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Branding of Aarhus 2015 - 2018Local Action Plan Aarhus, March 2015

Innovative place-brand management

With a population of 320,000, Aarhus is Denmark’s second largest city and the fastest growing in the country. In the past 10 years, the city has received 15,000 new residents and created 20,000 new jobs, the majority within the knowledge, service and innovation industries.

A strong university – in the top 100 of the world’s 17,000 universities – makes Aarhus a driver for growth for the entire region, with more than 50,000 students. The university, along with the waterfront and the so-called Latin Quarter, gives the city a young and vibrant feel. In 2017 Aarhus will be the European Capital of Culture.

Approximately 20 per cent of all trips in Aarhus are made by bike and the city is working hard to support healthy lifestyles and protect the en-vironment. The city aims to be CO2 neutral by 2030.

The greater Aarhus area is organised into Business Region Aarhus to coor-dinate the synergies between the City of Aarhus and the surrounding 11 municipalities, with approximately 2.1 million inhabitants.

The City of Aarhus has extensive experience in promoting growth through targeted investments and work in close cooperation with the local business life, the university and other knowledge institutions.

_Aarhus

Internationalise with Aarhus 2015

Authors: Line Gerstrand Knive, [email protected], Stinne Bille, [email protected], Mayor’s Department City of Aarhus

Graphic design and layout: Stine Sandahl, www.sandahls.net

City branding toolbox: www.citybrandaarhus.dk

All reproduction must be approved beforehand. © 2015 City of Aarhus. All rights reserved

Make a future with Aarhus

Yearly growth in inhabitants 4-5.000

Foreword by Mayor Jacob Bundsgaard 8

Excutive Summary 13

Offset for city branding in Aarhus 16

Aarhus’ brand DNA 21

City wide innovation – The brand proposition 22

Brand governance – The local support group 24

International qualification – Taking part in the Urbact CityLogo project 29

Target groups 31

Business clusters as positioning tools 37

Strategic initiatives undertaken by the municipality 43

Must win battles 56

City branding team activities 2015–2018 58

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 6 7 INDEX

Aarhus has a fantastic location by the sea and next to ancient forests - a dy-namic urban environment surrounded by the beauty of nature. Aarhus is an open, inclusive city where there’s room for everyone. Young and old, families with children, students, artists, es-tablished businesses and start-ups: no matter who you are or where you come from, Aarhus will make you feel at home.

We often call Aarhus ‘the City of Smiles’. Unpretentious, easy-going, fresh, optimistic, ambitious and buzz-ing with life. At the start of the new millennium, we defined a vision for Aarhus. A vision that still guides us: Aarhus – a good city for everyoneAarhus – a city on the move Aarhus – a city that works together

The vision doesn’t just express what we value about our city right now and what we want to preserve from our past. It’s about our development to-wards the future – a development that keeps accelerating. Our population is growing; new neighborhoods are springing up; a new skyline is taking form. Aarhus is under construction, with new businesses, new education-al and cultural institutions, and new landmark public construction projects, including the largest university hospi-tal in Scandinavia, which will be linked to the city center by a new light rail.

More and more, Aarhus is becoming the engine of growth in the entire re-gion – the cultural and industrial pow-erhouse of West Denmark. We work together with neighboring municipali-ties to promote economic, cultural and infrastructure development. Together,

we create the conditions that attract good jobs and capable employees. In Aarhus, educational institutions and businesses generate knowledge and an international perspective. In fact, our worldclass university ranks among the 100 best in the world.

Even as we continue to grow, we will insist on preserving our city’s spirit of cooperation and social cohesion. We believe that Aarhus should be a good place to live for all of our citizens, and that room for diversity, space for expression and openness to the outside world are all qualities that help make Aarhus an attractive city. Even though some of our fellow citizens may a help-ing hand, all of us have something to contribute.

Talent and the circulation of bright minds to and from Aarhus are vital to the city’s development. Aarhus Uni-versity and the talent pool it attracts are some of our city’s most important assets. The high concentration of ed-ucational institutions in the city also makes Aarhus a very young and dy-namic city – in fact, the average citizen is 24 years old. We welcome our new students warmly and we work hard to make their stay memorable. And hopefully, when they leave us they will recommend a stay in Aarhus to other promising young talents.City branding is an investment into the future. If we are to maintain the high level of welfare we have today, it’s important to attract new talent in the form of students, businesses and employees that can help drive the development and growth of the city. And these students, businesses and employees come to us from all over the world. This makes attracting talent

a vital aim of our branding strategy which is linked to a longer-term effort to internationalise Aarhus.

Internationalization is on our agenda. In 2017, Aarhus will be the European Capital of Culture - a golden oppor-tunity to show the world what Aar-hus has to offer. To measure the city’s progress, we have set the following concrete goals:

• Aarhus will create 2000 new jobs each year until 2030

• Business Region Aarhus will achieve growth levels that are above the na-tional average

• Aarhus will be CO2 neutral by 2030• 95% of young people in Aarhus will

complete secondary education • The proportion of financially self-suf-

ficient Aarhus citizens must be in-creased to meet the national average

• Aarhus must have a high level of civic participation

• Aarhus must be seen as a good city for everyone by its citizens

In Aarhus, city branding is closely linked to the city’s strategic devel-opment, and we do not perceive our branding activities as limited to com-munication and marketing in the traditional sense. Branding is just as much a matter of helping to create the framework for the city’s continued development.

This strategy has been created in col-laboration with key stakeholders in the city, and I hope that it will serve as a common frame of reference in our efforts to brand our city.

Mayor of AarhusJacob Bundsgaard

_ Foreword by Mayor Jacob Bundsgaard

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 8 9 FOREWORD

Feel the vibe with Aarhus

The population is young, 45% is under 30 years old

Aarhus is in a positive development phase, activity is high and there is a positive attitude towards the city’s im-age. Branding activities are to build on this position and develop it even further.

Since 2010 the city has gone through three major identity processes: the city brand development process in 2011, the application for European Capital of Culture in 2011, and the political vision developed in 2014. The three processes all point to the city’s same core values and thus support this branding strat-egy. Therefore the strategic positions of Aarhus identified in 2011 are still relevant. We will continue our work with that storytelling and positioning strategy in the coming years.

City wide innovation – The brand proposition Aarhus invites people, companies and whole sectors to move forward by im-mersing them in an innovation eco-sys-tem that’s broader and more diligent than any other on the planet. Aarhus has 4 key differentiators: • A city that takes on big challenges • A city that works together • A city that is hungry to experiment

and rethink conventional ways of doing things

• A city with pragmatic determination to do things better

We do not view city branding as a campaign or single initiative, but as a journey or progression the city car-ries on together. When measuring the effects of city branding we therefore detach ourselves from marketing logics and focus on both the city’s strategic development and the ‘customers’’ ex-

perience of interacting with and living in the city.

Branding and strategic developmentBranding in Aarhus is about support-ing the city’s strategic development. The branding effort focuses on posi-tioning the city through supporting and promoting existing activities, or-ganisations, events, businesses, etc. that exemplify the brand position. The branding effort in Aarhus is not cen-tred at City Hall. We choose, rather, to distribute branding activities to dedicat-ed organisations like VisitAarhus, the ECC2017 secretariat (European Capital of Culture) and local institutions.

