Branding Pittsburgh (real estate, home, organic)

[nuwaver88]

Pittsburgh struggles to make name for itself - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review#

[Fiddlehead]

Great grist for the mill!

"Others say a branding campaign would be merely superficial, an ineffective method to label the area or recruit talent and companies. Word of Pittsburgh's prowess must spread organically, they say."

I think I would side with the others here. Pittsburgh seems solid, and does not need a bunch of bogus branding. Exposure perhaps, but not branding. In a country of 300 million people, a place as cool and interesting as Pittsburgh will eventually be noticed. I guess you have to ask what "branding" offers that word of mouth does not. Is it about attracting retirees and second home owners? A lot of cities have been hyped by the real estate shills so badly they became overvalued and tanked (Bend, Oregon). However, attracting cutting edge businesses would seem to be very valuable, but I suppose that is a different dynamic.

Can economic development occur due to word of mouth, or does it require branding?

[BrianTH]

We definitely need to keep working on branding--or more precisely rebranding, because Pittsburgh already has strong brand recognition, but that current brand image is too negative and is now inaccurate.

But we don't need to come up with a nickname, and we don't need to focus on just one industry set (e.g., "eds and meds") or one economic theme (e.g., "technology hub"). In fact the diversity of the local economy is what we should be communicating.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

Can economic development occur due to word of mouth, or does it require branding?

So with larger cities, you really can't avoid branding--people will tend to develop images/connotations they associate with the names of large cities, and that will influence some of the decisions they make, including ones with economic ramifications. It all may seem a little silly, but the research on the effects of brands with high recognition is very solid at this point, and cities ignore that research at their peril.

Of course none of that is a substitute for actually having a good product to offer. Rather, it is a complement: a suitable positive brand image helps to get the right people to invest some of their precious time and energy into looking at your product in a little more depth, and if they then discover you have a good product that aligns with that positive brand image, those people will feel their efforts have been rewarded, and the process will feed on itself.

And similarly, word of mouth isn't really necessarily an alternative to brand management, but again can be viewed as part of the same overall integrated marketing approach. For example, a good brand image will help facilitate the right sort of conversations, and again encourage people to follow up such conversations with further investigation.

So properly speaking, brand management is inclusive of most good marketing practices, and conversely that article somewhat trivializes it by treating it as a question of coming up with a snappy nickname. Again a recognizable name isn't a concern for Pittsburgh--just the opposite, it is dealing with the images that follow such recognition that we need to worry about.

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

So with larger cities, you really can't avoid branding--people will tend to develop images/connotations they associate with the names of large cities, and that will influence some of the decisions they make, including ones with economic ramifications. It all may seem a little silly, but the research on the effects of brands with high recognition is very solid at this point, and cities ignore that research at their peril.

Of course none of that is a substitute for actually having a good product to offer. Rather, it is a complement: a suitable positive brand image helps to get the right people to invest some of their precious time and energy into looking at your product in a little more depth, and if they then discover you have a good product that aligns with that positive brand image, those people will feel their efforts have been rewarded, and the process will feed on itself.

And similarly, word of mouth isn't really necessarily an alternative to brand management, but again can be viewed as part of the same overall integrated marketing approach. For example, a good brand image will help facilitate the right sort of conversations, and again encourage people to follow up such conversations with further investigation.

So properly speaking, brand management is inclusive of most good marketing practices, and conversely that article somewhat trivializes it by treating it as a question of coming up with a snappy nickname. Again a recognizable name isn't a concern for Pittsburgh--just the opposite, it is dealing with the images that follow such recognition that we need to worry about.

Outstanding and well-nuanced explanation. I think I see what you are saying about two major elements: 1) for a sizable city a brand is unavoidable, but can be influenced; 2) with regards to business ventures it amounts to "getting the interview and having the goods to deliver." Just what I was pondering..thanks.

[Tiger Beer]

"Roboburgh"...I kinda hate to laugh at that one...