Implementation of City Marketing in St Petersburg, Russia - Literature review Example

CITY MARKETING By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date City Marketing This strategy involves the development of a city in order to promote certain activities to take place within this city. The aim of city marketing is to develop different strategies within the city and its precincts that will make the city unique to enhance its attractiveness in terms of tourism and other economic activities (McCann, 2009, 119). The strategy has through city imaging and city branding in order to stimulate economic activities and development in many cities. Most cities are competing with each other in order for them to be strong economic units in the world. These cities involve themselves in image branding, city branding and other activities that attract visitors into the city (Ashworth & Kavaratzis, 2007, p. 17). Therefore, many governments are in developing marketing strategies on marketing their cities in the outside world. It is the aspect of city marketing which resulted into city branding and city imaging (Carrasquillo, 2011, p.445). The existing literature provides information on the various strategies used in city marketing and city branding. The key areas of the economy affected by city marketing are infrastructure, tourism and branding. The tourism sector benefits much from city imaging and city branding since it is a way of decorating a city (McCann, 2004, p. 1910). This paper explains the information on what is available concerning city marketing in an analytical way and evaluate the implementation of city marketing strategy in St. Petersburg, Russia. According to Kavaratzis (2004, p. 60), cities are developing ways to attract entrepreneurs in order to navigate in the competitive business world. Most of the cities have a changing role due to increased globalization thus border restrictions in international trade become less relevant. The development of city marketing has ensured that there is a positive attitude towards some cities of the world. According to Ashworth & Kavaratzis (2009, p. 523), the introduction of city marketing led to image marketing since images are easy to market. More developments that are recent have explained the concept of marketing in terms of knowledge transfer. City marketing comprises of image marketing, brand marketing among other factors. In the city, marketing creating the quality image of the city is crucial. According to Balmer & Greyser (2006, p.735), city imaging involves beliefs, ideas and people's perception about a certain place. Kotler (2005) describes city imaging as the set of public beliefs and their view towards a place (Kotler, 2005, p.115). According to Keller (2001), the image of a city is from the information consumers receive concerning the place. In adition, Kotler relates the aspect of city marketing with social markting when he capainged for social markeying. Thgis includes the free of slaves who could serve cvas loaboueres in various industries during the industrial revolution. Social progresms such as those promoting the needs of consumers through consumer protection and abolishing child labour are seen as best tools in social marketing. In this description, communication is essential in delivering the information to the society (Keller, 2001, p. 820). The image of the city influences the destination of many people in such a way that, cities with a good external image will become a tourist destination (Riza et al., 2012, p. 293). Moreover, Kolb (2006, p. 207), explains that the behaviours of many tourists are by the image. The cognitive ability of a consumer is critical in the selection of a product. The brand image is influential on the consumer’s choice. According to Zhang & Zhao (2009), the aspect of city marketing lies in the strength of the city in its capacity to compete with other cities (Zhang & Zhao, 2009, p. 246). City marketing is essential in maintaining the environment and exploring its opportunities and weaknesses. This will ensure dynamics between the city and tourists as well as its stakeholders. Place marketing involves various political leaders who have a monopoly on the budget and other aspects of the territory including development of the city and its urbanization. There is the need to involve the public sectors and private sectors in collaborative projects that ensure the maintenance of the cultural heritage of the city in order to attract tourists (Dionko & So, 2012, p. 557). It is necessary to establish the image of the city in order to market the city to the outside world. For example, Chicago has for crimes in broad daylight hence the history influences the tourist destination even when the criminal cases are few. Kavaratzis (2007) maintains that city marketing involves branding of cities and its products in order to attract views from different people. In implementing city marketing, city developer should understand ways in developing the city. The nature of a place also determines whether tourist will visit the area or not. Therefore, the area needs to have highly attractive and pleasant buildings and landmarks (Kavaratzis, M., 2007, p. 697). City marketing in St. Petersburg St. Petersburg is amomg the citieds of the world that has attracted huge investments in various sectors of the economy especaily tourism. The city has beautiful landmarks and and natural resources that attract foreigners into the city. The city has a rich history and tradition, which is unique and attracts tourist to the city. In this way, the private investments by private developers and government initiatives in beatifying the city have branded the city to the ouside world such that the city has an excellent image (www.saint-petersburg.com, 2013). The city has vast history ranging from dramatic events to historical features. Although the city is 30 years old, it has a rich history resulting from the emperors who ruled it and revolution mystery. This history ranges from the early times of Venice of the north to the recent coup d’état. This aspect is consistent with (Carrasquillo, 2011, p. 450). Ismail & Mohd-Ali (2011, p. 