Edinburgh Brand consultants appointed
9th June 2004
Plans for developing a new Brand for Edinburgh took the next,
important step forward as the Edinburgh City Region Brand Project
team announced the appointment of Interbrand as Brand
Consultants.
The contract to develop the Brand for Scotland's capital city
was advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union and
attracted interest from more than 70 companies. Twenty-six
tenders were received and six companies were invited for interview
after a rigorous selection process.
The Interbrand team was judged to be the best in both quality
and price and have extensive international experience of both
location and blue chip company branding. Recent work includes
developing brands for London and Estonia.
Selection of the consultants was carried out on Tuesday 25 and
Wednesday 26 May. The selection panel comprised the Brand Project
Manager and senior representatives from Scottish Enterprise East,
Edinburgh and Lothians Tourist Board and the City of Edinburgh
Council.
Geoff Ball, joint chair of the Brand Steering Group and Chair of
CALA Group Ltd, said: “We are delighted that Interbrand are now on
board. Their expertise in brand development for international
locations and companies will be vital to the success of the
project. They will be engaging in the widest possible discussion
with city stakeholders to ensure that the Brand works on behalf of
all sectors that have an interest in a successful and prosperous
Edinburgh.”
The City of Edinburgh Council Leader and joint chair of the
Brand Steering Group, Donald Anderson, said: “Edinburgh has an
enviable reputation as a vibrant, world class city, but we cannot
rest on our laurels. Appointing Interbrand is a significant move
toward developing a brand that represents every aspect of this
diverse city and builds upon Edinburgh's success. Cities like
Barcelona, Hong Kong and Sydney are already reaping the benefits of
successful marketing initiatives and that is what we must compete
against.”
Rita Clifton, Chairman of Interbrand, said: “We are delighted to
be working with the Edinburgh team to help promote Edinburgh
effectively as a world class city. There are so many positive
things going for the city, and we will be consulting extensively
with the different audiences to make sure that we reflect the key
strengths in the right way”
The brand consultants have been employed to develop and deliver
a programme of research amongst a wide range of city region
stakeholders over the next three to four months.
They will:
- carry out and analyse market research
- develop a set of brand values
- recommend guidelines for implementing the branding
strategy
- develop a monitoring and evaluation framework.
The project results will be ready by spring 2005. A family of
brands, providing a consistent marketing image for the city will be
developed. It will be aimed at boosting employment, investment and
increasing tourism revenue.
Building on the city's reputation for education, heritage,
culture and business, the new Brand will ensure Edinburgh is well
placed to compete with other successful cities such as Prague,
Barcelona and Copenhagen.
The Brand will also promote Edinburgh as:
- an ideal location for companies to grow and prosper
- a place which attracts a talented and skilled workforce to meet
the needs of its key sectors
- an area with a high quality of life for its residents
- a vibrant, high quality tourist destination
- a confident and contemporary city with a remarkable history and
architectural heritage
As part of its £24.7 million allocation from the Scottish
Executive's Cities Growth Fund, Edinburgh was awarded £800,000 to
develop and implement a city brand.
Notes to editors
- The Edinburgh City Region Brand Project is a public/private
partnership. The group consists of senior representatives of the
major sectors of the Edinburgh economy, including local business,
finance, higher education, local government, festivals, tourism,
voluntary, bio-technology, information technology, retail, creative
industries, local enterprise and other professional sectors. The
public sector partners are the City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh
and Lothians Tourist Board and Scottish Enterprise East.
- The city brand is a key component of the Strategy and Action
Plans of both the Local Economic Forum for Edinburgh and the
Lothians and the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group.
- Interbrand is the leading international brand consultancy, with
40 offices around the world. Its people come from many different
skill backgrounds, including research and strategic consultancy,
multi-media and design, and marketing and communications. They
pioneered the discipline of brand valuation, and they are leading
publishers of all aspects of branding whether product, service,
corporate or not for profit brands. Their clients include BMW,
Oxfam, Procter & Gamble, John Lewis and Standard Life.