Co-branding Branding Aarhus is the task of the entire city. With this local action plan (LAP) we try to set some directions for the branding of Aarhus in close collaboration with our local support group. Therefore this LAP focuses on brand governance – on the way the city facilitates the collaborative effort of branding Aarhus. The city speaks through the behaviour of its stake-holders.

Focusing on reasons toThe LAP focuses on target groups’ interaction with the city. This means focusing on reasons to move, reasons to invest, reasons to relocate your business or job, and reasons to go. For example, Aarhus University, VIA University College and the other educa-tional institutions are the main reason why people choose to move to Aarhus. Therefore a close collaboration with these institutions on talent attraction and retention is a vital part of brand-ing the city.

Working with factsWith this strategy we will start mon-itoring how Aarhus is perceived and what Aarhus is known for in relevant target groups. With the brand moni-toring tool we will be able to measure the effect of branding activities much more effectively and get a more long-term perspective on the activities.

Creating a platform for integrated city brandingIn 2015 the main efforts of the city-branding team will be to establish a platform for the LSG to work coordi-nated with branding of the city. This means creating an updated toolbox with target specific texts, pictures, presentations, videos etc. for the local support group and other interested parties. Furthermore we we work systematically with Aarhus online presence, trying to create a more con-sistent image across the most used webchannels. A greater focus on the target groups students is part of the effort. In 2015 we will create a prac-tioners network for HR and commu-nication staff from the educational institutions in order to create a more consistent and powerful branding to-wards students.

We will conduct a survey on Aarhus image both specifically for the student/talent target group and for the other target groups of the city. After con-ducting the survey targeted efforts are expected to be initialized in collab-oration with the Local Support Group.

_ Executive Summary

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 12 13 SUMMARY

Be part of something bigger with Aarhus

Approximately 325,000 inhabitants and 1.3 million within one hour drive

Aarhus is in a positive development phase, activity is high and there is a positive attitude towards the city’s image. Branding activities are to build on this position and develop it even further.

Since 2010 the city has gone through three major identity processes: the city brand development process in 2011, the application for European Capital of Culture in 2011, and the political vision developed in 2014. The three processes all point to the city’s same core values and thus support this branding strategy. Therefore the strategic positions of Aarhus identified in 2011 are still relevant. We will continue our work with that storytelling and positioning strategy in the coming years.

Since 2011 the city branding effort has created an open source visual identity meaning that every one is allowed to customize the visual identi-ty to fit their existing setup. A brand toolbox with text, pictures, and a logo generator was part of this effort. This was done in order to have as many stakeholders of the city use the brand as possible. Furthermure the Aarhus Marketing Alliance was established, a forum consisting of a large group of stakeholders that where to discuss new branding initiatives and set the strategic direction for branding of the City.

Aarhus also engaged in creating a toolbox and campaigns specifically for companies to attract international talent. This toolbox is available at www.talentattractiondenmark.dk.Aarhus also experienced great suc-cess with the national Youth Good-

will Ambassador programme, where international students are chosen to brand their city of study. http://ygadenmark.org. This has resulted in several branding products for the city among them the initiative Discover City www.discovercity.dk. According to citymetric.com, 86 per cent of all defined city branding ef-forts fail. Therefore we continue to seek an alternative approach to tra-ditional marketing logics. We will not measure our success in terms of exposure of a logo or the number of times the city’s name is mentioned – the important thing is that the city’ stakeholders work together to pro-mote the activities that take place in the city and the things that make us proud.

In Aarhus we do not view city brand-ing as a campaign or single initiative, but as a journey or progression the city carries on together. When mea-suring the effects of city branding we therefore have to detach ourselves from marketing logics and instead focus on both the city’s strategic de-velopment and the ‘customers’’ expe-rience of interacting with and living in the city.

Branding the city is a holistic disci-pline in Aarhus and we will seek the approach illustrated in this model.

Primary communication: Through city planning and services we can affect the interaction between citizen and city. These must support and ex-emplify the desired brand position.

Secondary communication: This in-volves PR activities and unfolding a

consistent storytelling from all par-ties in the city in a form that matches specific target groups, where we fo-cus on co-branding, e.g. with Aarhus University.

Tertiary Communication: We will seek to influence how citizens talk about the city, to make them good ambas-sadors, and to alter their mindsets to match the desired brand position.

Aarhus’ approach to city brandingBranding in Aarhus is about support-ing the city’s strategic development. The branding effort focuses on posi-tioning the city through supporting and promoting existing activities, organisations, events, businesses, etc. that exemplify the brand position. We support existing efforts and make sure to highlight cases and create a storytelling that reflects our brand position.

The branding effort in Aarhus is not centered at City Hall. We choose, rather, to distribute branding activ-ities to dedicated organisations like VisitAarhus, the ECC2017 secretariat (European Capital of Culture) and local institutions.

Co-branding Branding Aarhus is the task of the entire city. With this local action plan (LAP) we try to set some directions for the branding of Aarhus in close collaboration with our local support group. Therefore this LAP focuses on brand governance – on the way the city facilitates the collaborative effort of branding Aarhus. In city branding it is action, not words, that creates reputation. The city speaks through the behaviour of its stakeholders.

The work with coordination of city branding is conducted by a small cross-departmental team placed in the Mayors department. The team is part of the Business and City devel-opment section.

Hence the role of the branding team in the City of Aarhus is to:

• Monitor the brand.• Identify needs in terms of branding

based on facts and stakeholders’ needs.

• Set a direction/initiate in collabo-ration with the stakeholders.

• Gather the relevant stakeholders.• Secure the execution of an initia-

tive.

Focusing on reasons to…The LAP focuses on target groups’ interaction with the city. The focus lies on how selected target groups perceive the city. This means focusing on reasons to move, reasons to invest, reasons to relocate your business or job, and reasons to go.

For example, Aarhus University, VIA University College and the other ed-ucational institutions are the main reason why people choose to move to Aarhus. Therefore a close collabora-

tion with these institutions on talent attraction and retention is a vital part of branding the city.

When looking at reasons to invest the city’s business clusters play an im-portant role. The presence of our food cluster centred in the Agro Food Park with its research and development facilities etc. is the reason why several global players in the food industry choose Aarhus for their company or investment.

When looking to relocate, expats look primarily for a concrete position; secondly they look at the overall job market and perspectives in the loca-tion. Denmark has the best climate in Europe according to Forbes and international companies like Google, Arla, IBM, Lego etc. are located in the area. This, together with a good climate for international workers, motivates expats to move to Aarhus.

When looking at reasons to go to Aarhus for a shorter period of time there are several events and attrac-tions with international appeal. These are events like the SPOT festival, the NorthSide Festival, the Food Festival, Internet Week Denmark and attrac-tions like the museum of Modern Art

ARoS and our brand new prehistoric museum MoMu. Aarhus also has a great degree of urban coolness at e.g. Godsbanen, Mejlgade, Vestergade etc. Last but not least, being the European Capital of Culture in 2017 offers great opportunities for attracting visitors to the many events that will take place in Aarhus in 2017.

Working with factsAarhus’ goals (as listed in the Mayor’s foreword) are for Aarhus’ strategic development. City branding is to sup-port the realisation of these goals and is not to be measured by exposition and size of logo.

