BRANDING GRADOVA - STUDIJA SLUČAJA GRADA SARAJEVA
CITY BRANDING - CASE STUDY OF CITY OF SARAJEVO

Author(s): Anto Domazet
Subject(s): Rural and urban sociology, Marketing / Advertising
Published by: Akademija Nauka i Umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine
Keywords: image of the brand; brand of the city; city branding; city marketing; brand equity;
Summary/Abstract: This paper initially refers to the image and branding of cities. City branding is a source of sustainable competitive advantages and is traditionally focused on the image of the city, from which develops the attractiveness of the city to live in it, for the influx of visitors and investments and for development of export businesses. This paper develops a model of integrated development, marketing and branding of cities, final results of which are manifested in the favorable image and brand equity of cities. Case study of the City of Sarajevo points to the need and justification of the use of an integrated model of development, marketing and branding of cities. The main restrictions in its application relate to the undefined constitutional and legal position of the City, which limits its control capacity to apply this model. By method of expert analysis, the brand identity of the City was assessed, and differences were noticed in the identity for individual target groups of the City. The contribution of this paper is reflected in overcoming the often present approach which reduces city branding to the image of the brand, and branding activities to communication with promising and illustriously worded messages. This paper promotes the marketing of a city based on branding in which branding means the process of creating value for the target groups of city in services, with their tangible and intangible attributes, which, in addition to functional, also include psychological and emotional attributes, while defining brand equity as the value contribution for the target groups arising from the power of the brand. Limitations of the research are related to the lack of primary research and a low level of marketing and branding of the City of Sarajevo, which made the case study quite limited in its findings. Future research should focus on empirical analysis of the identity of cities and the City of Sarajevo, and on topics related to the implementation of the integrated model of development, marketing and branding.

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