World's most powerful city brands

[The Postman]

I don't deny LA is one of the most famous cities in the world, and is very polarizing, but I think much of the rest of the list is pretty dumb. I mean as good as my city of Melbourne is, how is our 'brand' more powerful than the likes of Tokyo. Seriously?

[Mezter]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Yawns at the embarrassingly juvenile descriptions for the cities.



Heffaplease. We're in a drought and even in normal years we'll go from May to October with barely a drop so **** u jealous brits.

Our mediterranean climate puts London and Paris and New York to shame. Think of something else.

Maybe they though SF was Seattle. lol

[Trafalgar Law]

Originally Posted by CityLover9

I mean I'm not THAT surprised at LA ranking well. Whether or not it should be #1 is another topic of debate, however. I mean the study is about city "brands", and I think that LA does have a good brand. I'm not saying that brand = quality of a city. LA is a very polarizing city in the sense that people basically either love it or hate it, there's really not a whole lot of in-between. However, like I said, it's not about the "quality" of a city or whether or not people like it or even how it stacks up against other cities, it's about "brand". LA is famous around the world thanks to Hollywood. Almost everyone on earth has seen a Hollywood film or at least heard of it. Hollywood portrays LA as being uber chic, stylish, and glamorous with palm trees, beautiful landscapes, and perfect weather. The ocean, the mountains, the celebrities, etc. all add to this persona of LA being extremely desirable. Of course, people who have been to LA know that it's really not like how it's portrayed in the movies (well, in some cases at least), but nonetheless the image and the "brand" still exists. I think this is especially true for people who have never visited the city. The brand of LA and Hollywood is absolutely huge in my opinion, so I can understand the city having a high ranking.

Anyways, I think we all know that all of these various rankings that we see across C-D always need to be taken with a large grain of salt.

This is my opinion of Los Angeles. I don't love it or hate it, have been there three times before and overall have a neutral opinion on the city. I don't think in extremes either direction about it.

[Davy-040]

Rome, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo should be in Top 25 instead of Atlanta, Mexico City, Mecca, Mumbai and Melbourne.

[dee936]

Dallas should have made the list and yes I said the big D

1.The Dallas cowboys is one of NFL top sellers when it comes to brand win or lose the numbers are there.
2.Dallas the largest football stadium in the nation.
3.Dallas mavs basket ball brand is pretty strong too! Mark cuban isn't Mark cuban for noth lol
4.Dallas has t.v show casted her Kourtney loves Dallas and the Making the cut Dallas cheerleaders lol

Dallas a metro of 7.1million as 2014 est should have made the list if Atlanta metro of 5.3million should have made it.
It takes people to to tweet,text and buy or talk about brands and the numbers have to be there.
A city of 1,000 might host 20 festivals a year compare to a city of 1million that host only 10 but if the numbers are larger in numbers of people at the fest in a city of million then the city of thousand the city with the larger turnout is going to have a higher volume of being talk about or if have a brand for it's city bought and etc................

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by LINative

Well Waronxmas, I think that Atlanta does very well in their categories on their list. This is good but I think the problem is that Atlanta does not really have a strong "brand name" in the way that I think most people would describe it.

Because they rank Atlanta above international cities like Berlin, Rome, Tokyo, Beijing, Washington DC and Vienna. To me, these cities all have stronger "brand names" then Atlanta, especially cities like Rome or Venice, so I am trying to figure it out how Atlanta is ahead of them.

So as an Atlanta resident, what do you think makes up Atlanta's international brand name or image? And I am not talking about a train or a TV show, I am being serious.

Well it's a lot of things. While it's place as a media center for music (I don't most Americans have a real appreciation how big hip hop is world wide), TV (shows and networks), and recently film are factors we're clearly a distant third in that regard behind NY and LA. While you cannot discount the power of popular culture in this subject (it's a far more powerful thing than the stuff people go on and on about on these forums) there are other areas that where sets itself above the pack. Also, a lot of the cities people on this thread say should be placed higher than Atlanta don't have anything comparable in this regard no matter how dense or how many cafés or how many whatever those cities have that make them superior.

The most unquantifiable factor is Atlanta's culture of shameless self promotion. You know how some people will describe their city's character as unassuming or humble? Atlanta isn't one of those towns. It's been in the city's culture to boost and boast ever since Reconstruction. While the propensity of everyday residents to do this has little effect on this subject, our big name residents past and present do. People like MLK, Jimmy Carter, Ted Turner, and lots of other people not as well known but powerful have their big personas well connected to this city. But again, this is unquantifiable. Here are some things that are quantifiable in no particular order :


1. CNN - This one is a no brainer. Not only is CNN huge in this country, they're huge all over the planet...and never fail to mention where they are based. On top of this, CNN dominates English based news overseas with no real competition other than the BBC at a very distant second.