With this strategy we will start mon-itoring how Aarhus is perceived and what Aarhus is known for in relevant target groups. With the brand moni-toring tool we will be able to measure the effect of branding activities much more effectively and get a more long-term perspective on the activities.

_ Offset for city branding in Aarhus

Organisatorial Stucture

Internal CultureLocal Communities

SynergiesCitizens’ participation

Landscapes StrategiesDesign

ArchitecturePublic Spaces

Public Art

BehaviourQuality of Services

EventsFinancial Incentives

Opportunities

InfrastructureAccessibility

Cultural FacilitiesTourism Facilities

Tertiary Communication

Word of mouth

Secondary Communication

Advertising, PR, Graphic Design, Slogans etc.

Primary Communication

City Brand

Source: Kavartzis, 2004

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 16 17 OFFSET FOR CITY BRANDING

Trade wit h Aarhus

Denmark’s largest port is located in Aarhus

The common narrative about the city makes it easier to create impact. Rath-er than having businesses and indi-viduals telling their own individual stories, everybody should have their personal version of the common nar-rative. This brand narrative is not to be used as direct end-user communi-cation. It is a communication tool to be used as a common narrative about the city DNA. All user-centered com-munication, activity and interactions should refer to the shared narrative of city wide innovation, progress and the four key differentiators in order to create a consistent image and brand identity for the city.

Aarhus’ city brand was created in 2011 as part of the city’s business development plan. The brand was built upon an analysis of the city’s strengths, through focus groups with business clusters and a survey among the citizens. Precisely, 41 focus groups and meetings and a survey of 1,500 citizens were held throughout spring 2011, so as to find the ‘Aarhus DNA’. As a result, the core of the brand is currently relevant and new.

The brand has come up with an overall brand strategy that is closely connect-ed to the city’s long-term strategic goals. The strategy was designed in close collaboration with its key stake-holders when it comes to branding the city internationally.

_ Aarhus’ brand DNA

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 20 21 AARHUS´ BRAND DNA

A city that takes on big challenges

A city that works together

A city that is hungry to experiment and rethink conventional ways of doing things

A city with pragmatic determination to do things better

_ City wide innovation the brand proposition

Aarhus invites people, companies and whole sectors to move forward by immersing them in an innovation eco-system that’s broader and more diligent than any other on the planet.

That looks like a pretty bold claim, but Aarhus definitely has what it takes to substantiate it.

The big headline here is the approach the city takes to innovation: it has the intimacy and the flexibility to bring together smarter people from diverse sectors more quickly and more fre-quently than any other city can make possible. This citywide approach to innovation enables Aarhus to get big thinkers to work together without barriers and the result is ideas and actions that are simply better.

AARHUS’ 4 KEY DIFFERENTIATORS

A city that takes on big challenges With the people of the developing world demanding a higher stan-dard of living and the people of the developed world living longer and longer, the planet faces a new set of challenges. Food, energy, health care and digitalisation all need to be looked at in entirely different ways to meet the needs of such a fast changing world. Aarhus has devel-oped important competencies in all of these areas. Concrete examples of our knowledge hubs within these areas are IT-City Katrinebjerg and the Smart Aarhus partnership. We are building Northern Europe’s big-gest University Hospital in Skejby. We have one of Europe’s best rated food environments in the Agro Food Park where the dairy giant Arla just

decided to place its global innovation headquarters. And let us not forget Navitas – our new centre for modern energy, housing education, research, business and entrepreneurs all in one location.

A city that works together The world of city brands is littered with claims of ‘collaboration’ and be-ing ‘networked’. Most of these claims can be difficult to substantiate but in Aarhus, collaboration is impos-sible to ignore as it is integral to so many aspects of city life. In Aarhus the ability and desire to collaborate is hard-wired. You see this in our Headstart Fashion Network where we invite all stakeholders from the local fashion industry to join a net-work to support and develop the fashion industry in Aarhus. And you see it when we celebrate the In-ternet economy and digitalisation during Internet Week Denmark, which we created in a private– public partnership that manages to engage rsearch and education, NGOs, companies, entrepreneurs, investors and citizens in a festival. A city that is hungry to experiment and rethink conventional ways of doing things There’s a little bit of anarchy in Aar-hus – a slight lack of respect for authority and a desire to do things differently. Putting this into perspec-tive, it would be wrong to suggest that Aarhus could make a claim to be one of the world’s creative hubs, like London or Berlin, but there is a distinct flavour to Aarhus’ spirit of experimentation that could be note-worthy when applied to a commercial context.

Aarhus combines the Danish design ethos – minimalism + usability + eth-ical integrity – with a flair for the unexpected. This enables it to deliver solutions to problems that are both well thought through and genuinely innovative. We will do this when we host the European Capital of Culture in 2017. We will rethink the way cul-ture events drive innovation. You can also see our experimental approach in the Smart Aarhus partnership where experimentation and breaking exist-ing rules are vital. In Smart Aarhus we launch small speedboats instead of building great pyramids.

A city with pragmatic determina-tion to do things better Aarhus doesn’t hope to advance, it expects to. There’s a belief that things can always be improved and a non-chalance in people’s ability to create what’s necessary to deliver those im-provements. Aarhusians are relent-less, they don’t give up easily and they aren’t satisfied until they’ve found a progressive outcome. Whether big leaps of innovation or small steps in efficiency, the Aarhus Effect is always furtherance. This ability is reflected in the theme of the Capital of Culture 2017. RETHINK – take the existing and improve it, whether it is twisting a wing of a wind turbine a few degrees to create a more effective flow of wind or educating chaos pilots.

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 22 23 CITY WIDE INNOVATION

This strategy has been created in close collaboration with key local stakehold-ers – the Local Support Group. The Members of the local support group are:

Visit AarhusVisit Aarhus is Aarhus’ official tourism organisation, and its aim is to help develop tourism in Aarhus and brand Aarhus as a holiday and travel desti-nation. Visit Aarhus works to ensure that tourism in Aarhus creates results for the city, the region and Denmark.Visit Aarhus has a performance con-tract with the City of Aarhus and is the organisation that handles all market-ing and promotion in relation to the tourism target groups. The following organisations are partners of Visit Aarhus: Aarhus City AssociationAarhus City Association markets the city’s shops in combination with events, cultural events and City Experiences. The primary goal is to promote Aarhus City as a shopping and experience cen-tre for people throughout East Jutland and to market the Aarhus City profile nationally. Aarhus 2017Aarhus will be the European Capital of Culture in 2017. Aarhus 2017 is the single most important marketing effort for Aarhus within the next three years. Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017 is supported by the Central Denmark Region and all its municipalities. It is deeply rooted in strong regional coop-eration across the entire region.

VIA University CollegeVIA University College offers a wide range of educational programmes in areas such as health, social education, technology, trade, design, business and animation. VIA is Denmark’s largest university of applied sciences striving to be a leading educational institution – in Denmark and internationally. Aarhus UniversityAarhus University (AU) is a top 10 university among those universities founded within the past 100 years. It has a long tradition of partnerships with some of the world’s best research institutions and university networks. AU has a strong commitment to the development of society that is realised through its collaboration with govern-ment agencies and institutions and the business community. Aarhus Uni-versity currently has approximately 45,000 students and is a vital part of Aarhus’ DNA.

