International cities

Many of the blog entries I've written over the past few months have been concerned with matters and events which effect the image of a company, brand or place.

These events are often entirely out of the control of people whose job it is to shape the external view of the brand in a particular way.

While watching the excellent Flaming Lipson Monday night, it struck me how the four guys on stage were there as artists representing not only themselves, but also their country and their home city.

Fans of the Flaming Lips will know that they are from Oklahoma - bizarrely one of their songs is even the official rock song of the city.

Internationally, Liverpool - for all its cultural richness - is associated mainly with one particular band from the 1960s, while Manchester, whether you like it or not, is associated with a football team which happens to be based in a neighboring borough. Other examples would be the town of Athens, Georgia, famous only for being the home of the band R.E.M and Lowell, Massachusetts has the claim to fame of being the birthplace of beat generation novelist, Jack Kerouac.

That the cultural output of a town's famous sons and daughters is celebrated and used to promote the place where they, by historical accident, were born is an effective way to promote a place to would-be tourists.

Building on the communications thrust an international star provides, and striking the right balance between promoting and ensuring the band, artist or sports team doesn't carry too much of the place's expectations is the key to developing into a truly international city.

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