Global Cities Blog
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Just back from Aarhus where we launched the new promotional identity. Started work on brand development with the city some six months ago and really pleased to have reached this point – where key stakeholders and city leaders are all behind the brand and beginning to use it to promote overseas. Aarhus immediately presents a conundrum; how is possible that the 2nd tier city of a major industrial nation can be relatively unheard of? Most people can name several cities in a European country but Denmark struggles to generate perceptions beyond Copenhagen. More surprising when you get to know the place and discover just how much is going on there. I was immediately impressed by how much ambition and vision the city had for its economic future. It has a number of major infrastructure projects all of which have a keen eye on responding to future economic trends including a Multimedia Centre; a new port development; a science park; an Agro-food park and a state-of-the-art hospital which when complete will be the largest in Europe.
The brand positioning that we developed for Aarhus reflects their city-wide approach to taking and making progressive steps both in business and policy. We were struck by the consistently pragmatic approach across the city to making things better and to taking on big challenges. Globalisation presents many challenges for cities – whether in producing sustainable energy or managing economic transition – and Aarhus has been quietly researching the solutions.
The next step is to take the Aarhus story internationally and to really begin to make the trade and investment links that will continue to ensure its growth.