Erhverv Aarhus Erhverv Aarhus is Aarhus’ business association. Erhverv Aarhus works broadly as the voice of the business community in terms of the city’s de-velopment. The aim is to ensure that the framework for doing business in Aarhus is attractive both now and in the long term for local, regional and international companies.

International CommunityInternational Community supports in-ternational employees and their fam-ilies during their stay in the Aarhus region. They create social and profes-sional networks to the benefit of expats through a wide range of events, sem-inars and online activities.

Department of Citizen ServicesCitizen services in Aarhus are very internationally minded so we have created a one stop shop for interna-tional citizens where they can get help for anything they need when settling in Denmark. They have also created a welcome package with all the basic ‘need to knows’ about Aarhus. Citizen Services also run an international landing page with info for interna-tional citizens working in one of the 11 cities around Aarhus.www.businessregiionaarhus.com

Aarhus EventsAarhus Events is a department that aims at attracting and supporting ma-jor events in the city. Aarhus Events is one entrance to receive support for events, apply for permissions etc. Aar-hus Events also aims to attract major sports events and in 2018 Aarhus will host the ISAF World Championship in sailing.

Mayor’s Press OfficeThe Mayor’s communication team advise the mayor on all aspects of communication and are important actors in terms of telling the Aarhus narrative.

Communication Teams of Culture, Citizen Services and the Technical DepartmentThese departments are relevant in terms of the target groups of city branding.

_ Brand governance the Local Support Group

City Architect The office of the City Architect does all the physical planning in the city and is a vital part of the city’s strate-gic development. The City Architect and their office are in close contact with investors and developers with interest in Aarhus.

Business AarhusBusiness Aarhus is the city’s official business care service. Business Aar-hus is one entrance to the city for companies and investors looking to locate or invest in Aarhus. Business Aarhus markets Aarhus as a business destination.

Department of Business and City DevelopmentThis department works to create the best possible framework for business growth and economic development in the city. The department works in close collaboration with the city’s key stakeholders and local business clusters. The city branding team is located within this department.

All the members of the local support group were consulted regularly during the process of creating this local action plan.

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 24 25 BRAND GOVERNANCE

Spend the night with Aarhus

18,6% yearly growth in overnight hotel guests

_ International qualification Taking part in the Urbact CityLogo project

While in the process of creating this strategy Aarhus participated in a cross European project with nine other cities. CityLogo is a transna-tional learning experience on city branding and marketing in modern urban politics. It is about better po-sitioning of cities in the (post) crisis economic arena and reinforcing the communication dimension in urban management.

Throughout a three-year period the 10 project cities collaborated and shared best practices and experienc-es in today’s city branding. Several of the partner cities also qualified and commented on this strategy.

There have been several important things learnt from CityLogo, and the most important points overall are mentioned here. First, city branding demands leadership, and preferably political leadership. Not because it is a matter that should be controlled from the top down, but because it is important to show that coordinating the branding efforts is an important priority for the city as a whole.

Another important element is that networks to coordinate branding ef-forts are most effective when they are target group specific. It is very difficult to create relevant common projects that address target groups ranging from international investors to students. Therefore integrated city branding does not necessarily mean that all relevant stakeholders coordi-nate all efforts; rather, that stakehold-ers addressing common target groups can coordinate their initiatives. The city’s role is to facilitate this collab-oration and to ensure consistency

in the marketing of Aarhus. This is best done by delivering concrete, high quality branding material such as pic-tures, standard text material, videos, presentations etc.

Also discussions about logo and visu-al identities have led to new insights. All experiences from the partner cities show that visual identities are very often not liked by the local citizens and often steal attention from the overall branding strategy. Therefore giving less focus to the visual identity and more focus to collaboration and creating good relations to stakehold-ers is part of this strategy.

But even though citizens often do not like a new identity they play a very important role in city branding. Citizens and visitors of the city are the best ambassadors for the city if they like being part of it. Therefore working on creating the best possible experience for guests and other users of the city is an important investment into the city’s long-term attractive-ness. This is the reason why many actions in this strategy focus on stu-dents and creating good experiences in Aarhus.

Measuring the effects of city branding is very difficult unless marketing log-ics are applied. Then you can measure exposure to logo, articles etc. How-ever, when the aim of city branding is to attract new students, workers, companies and visitors to the city we have to look at different parameters to measure our effects. Therefore one of the most important new efforts in this strategy is to conduct image surveys among specific target groups. This is in order to focus the effort where it is

most needed. For example, if students choose a different city than Aarhus to study in because they have heard that it is difficult to find student housing, even if it is not the case anymorethe city branding team should focus on changing that concrete image.

Finally, being part of an Urbact proj-ect has been a good catalyst in terms of moving a stagnated city branding effort ahead. Creating a strategy in close collaboration with the local sup-port group is a first step in terms of institutionalising the city’s branding effort and committing the different stakeholders to common actions.

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 28 29 INERNATIONAL QUALIFICATION

_ Target groups

When working with city branding and promotion we naturally address differ-ent target groups. We target local, na-tional and international target groups. Their interactions with Aarhus, rea-sons to … and perceptions of the city are very differentiated. Therefore our approach will be to form strong part-nerships with local stakeholders to target each group directly at their individual level.

We will work to make the local tar-get groups ambassadors of the city who can recommend Aarhus and tell positive stories about it. We will do this through our international Cit-izen Services, through ambassador programmes and by welcoming new students warmly. On a national level we will work to create more aware-ness through events, lobbyism and ambassadors.

Internationally we seek to heighten the level of awareness of Aarhus in the minds of relevant selected target groups, e.g. in collaboration with Aar-hus University, Visit Aarhus, the Inter-national Community and businesses.

Below we describe the selected target groups, focus points for each target group and who is responsible for ac-tivities aimed at the specific group.

STUDENTSWho are they? Aarhus has a student population of 50,000 full-time students. About 6000 students are international, and the rest are Danish from the rest of the coun-try. The student population accounts for about 20 per cent of the population in Aarhus.

Why are they important? An important part of the city’s DNA and future development is to be an attractive educational city. The high percentage of young people in the city adds to a vibrant and innovative atmosphere and a unique cultural life.

Reasons to moveSurveys reveal that international stu-dents are mostly recruited by recom-mendation; therefore it is important to see current students as ambassa-dors of the city. Danish students are known to choose their city of study over university and academic stan-dards. They are also known not to be very geographically mobile during their first year of study.

Aim is to:The primary focus of the initiatives aimed at students is to create great framework conditions, so that stu-dents have a good experience study-ing in Aarhus and work as ambas-sadors both internationally and in Denmark. Furthermore we would like the brightest minds to stay in Aar-hus and build a career in Denmark. We want Aarhus to be known as a vibrant city with an international atmosphere, where there are good job and family prospects. Who is responsible for the initia-tives aimed at students? Educational institutions, Citizen Ser-vices, International Community, Stu-denterhus Aarhus, kollegiekontoret, Visit Aarhus.

