City image outweighs its assets

Aug 20 2008 by Alex Turner, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL has an international image that exceeds the reality of the facts on the ground, according to a report into the branding of European cities.

The 2008 European Capital of Culture was placed third out of 72 major European cities, behind only Berlin and Stockholm, for its brand utilisation – the measure of how well the city is selling itself compared with its actual assets.

Saffron Brand Consultants created a European City Brand Barometer based on the cities’ asset strength – which measures how attractive the city is to potential visitors based on factors which include sightseeing and historical attractions, its shopping and restaurant offerings, and transport – against their image to find which cities were maximising their brand potential.

Its brand strength was assesed by how well people recognised photographs of the city, positive associations, media recognition and its impact in conversation.

Jeremy Hildreth, head of place branding at Saffron, said Liverpool, and the other cities that had stronger brands than assets, were “selling a story beyond an urban experience”.

The report singles out Liverpool as being the only city to have a strong image without, in its view, strong assets to support it. Liverpool was ranked 66th out of 72 cities for its assets – behind cities such as Belgrade and Bremen – but was in 26th place for its brand strength.

Mark Basnett, director of investment at The Mersey Partnership, disagreed with Liverpool’s ranking on its assets.

He said: “The report de- monstrates the internat- ional strength of the Liver- pool brand. We would chal- lenge the analysis of our asset values and would question just how up-to-date the author's experien- ces of the city region are.”

Mike Taylor, Liverpool Vision’s director of investment, credited the work that has taken place in recent years to change the city’s infrastructure and image.

He said: “Brands are vitally important to successful cities. This research demonstrates how effectively the Liv- erpool brand is chang- ing national and inter- national perceptions.”

BILL GLEESON: PAGE 8

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