2. Coca-Cola - Yes, yes. Much will made I'm sure in subsequent posts about how this one laughable, but it really isn't. coke has the third most powerful brand in terms in revenue (after Apple and Google) and has been the worlds most recognizable brand for over almost a century. That speaks for itself.

Edit:

I forgot the Braves. They are one of the most followed and supported teams in the world that loves baseball. In other words the Americas, Japan, and Korea.

[LINative]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Well it's a lot of things. While it's place as a media center for music (I don't most Americans have a real appreciation how big hip hop is world wide), TV (shows and networks), and recently film are factors we're clearly a distant third in that regard behind NY and LA. While you cannot discount the power of popular culture in this subject (it's a far more powerful thing than the stuff people go on and on about on these forums) there are other areas that where sets itself above the pack. Also, a lot of the cities people on this thread say should be placed higher than Atlanta don't have anything comparable in this regard no matter how dense or how many cafés or how many whatever those cities have that make them superior.

The most unquantifiable factor is Atlanta's culture of shameless self promotion. You know how some people will describe their city's character as unassuming or humble? Atlanta isn't one of those towns. It's been in the city's culture to boost and boast ever since Reconstruction. While the propensity of everyday residents to do this has little effect on this subject, our big name residents past and present do. People like MLK, Jimmy Carter, Ted Turner, and lots of other people not as well known but powerful have their big personas well connected to this city. But again, this is unquantifiable. Here are some things that are quantifiable in no particular order :


1. CNN - This one is a no brainer. Not only is CNN huge in this country, they're huge all over the planet...and never fail to mention where they are based. On top of this, CNN dominates English based news overseas with no real competition other than the BBC at a very distant second.

2. Coca-Cola - Yes, yes. Much will made I'm sure in subsequent posts about how this one laughable, but it really isn't. coke has the third most powerful brand in terms in revenue (after Apple and Google) and has been the worlds most recognizable brand for over almost a century. That speaks for itself.

Edit:

I forgot the Braves. They are one of the most followed and supported teams in the world that loves baseball. In other words the Americas, Japan, and Korea.

Although I still definitely do not agree with Atlanta's placement above cities like Tokyo, Rome and Venice, you do make a good argument. I am not into Hip Hop so I have no idea what people think about and whether they associate it with Atlanta or not, so I will take your word on it. And I do associate CNN and Ted Turner with Atlanta to a degree. However, I do not associate Coca-Cola with Atlanta.

I hope you don't think I am troll bashing or I dislike Atlanta in any way. When I think of Atlanta, I think of the largest and most centrally located city of the Southeast USA. The "Capital of the Southeast". I also think of Atlanta has being very green with lots of trees. But beyond that Atlanta does not have a clear "brand image" to me say like Miami or New Orleans or even Nashville (Country Music Capital).

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by LINative

However, I do not associate Coca-Cola with Atlanta.

The Coke one is more of a niche thing. The most regular folks would indeed have no real idea that Coke is from Atlanta, but it can't be denied that Coke has a huge brand awareness and that can be tied directly back to Atlanta.

Outside of that though, there is a culture of folks who collect Coke related items on an almost fanatical level much in the same way people love and collect Disney stuff. They very much are aware of the company history and it's where the company is located. There is even a Coca-Cola museum here that has 1 million visitors each year (mind blowing because locally it is seen as being kitschy), many of whom traveled from overseas to collect Coke paraphernalia. It's odd and I don't particularly get it, but it's a thing.

Originally Posted by LINative

I hope you don't think I am troll bashing or I dislike Atlanta in any way. When I think of Atlanta, I think of the largest and most centrally located city of the Southeast USA. The "Capital of the Southeast". I also think of Atlanta has being very green with lots of trees. But beyond that Atlanta does not have a clear "brand image" to me say like Miami or New Orleans or even Nashville (Country Music Capital).

I don't think you are trolling and I actually agree with you. When it comes to the city itself, Atlanta has always sold itself as an ever evolving place and not as a place that you could expect to be the same five or ten years from now. To me, that enigma is a brand in itself.

[Europeanflava]

You guys forgot one; the police.