Youth Goodwill Ambassador CorpsThe Youth Goodwill Ambassador Corps (YGA) is a global network of talented in-ternational students. They brand Denmark as an attractive study destination while working to increase the job opportunities for the appointed youth ambassadors as well as international talents in Denmark.All members of the network study in Den-mark while taking part in a unique talent development program and working with key Danish stakeholders within business, culture and academia. Today the network consists of more than 400 international students from more than 65 countries worldwide. Read more http://ygadenmark.org/

CITIZENS Who are they?Citizens in Aarhus are a complex group. This segment includes all of the groups previously covered and more. Citizens are the private individ-ual and are of all ages and social and economic backgrounds. Some have a high engagement level in the themes covered in this strategy while others go about their own lives. They share a common pride in and love of their city.

Citizens primarily have touch points with the municipality through day care, schools, medical services and citizen services. They also meet the community through private initia-tives such as culture, sports and lei-sure activities.

Why are they important?The branding initiative has to reso-nate with the citizens – they are in number and engagement our stron-gest ambassadors. There is a strong will to create in Aarhus, and its cit-izens continually create initiatives

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 30 31 TARGET GROUPS

COMPANIES AND INVESTMENTSWho are they?These are companies within Aarhus’ business strongholds looking to de-velop their business in a certain clus-ter, companies that wish to recruit talented people and companies that want to invest. According to a bench-mark study from IMD, Denmark is a world leader when it comes to R&D and productivity. Aarhus’ businesses are among the very best at combining innovation and efficiency. This is why numerous international companies have chosen to locate their centres of excellence here.

Why are they important?Aarhus aims to attract, develop and retain companies, jobs and invest-ments. They are fundamental in terms of creating job prospects and attract-ing/retaining talent. The goal is to create 2000 new jobs per year.

Reasons to invest:The situation is positive and has im-provement possibilities:

• Of the companies located in Aarhus, 35 per cent expect to create more jobs in the coming year.

• Most foreign direct investments derive from M&A and expansions, therefore the FDI strategy is very much focused on aftercare.

• The cooperation between compa-nies and the City of Aarhus must be improved. Current evaluation of the business climate shows im-provement possibilities in terms of business conditions as infrastruc-ture, service deliveries and com-munication.

Several clusters in Aarhus and Aar-hus University are currently devel-oping and growing rapidly. This is having a very positive impact on the investment promotion and branding.Who is responsible for the initia-tives aimed at companies and in-vestments?City of Aarhus: Developing frame-work and optimised business condi-tions. The aftercare service to compa-nies is organised by Business Aarhus.Invest in Denmark: Responsible for attracting foreign investments to Aarhus.StartVækst Aarhus: Responsible for startups.

VISITORSThe branding and promotion strategy towards visitors is organised under Visit Aarhus, which has a perfor-mance-based agreement with the City of Aarhus and works closely together with partners in realising the strat-egy. The primary target groups are from Sweden, Norway, Germany and the UK.

The vision behind the promotion and branding activities towards visitors is that: Aarhus has to manifest itself internationally, and should be known and recognised as one of the region’s best cities to visit and work, study and live in.

In 2014, the City of Aarhus developed a visitor policy that forms the basis of Visit Aarhus’ strategy for 2015–2018.

Several initiatives and institutions such as European Capital of Culture 2017, Aarhus University, NorthSide and the strong investments in at-tractions at ARoS, Old Town and

Moesgaard have a positive impact on branding Aarhus for visitors outside Denmark.

Who is responsible for the initia-tives aimed at visitors?Visit Aarhus: It has an official guest strategy and a performance contract that specifies its role in terms of pro-moting Aarhus to tourists and guests in general.

that promote and add value to the city brand. One example is the photogra-pher ‘ukendt Aarhus’.

Who is responsible for the initia-tives towards citizens?Visit Aarhus, Citizen Services, Aarhus Events, Aarhus 2017 and Aarhus City Association.

INTERNATIONAL WORKFORCEWho are they? The internationally mobile worker will be looking for the possibility to progress their career and improve future opportunities, as well as the city’s ability to project a safe and en-joyable lifestyle.

Why are they important? Aarhus needs to attract international talent to stay on top of competition and attract the brightest minds to Aarhus’ companies. International workers also contribute to diversity, innovation and international under-standing. It is important to help this group settle and enjoy life in Aarhus in order to secure the investment into international recruitment of the hir-ing companies.

Reasons to moveInternational labour and talent pri-marily move to Aarhus because of attractive job opportunities. The city plays a secondary role. But usual-ly the worker brings a spouse and sometimes family and when consider-ing their needs the city and its facili-ties are vital. Factors such as a work–life balance, international schools, international citizens services, safety and job opportunities – including for the spouse – matter in terms of mov-ing to Aarhus.

Aim is to:The primary focus of the initiatives aimed at international labour is to encourage them to settle in Aarhus for a period of at least three years and to become good ambassadors of the city. An easy settlement and spouse programme as well as a broad career market are important in this regard. Who is responsible for the initiatives aimed at the international workforce?Businesses in Aarhus, Citizen Ser-vices, International Community, Aarhus Academy of Global Talent, IB World School.

In Aarhus we have focused on local, nation-al and international talent as main target group, in close cooperation with a dedicated and vigorous strategy at country level. We compare the Aarhus´ approach of talent management to a dinner party:

• Attract - send out invitations and create interest. In Aarhus talent attraction is pri-marily up to employer and educational institutions, the city brand team support with tools like adapted city narrative, pro-motional material, testimonials, etc.

• Welcome at the door. The city provides one stop shop service and welcome package to new foreign residents.

• Entertain – make sure the guests have a great time and meet the right people, needs are meet. There are special activities and events for the expat community such as free courses of Danish, Sunday brunch, brainstorming sessions and other social activities 15.

• Goodbye – thanks’ for a lovely evening, hope to see you soon, moving on. Aarhus and Denmark make an extensive use of the ambassador formula to keep the inter-national talent engaged, even when they leave the country.

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 32 33 TARGET GROUPS

Do business with Aarhus

Business Region Aarhus is next to Copenhagen Business Region the most important center of growth in Denmark

_ Business clusters as positioning tools

Locations all over the world com-pete for investment, export share, talent, residents, resources, political attention and media space. Business clusters can act as effective tools in strategic brand building. By growing strong clusters a region can position itself to attract talent, investments and new companies and to support internationalisation.

Aarhus has several business clusters that support the city brand. Their development coexists with the city’s ambitions to grow and attract inter-national talent and investments.

In Aarhus the major research and development centres are places on the Knowledge Corridor that stretches from the harbour to the northern part of Aarhus. The ambition is to strengthen the level of knowledge about the relevant clusters in relevant target groups.

FoodThe Danish food cluster is the third largest in the world and the second largest in Europe, employing more than 200,000 people. The city has developed a strong value chain from farm to fork, and Denmark is invest-ing heavily in further development within the food sector.

The Danish food cluster is located within the Agro Food Park in Aar-hus N. The Agro Food Park is one of Europe’s most powerful centres for food innovation. It combines knowl-edge, research and entrepreneurship to handle the growing complexity of modern agriculture and food pro-duction.

Aarhus is an expert city within food development and production. Along with the rest of Central Denmark, the Aarhus area accounts for 60 per cent of Denmark’s food exports. The city offers food businesses easy ac-cess to strong networks, widespread collaborations and highly educated labour from the city’s many special-ised educations.

Aarhus holds a significant role in the international food market, and several large food businesses have chosen to place their headquarters and R&D centres in the city. This includes companies such as Arla, Aar-hus Karlshamn, Dupont and Danish Crown. The food cluster is centred in the Agro Food Park, which markets and promotes the cluster profession-ally. Among other achievements, the food cluster has succeeded in creat-ing Northern Europe’s biggest food festival, which is held once a year in September.

