Urban Branding

Urban Branding

• Warming-up: City promotion ads
  • New York City: Taylor Swift Named New York City Global Welcome Ambassador

• • Las Vegas: What Happens Here, Only Happens Here

• • Seoul: BTS’ Life in Seoul

While watching them, think about what kinds of cultural and socio-economic aspects are emphasized in each promotion video; and why they are highlighted.

•  Read:
  • Miriam Greenberg. 2010. “Branding, Crisis, and Utopia: Representing New York in the Age of Bloomberg”
  • Sewell Chan. 2008. “When New York Branded Its Way Out of Crisis” New York Times Blog
  • Design Rush, 2018. “The I Love New York Logo Is An Iconic, Widely-Imitated Tourism Symbol.” Medium
  • Guardian Culture. 2015. “I Love New York: Meet Milton Glaser, creator of the ‘I Love NY’ logo.”
  • Archie D’Cruz. 2016. “Does ‘I Love New York’ Help Create a Brand for New York City?” Observer December 28, 2016

• Reading guide:

While reading them, think about the structural changes in the 1960s and 70s that has encouraged and pushed the states’ strategies to compete globally.

Key words: Fordist system, post-Fordist system, the neoliberal turn, urban boosterism, and urban branding

Class activity: how will we brand New York City?

Today, we will do a fun class activity on how “we,” as a group of New Yorkers, will devise a strategy to brand our city.

• Read this article:
  • Aarian Marshall. 2014. “A Brief History of City Branding Disasters.” City Lab