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Branding has become ubiquitous. What started as a tactic to differentiate products from their various competitors in order to achieve and sustain competitive advantage has diffused into all sorts of other strata. Services, experiences, themes and even places have been branded in order to carve out a distinct identity, project a particular personality and offer a unique value proposition.

New branding strategies have been quite successful in new places. Many Western European countries, for example, have aggressively branded themselves, leading to powerful recognition of German engineering, Swiss watches, Italian haute couture, Danish designs and French wine.

Apart from these European countries, which seem to have embraced branding early on, Malaysia has been the rare Southeast Asian country that has successfully branded itself, with the “Malaysia, Truly Asia” campaign. South Korea is another successful Asian example.

Two phenomena have now emerged in the current age of globalization that make branding more relevant than ever. First, global cities — once limited to Western countries — are now found in emerging economies. Second, there is a lack of any consistent pattern in the emergence of these global cities around the world.

Shanghai, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul and Dubai represent the new age of global cities. Not only are they all from emerging economies, but they also exemplify the current state of branding effort variances. Unlike the examples of Western European countries mentioned above, these global cities are not necessarily known for any one thing.

When such a scenario is viewed against the background of other successful country branding efforts, the obvious question is about the proactive role of branding in building global cities. How can cities create brands that popularize a distinct identity and personality?

First, cities can look to promote themselves as tourist destinations, as most global cities are underpinned by strong tourism revenue. Although traditional global cities in the West have not explicitly projected the tourism aspect of their character, their attractions nonetheless draw millions of visitors from around the world. Emerging economies should strive hard to promote tourism, and one main advantage new global cities have is their opportunity to promote distinct types of tourism. For example, with health care costs far lower than those of the United States, major Indian cities are aggressively promoting medical tourism. In many examples, local institutions combine medical treatment with tours of the particularly city or state

Another avenue for building a strong brand relies on the creation of public infrastructure and the promotion of private empowerment. As new global cities exist in a high-tech world, they are able to invest in projects that can enhance and improve public infrastructure. Dubai, for example, has the world’s most convenient fast trains, and some of the best affiliated services, like shopping facilities. Similarly, Shanghai has very impressive public infrastructure in terms of prime real estate, communication facilities and connectivity to the rest of the developed world.

Last, aspiring global cities should reinvent themselves as melting pots of cultures. A fundamental feature of any global city is that it hosts a wide range of cultures, nationalities, religions and ethnic groups. Most global cities in emerging economies, though, are dominated by their national culture. Global cities in China are dominated by the Chinese, those in India are dominated by Indians and so on. In no stretch are they melting pots in the way their Western peers are. Local governments and other stakeholders can actively reshape local domination through regulations, policies and opportunities aimed at attracting people of other cultures and nationalities to be a part of the emerging global city. Such cities can actively brand their personality as that of a city that embraces all cultures.

Effective branding can essentially remake cities and countries. New global cities are springing out of emerging economies — by being proactive in branding themselves, these places can become the hegemonic global cities of this century.


Martin Roll is a global business and brand strategist. His Web site is at www.martinroll.com.