Responsible: Agro Food Park and the Food Consortium.

Health and welfareDenmark is famous for its unique welfare and health care programmes and Aarhus is a hotspot for health care technology. We are in the process of establishing one of the largest and most advanced hospitals in Northern Europe.

The setting of the health care clus-ter in Aarhus gives way to close collaboration between health related businesses, the University and the public health care sector, providing the setting for groundbreaking R&D and health-care products.

The New University Hospital will be the largest hospital in Northern Europe and will house some of the world’s most innovative health tech-nology, including the new centre for particle cancer therapy. The hospital will become an enormous hospital city, with nearly 1.25 mio. sqm. The hospital will house approximately 10,000 employees. Overall, the proj-ect is a 0.86 billion euro investment.

In terms of positioning the health cluster there is also a business de-velopment facility – the MedTech In-novation Centre. The goal is to com-mercialise and implement innovative research projects and business ideas. Part of the centre’s activity is to pro-mote the sector.

Responsible: MedTech Innovation Centre, The New University Hospital.

IT, digitalisation and Smart CityAarhus is home to a comprehensive ICT and innovation cluster – IT-City Katrinebjerg – a rich source of talent, knowledge and opportunity for pro-fessional networking. Furthermore, Aarhus has the largest growth in ICT companies in the country and 20,000 workplaces within a radius of 10 km.

Denmark’s largest ICT and innova-tion environment is located in the Katrinebjerg quarter. The area is an ICT powerhouse and home to a unique development and innovation environment. This creative environ-ment is facilitated through close col-laboration between businesses and public research, and it is supported by favourable physical surroundings with shared offices, a project hotel and an ICT Science Park.

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 36 37 BUSINESS CLUSTERS

EducationAarhus has the highest concentration of students in Denmark in relation to the size of its population, a position the city wants to maintain and strength-en. As part of national Danish policy, Aarhus has been earmarked as a cen-tre for education and research, and the number of students is expected to increase by more than 10,000 in the coming years. This will result in the greatest concentration of students in Scandinavia.

With more than 30,000 bachelor and masters students, and a world top 100 ranking by several influential rankings, Aarhus University is the head of Aarhus’ educational sector. VIA University College is Denmark’s biggest university college with the most popular welfare programmes in the country. Moreover, there is a wide range of other higher education institutions with an extensive choice of study programmes and courses.

The wide choice of study programmes in Aarhus ensures excellent recruit-ment possibilities for businesses in the city, while the depth of programmes allows businesses to take on employees with a high degree of specialisation. At the same time, the close relations between the different institutions help to produce strong, interdisciplinary graduates for the business community.

Aarhus University is broadly engaged in the city and works systematically towards attracting talent and branding the University. VIA University College, which is responsible for most of our welfare education, also has a range of international activities, e.g. export of systems within health and education.

There is no strong common organisa-tion that represents all educational and research institutions.

Responsible: Aarhus University, VIA University College and other educa-tional institutions.

ShoppingAarhus has a wealth of different shops. You need only to stroll through Aarhus to feel the special atmosphere and to see people with stuffed shopping bags before you understand why Aarhus has been named the best shopping city in Northern Europe. Design, fashion, lifestyle and trendsetting – these are just some of the words that describe the wealth of great shopping experiences waiting in the city. Promoting Aarhus as a shopping destination is obvious especially for the visitor target group.

Responsible: Visit Aarhus and the Retail Association of Aarhus (City-foreningen).

ProductionAarhus is the largest production area in Denmark. There are 10,000 industry jobs in the city. Research from DI (net-work of Danish production companies, Dansk Industri) shows that 100 jobs in the industrial area add 35 jobs in supporting areas. The innovative busi-ness climate in Denmark is based on close relations between craftsmanship, production and knowledge workers. This underlines the importance of a strong industrial sector to support innovation and ensure that Aarhus will be continuously at the forefront of innovation. Responsible: MADE.

The digital efforts of the city go be-yond Katrinebjerg, however. ‘Smart Aarhus’ proposes an alternative way of creating solutions for the city. Through a collaborative partnership between companies, the University and the public sector, the aim is to address the challenges of urbanisa-tion and of becoming an increasingly digital society. The city’s ambition is to be a frontrunner in digitalising its business, urban living and public spaces.

IT-City Katrinebjerg has no central communication and promotion unit, but different groups such as the In-cuba Science Park and the Alexandra Institute are working on rebranding the area. Smart Aarhus carries out promotional activities locally, nation-ally and internationally alongside oth-er events like Internet Week Denmark and Media Architecture Biennale.

Responsible: IT-City Katrinebjerg (In-cuba, Alexandra Instituttet and more), Smart Aarhus partnership.

Architecture and designThe many architecture and design businesses in Aarhus are well rep-resented on the international scene. Three of the largest architectural practices in Scandinavia are located in Aarhus.

Creativity thrives in Aarhus. The Danish heritage of democratic and user-oriented design, along with the strong collaborative culture in Aar-hus, creates an inspiring space for architects, designers and other cre-ative minds to break the boundaries of ‘how we used to do it’.

The sector delivers an astonishing 55 per cent of Denmark’s entire export of architectural output. The city com-prises everything from a bubbling environment of creative freelancers to two of the world’s largest architecture businesses and Scandinavia’s largest integrated design house, Designit. In terms of positioning the sector, there is a smaller cluster organisation –AND+ The Architecture Projekt that promote and develop the architecture and design cluster. AND+ is financed by the City of Aarhus and the Central Denmark Region.

Responsible: The Architecture Pro- ject, AND+.

Clean techAccording to IMD, Denmark is a world leader in clean tech innovation, and Aarhus plays a significant part in this position. One-third of Denmark’s clean tech industry is placed in the region.

The businesses in the region excel especially within energy storage, pro-duction of sustainable energy, and en-ergy infrastructure and distribution. At the same time, the Aarhus region has the highest rate of specialisation in Denmark – measured by the num-ber of employees within energy and environment – and 40 per cent of all Danish full-time employees within energy and energy technology work in the Central Denmark Region.

Energy of the future – NavitasWithin energy and environmental technology, a new and open innovation environment housing 2000 students and more than 300 businessmen, researchers and lecturers is being established at the waterfront. Navitas

is expected to create more awareness about the clean tech stronghold in Aarhus. The City of Aarhus is also a member of the national clean tech cluster organisation CLEAN, which promotes Danish clean tech and Smart City activities.

Responsible: Navitas, Aarhus CO2030 and CLEAN.

FashionThe fashion industry in the Aarhus re-gion is growing rapidly. In 2012, the sector had a revenue of approximately €6 billion, and thus accounted for the largest share of turnover within the creative industries in Denmark.

Aarhus has 348 fashion companies and a number of educational institu-tions within fashion. Together they offer great potential for growth and new jobs. The main epicentre is located in Balticagade, from which many new businesses and educational institu-tions emerge.

Aarhus attaches great importance to strengthening the sector and boosting further growth in the fashion indus-try. Therefore, the Municipality and the Central Denmark Region launched the Headstart Fashion initiative. This initiative is an important step towards a stronger cluster within the fashion industry in the Aarhus area – and thus contributes to triggering the huge potential for growth and jobs. Headstart Fashion is now a collab-oration between public and private parties and the organisation works actively to promote and develop the fashion industry in Aarhus.

