region – Glasgow, UK

Introduction

Market research has shown that image accounts for about 80% of a decision on the location of a conference. Glasgow has developed a strong image helping make it one of the world’s leading business tourism destinations.

Problem

No attempt had been made to develop a global image for Glasgow since the ‘Glasgow’s Smiles Better’ campaign in 1990. However, Glasgow has experienced a lot of changes since 1990.

These include:

high levels of investment in accommodation;
major public sector investment in new world class visitor attractions such as The Science Centre;
competition from other UK City regions and the international marketplaces;
an increasing market for short breaks and business tourism.

These changes needed to be reflected in the branding of the city.

Description

This ERDF supported project aimed to sustain and generate customers to the city region of Glasgow by developing a new competitive brand image for the region. This used the city and its surroundings as the focus of a promotional campaign to attract people to visit, live, work and invest.

The campaign was not solely a tourism initiative. It aimed to establish a single, worldwide brand image for the region independent of, and in addition to, any specific events or accolades. The integration of the campaign with key economic development partners was designed to ensure that the brand reinforced the image of the region to other audiences, particularly business and inward investors.

Approach

Work undertaken to achieve the new brand image for the region included:

design and market testing of the message and supporting visuals;
support for partners to participate in and integrate with the campaign;
purchase of media space;
research into effectiveness and marketing changes over the 13 month period;
refinement and updating of the campaign.

Results

The project has had the following results:

By August 2004, Glasgow hotel occupancy had grown 2% year on year with 134,000 additional tourists visiting Glasgow and spending over 24.8 million euros..
Glasgow had confirmed a growth in conference sales, generating 105,000 additional bednights.
This project encouraged the development of partnership between the public and private sector.
This project has built on the success of earlier projects funded through Structural Funds. Structural Funding awards have been made to assist with the construction of infrastructure, marketing campaigns as well as training and employment initiatives. All of which have been instrumental in placing Glasgow on the international map for business tourism. These projects have also assisted in developing a positive image
for the region.

This concentration of attention on the business tourism market has paid off with Glasgow now ranking amongst the top world conference venues.

Resources used

Total budget: 2.6 million euros
Structural Fund (ERDF) co-financing: 1.2 million euros
National public co-financing: 1.4 million euros

EU involvement

This practice was presented at the Fourth Best Practice Conference New Horizons in Graz, Austria on 15 November 2006. The conference aimed at promoting exchange of experience and dissemination of best practice between authorities involved in the implementation on EU Structural Funds Programmes in Europe. It was destined to contribute to improving quality of implementation of Structural Funds on the basis of project presentations and visits.

Contact info

Strathclyde European Partnership
Anne Houston

Project start date

//2002

Links

Visit the Glasgow promotional website Visit the GRAZ Best Practice website

Download the 'Developing a competive brand image for the Glasgow city region – Glasgow, UK' Report (PDF, Eng, 52 KB)

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Keywords

Competitiveness