Alliances between brands and cities as a new competitive strategy to develope a city brand. A look at city branding in New York, Paris and London

Abstract

In recent years, associations between product brand and city brand have experienced an increasing role in both the launch of new products by companies, as well as in urban management strategies.

In the current socioeconomic context in which cities, companies, private and public institutions have all become part of the globalized market, they all look for a distinctive element through their brands, that will provide them with a competitive advantage. For that reason, associations between the product brand and its city of origin are included in that city´s branding process as a new formula to overcome the uncertainty from the global financial crisis. An approach supposed to be successful provided that such associations are concei­ved as long-term strategic alliances, and not as mere naming actions for the city name and product brand to just simply appear together and nothing else.

Yet, there are very few studies that analyze the reasons for these associations, as well as the benefits and advantages resulting from their use to both the product brands and the city brands. In this regard, this arti­cle summarizes the main theories that justify the reason for such alliances from the perspective of consumer behavior, as well as the strategies that they are responding to, while also analyzing the consolidation of the New York, Paris, and London brands through the use of a distinctive and particular city lifestyle as claim to create these associations between the product and the city brand.