Responsible: Headstart Fashion.

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 38 39 BUSINESS CLUSTERS

Study with Aarhus

50.000 students are enrolled at higher educational – That’s 15% of the population

_ Strategic initiatives undertaken by the municipality

In terms of city branding, the most important task for the municipality is to provide framework for initiatives in the city. We do this by provide good service, leave room in city planning, provide permits and bring people to-gether an on a practical level help private stakeholders to take initiative in the city. The city can also encourage activity and development by setting up net-works and co working relations. Aar-hus is planning a number of initiatives and events in the coming years that will strengthen the city’s identity and exemplify the brand DNA.

These activities offer a unique oppor-tunity to implement the brand more consistently in the city’s activities and they are great opportunities to work towards the desired brand identity. The branding team does not run these activities, but will be in continual di-alogue with the local stakeholders to ensure that we make the most of this activities when it comes to creating the right image of Aarhus.

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 42 43 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

Aarhus has been appointed European Capital of Culture in 2017. The title represents one of the most presti-gious and prominent cultural events in Europe.

The theme for Aarhus 2017 is RE-THINK. The theme emerged as a re-sult of input from more than 8000 residents and reflects the unique strengths of Aarhus and the Central Denmark Region. The project will include a focus on urban development, integration, business development, tourism, infrastructure and inter-national collaboration. The Capital of Culture aims to facilitate engagement and participation across all existing clusters and networks.

Aarhus 2017 is also expected to po-sition and brand Aarhus remarkably well. The following vision is set for the branding of Aarhus during the event:

Aarhus 2017 will increase awareness, visibility and attraction value of the city and the region, nationally and internationally, while creating a high-er level of cultural cooperation and dialogue with Europe.

Responsible: The 2017 secretariat. Aarhus University and the IMPACT 2017 project are responsible for mea-suring the effects of the effort.

_Aarhus 2017


Middelfart

Fredericia

Horsens

Kolding

Vejle

Herning

Grenaa

Odder

Randers

Silkeborg

Skanderborg

Lystrup

Aarhus

Hedensted

SkiveViborg

Hobro

Business Region Aarhus is a collab-oration of 11 East Jutland munici-palities working across municipal boundaries to create growth and jobs and to maintain and strengthen the area as one of Denmark’s two leading growth centres with international impact.

Business Region Aarhus initiates ac-tivities in business development and improvement of framework condi-tions that are in the common interest and that run better together than separately. Business Region Aarhus focuses on creating synergy in terms of better use of resources, greater ef-

ficiency, improved access to financing and representation of interests on a national level.

Business Region Aarhus has just re-cently upscaled the level of collabora-tion and the organisation is having an increasing impact. Business Region Aarhus will play an important role in both the national and the interna-tional branding of Aarhus.

Responsible: The Business Region Aarhus secretariat.

_Business Region Aarhus


_Internationalisation

The City of Aarhus has an increased focus on internationalisation and has created an Internationalisation Committee with representatives from both the public and the private sector. The main goal of the committee is to create strategic efforts to improve internationalisation with focus on talent attraction. The work areas of the committee will follow three tracks:

• Attracting, receiving and retain-ing workforce and students (e.g. more extensive international citizen services) as well as companies and investments.

• Developing international skills for the city’s companies.

• Improving international city facili-ties like English language in shops, restaurants and hotels.

We expect the work of the Interna-tionalisation Committee to be strongly connected to the branding effort of the city. Relevant initiatives from the city branding team will be run through the Internationalisation Committee.

Responsible: The Internationalisation Committee.


_Smart Aarhus

Smart Aarhus was initiated as a part-nership between the City of Aarhus, the Central Denmark Region, Aarhus University, the Alexandra Institute, VIA University College, the Danish Technological Institute, and the com-pany Systematic. A wide range of public and private organisations and citizens have been (and still are) in-volved in specific projects.

Smart Aarhus is a mindset developed in order to create sustainable urban innovation and growth. It is a mod-el based on involving stakeholders through partnerships. Smart Aarhus is a digital marketplace established in order to generate value and to help solve societal, environmental

and economic challenges. Interna-tionally, Smart Aarhus is considered a Scandinavian ‘third way’ of how to develop a Smart City. The American Smart City development is primarily built on commercial interests. In Asia, a centrally controlled model is used.

On an international level the Smart Aarhus model – running city develop-ment based on partnerships and with the involvement of citizens – has cre-ated wide attention and interest. The wide network of partners in Smart Aarhus with international touch points and participation in several EU projects make the partnership ideal for the branding of Aarhus in-ternationally.

Also Smart Aarhus is behind the In-ternet Week Denmark event, which creates a lot of media attention both nationally and on social media. The ambition is to develop Internet Week Denmark into an international event within the next three years.

Responsible: The Smart Aarhus secre-tariat and the Internet Week Denmark secretariat.


_Events

Events are a strong component in branding and promoting Aarhus. From 2015 the City of Aarhus has created a new and bigger event de-partment.

The vision is to create an active and unique event city, which will help to create value and growth. Aarhus has to be more known nationally and internationally as a great city for hosting events and as Cultural Capital in 2017. The events have to contrib-ute to Aarhus’ positions of strength as a city in terms of experimenting, rethinking and collaborating.

The aim of the new event strategy is: • Contribute to growth.• Attract more Danish and foreign

tourists, investments, jobs and res-idents.

• Brand the city through events.

Development and cooperation:• Support the Capital of Culture 2017.• Develop new partnerships, net-

works and working methods, and break down barriers between tra-ditional sectors in society (culture, sports, business, education, tour-ism etc.).

Experiences:• Create unique, experimental and

life-affirming experiences for local citizens and visitors.

• Ensure broad popular participation and involvement in city events and create pride among citizens.

Several newer events – such as Northside, Spot, Nykredit Aarhus City half-marathon, Classic Car Race and Sculpture by the Sea – and also more cluster oriented events – such as the Food Festival and Internet Week

Denmark – have all in a short period established a positive impact on the branding and promotion of Aarhus.

Sporting events such as the UEFA U21 championship in 2011 and ISAF2018 support the general level of awareness about Aarhus outside Denmark. Events like business and university conferences do not have any general branding effect whereas they may have a very strong effect on a more specific target group.

Responsible: Aarhus Events.


Love your taxes with Aarhus

Tax level is among the lowest in Denmark

_ Must win battles Tertiary Communication



City Brand

We have identified a number of must win battles in order to bridge the gap between desired brand position and reality. Through systematic brand monitoring we will test the city brand in regard to these must win battles. We have also set up a number of brand governance activities for the city branding team to strengthen the branding process. We will work among others with the local support group to reach these goals.

Aarhus is on a journey from a medi-um size town to becoming a larger international city. Aarhus is a rich city with many opportunities, the city is in a positive development phase and most citizens are happy to live in Aarhus. But this does not necessarily mean that they talk about their city with pride.

Must win battles are specific efforts that have great impact in terms of Aarhus’ image. There are certain cases that contribute to a negative image of Aarhus – and even though the initial problem may have been re-solved the story still sticks to the city. Therefore the city branding effort will also concentrate on must win battles that matter to Aarhus’ image.

We will initiate activities that may influence and nuance the talk of the town. The city needs to handle the development of negative myths and rumours and the way citizens talk about Aarhus. We need citizens to be good ambassadors both within the city and in relation to the outside world. We will do this through actions and events, consistent storytelling and active fact based communication.

MUST WIN BATTLES FOR THE CITY BRANDING OF AARHUS IN 2015–2018

From approx. 300,000 inhabitants to 1.5 million within 1 hour’s driveWe need to make citizens aware and proud of the fact that they are part of Denmark’s second centre of eco-nomic growth. We need to influence the mindset of our citizens to prepare them to be part of a metropolis so that they begin to embrace the advantages and challenges of big city life, e.g. more traffic.

From ‘a city in Europe’ to ‘a Euro-pean city’Citizens must see the advantages of being part of an international com-munity, to create a welcoming, open and embracing culture.

From ‘hard to find student housing’ to Aarhus is a great city to study inThe fact is that 10 months a year there is vacant student housing in the city. We will keep working on both temporary and permanent housing for students and on changing the storytelling about the difficulty of finding such housing in the city.

From poor infrastructure to good mobilityIndustry, the municipality and the citizens need to come together to solve mobility problems, and the city needs to change the mindset and expecta-tions from that of a small city to that of a metropolis.

From DI benchmark (Dansk Industri – Danish Industry Association) ‘poor business climate measure’ to ‘good dialogue and good cooperation’ Aarhus has scored poorly in busi-ness climate measures, but the fact is that the business climate in Aarhus is quite good. There are rumours and misconceptions that need to be cleared up and the city’s business community needs to come together to create a positive vibe.

From ‘study destination’ to ‘See your future in Aarhus’ In brand surveys Aarhus tends to re-ceive low scores for career opportuni-ties. At the same time local businesses have difficulty finding qualified spe-cialists – we need to bridge this gap.

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 56




City Brand




City Brand




City Brand

_ City branding team activities 2015 - 2018

Brand governance is the core task of the city branding team and includes organization of the branding effort, creation of a brand toolbox, brand monitoring etc.

Creating an effective governance structure is vital to the success of any city branding effort. In Aarhus we con-tinue the work with the Local Support Groupas a network to be consulted in matters of branding the city.

The approach is not to create a new formal setup, but to meet with the relevant stakeholders when there is a concrete matter or project of collabo-ration usually connected to a specific target group.

There is an established network facil-itated by Visit Aarhus for all tourism stakeholders that meet regularly to initiate common initiatives. This col-laboration model is also works well with the student target group where all educations institutions work to-gether to marked the educations of Aarhus in a 3 day event called U-days http://www.udays.dk/

There is consensus in the Local Sup-port Group about this decentralized approach to branding, where the Mu-nicipality’s primary role is to create connections and facilitate collabora-tion among the key stakeholders.

Therefore this Local Action Plan does not include the concrete actions plans and budgets that exist for efforts such as tourism or the European Capital of Culture in 2017. The Municipality invests massively in the Cultural Cap-ital and has just created a consortium just for the marketing of Aarhus 2017

with a budget of 20. mio. DKK pr. year.Furthermore the Municipality sup-ports and initiates numerous events both within sports, culture and busi-ness that support the brand story of Aarhus. Also the municipality sup-ports some of the key stakeholders in the Local Support Group such as the International Community and the Studenthouse that play a vital part in attracting and retaining international talent.

The political leadership of the city therefore advised the Local Support Group to use the Local Action Plan primarily as a tool for institutionaliz-ing the branding effort and describing the collaboration model. There fore the Local Action Plan works as a strate-gic roadmap rather than a concrete action plan and budget for branding of the city. In order to best facilitate and support the Local Support Group in their work the citybranding team will work with these initiatives:

Brand monitoringDuring the development of the brand strategy, it became clear that there is very limited monitoring of Aarhus’ image. The limited evaluation of city branding that has been made focus-es on use of the logo and knowledge about the tagline.

In the future, a more coherent brand monitor will be established in cooper-ation with the relevant partners. The monitoring will focus on:

• For target groups in Aarhus: expe-rience, satisfaction and recommen-dation.

• For target groups outside Aarhus: knowledge (Aarhus and/or institu-tions, initiatives etc.), preference, association and reason to go/invest/relocate.

Initiatives:2015: Test brand monitoring2016: Implement brand monitoring

Responsible: The city branding team will initiate the dialogue on monitoring for the selected areas.

Local support group The local support group will be a broad gathering of all stakeholders who can influence the city brand positively. It will meet once a year to discuses the results of the brand evaluation.

Future branding activities should be based on facts, so every year we will discuss the results of the brand status report.

The group will discuss: • Main image goals to work on for the

following year.• What the individual stakeholder can

do to better the brand position. • What the network of stakeholders

can do together to better the brand position.

• Which activities to initiate. • Topics for the next brand status report.

The brand position reports must be used actively to mobilise stakeholders, to engage them and to drive change. Positive results from the brand mon-itoring should also be used to create positive PR for Aarhus.

Responsible: The city branding team.

Practitioners’ networksAs a supplement to the branding board there will be practitioners’ networks that will meet more reg-ularly to discuss the concrete imple-mentation of actions for a certain target group. These forums should be a place for knowledge exchange and inspiration.


INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 58 59 CITY BRANDING TEAM ACTIVITIES




City Brand




City Brand




City Brand

Online presence and publicityAarhus has many digital represen-tations ranging from material on Wikipedia and Tripadvisor to nu-merous Facebook groups, Instagram accounts and regular websites. The digital channels are the main window to the rest of the world and there is an unused potential in working more strategically with these channels – and with the potential ambassadors that create content about Aarhus.

As part of the branding effort the city branding team will map the most important channels for Aarhus on both the web and social media. For each major target group we will find the most dominant channels/people/organisations in terms of creating digital pressure and promoting cer-tain agendas. After that we will create a strategy for each target group and a suitable, agile organisation. This effort will be carried out with help from experts in the digital field.


Toolbox At the moment the toolbox for city branding is on the website: www.citybrandaarhus.dk. We will still have the toolbox, but it will need some adjustments to align with our new strategy. The toolbox will consist of high quality images, videos, gen-eral and target group specific texts, presentations and other material that makes it easy for the city stakeholders to tell a consistent and positive story about the city. The content of the tool-box will be limited and the focus will be on high-quality, shareable content.

There will be less background and strategy on the website and more di-rect navigation to the branding and marketing material.


MerchandiseIn order to create local awareness and coolness in terms of branding Aarhus, the city branding team will collaborate with local designers to create a limited edition of Aarhus merchandise that can be bought in selected shops in the city. Items could include a cool T-shirt or a nice iPad cover. The aim is both to promote up and coming talent, and to create ex-clusiveness and good karma around Aarhus and the branding of Aarhus.

Responsible: The city branding team in cooperation with private partners.

INTERNATIONALISE WITH AARHUS 60 61 CITY BRANDING TEAM ACTIVITIES

Stay connected with Aarhus

Aarhus invests 1,1 billion in infrastructure

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Documents

branding of aarhus

aarhus brand dna

business region aarhus

inclusive city

good city

largest city

city of smiles

aarhus yearly growth