340) explains that the history and cultural heritage of a city has an influence on the tourist destination. This city is a lovely holiday for many tourists who visit the place to know much of the rich history and heritage. Therefore, the city has maintained a good image in terms of culture and heritage. Since city marketing depends on how the city maintains a good infrastructure, attractive image, social growth and development and economic development, this city have a well-established culture and images (O'Flynn and Oliphant, 2012). The city has extremely attractive landmarks such as the statutes that are at different locations of the city. St. Petersburg was once the capital city of Russia and has several monuments such as the horse statues, equestrian statues and griffin statues. These monuments brand the city and maintain a good image to the outside world. These monuments have an impact of the cognition of tourists and investors (Marzano & Scott, 2009, p. 248). They influence the behaviours of tourist and the city as a tourist destination. The statues are in strategic locations especially bridges where people can easily see them. The white nights are prime attractions when it comes to St. Petersburg. Although other cities experience such white nights, these are unique in the whole of Europe. The atmosphere created by the white nights is so unique such that many people love the experience such that the city will have people day and nights (www.saint-petersburg.com, 2013). Hotel and tourism St. Petersburg The attractive features of the city and well-established infrastructure including bridges and airport, the city attracts businesses of various kinds. One of the most common industries in St. Petersburg is hotel business. St. Petersburg is an outstanding tourist destination since it has large apartments that can host the tourist. The city is also rich in culture and landmarks that attract tourists. With a population of 4.8 million people, the city is a market for many products in Russia and outside Europe (www.saint-petersburg.com, 2013). The corporate demand from the hotel industry stands at 40% of the overall demand. There are plans to set a 40,000-meter square space for exhibition in 2013 where it can show the rich heritage of the city to the outside world (Hnn Market Report, 2011). St. Petersburg has extensive and fabulous hotel located in the city centre. In 2010, the city witnessed the opening of five brand new hotels. The city received 3.5 million tourists by 2005 and 8.1 million tourists in 2010. The city has maintained its culture and heritage in order to attract more tourists in the city (O'Flynn and Oliphant, 2012). The large number of visitors in the city have attracted many business since the larghe population provides a ready market for various products. The tourism industry has become the most profitable industry of the country due to city marketing. The city has branded itself using various visual images and cultural heritage. In addition, the city has maintained well-established infrastructure that influences the behaviours of investors and customers. With the world cup held in Russia in 2017, the government has dedicated more research on city marketing in order to attract more tourists into the city (Hnn Market Report, 2011). To improve on its potential tom attract more tourists, the city should explore the use of communication in marketing its brand images. The city have various images that needs to be communicated to the outside world in order to attract more investments. The communication through websites should be furnished with all necessary information so that more investors can invest in the city apart from tourism. More attention should be diverted to communicating the images of the city in terms of it being a potential investment city and tourist destination. City marketing involves city imaging and city branding as well as urban developments. Different scholars have explained the city marketing strategy in various concepts and context. Therefore, city marketing has been the principal strategy in tourist attraction in most parts of the world. City marketing involves the creation of a city brand through excellent maintenance of the culture and heritage of a city. There is competition among the cities of the world in terms of investments such that these cities have implemented various strategies in order to make their cities the most attractive. This paper has explained the various literatures on city markets and the conceptual framework underling the aspect of city marketing. References Ashworth G., & Kavaratzis M., 2009. Beyond the Logo: Brand Management for Cities, Journal of Brand Management, 16 (8), pp.520-531. Ashworth G., & Kavaratzis M., 2007. Partners in coffee shops, canals and commerce: Marketing the city of Amsterdam. Cities, 24(1), pp.16-25. Balmer, J., & Greyser, S. A., 2006. Corporate Marketing: Integrating Corporate Identity, Corporate Branding, Corporate Communications, Corporate Image and Corporate Reputation. European Journal of Marketing, 40(8), pp.730-741. Carrasquillo, C., 2011. Gated communities and city marketing: Recent trends in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Cities, 28(5), pp.444-451. Dionko, L., & So, S., 2012. Branding destinations versus branding hotels in a gaming destination—Examining the nature and significance of co-branding effects in the case study of Macao. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31 (2), pp. 554-563. Hnn Market Report., 2011. Market report: St. Petersburg, Russia. Hnn Newswire. Available at http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/6869/Market-report-St-Petersburg-Russia Ismail, S., & Mohd-Ali, N., 2011. The Imaging of Heritage Conservation in the Historic City of George Town for City Marketing. Procedia Engineering, 20, pp.339-345. Kavaratzis, M., 2007. City Marketing: The Past, Present and Some Unresolved Issues. Geography Compass, 1(3), pp.695–712. Kavaratzis, M., 2004. From city marketing to city branding: towards a theoretical Framework for developing city brands. Place Branding, 1(1), pp.58–73. Keller, L., 2001. Mastering the marketing communications mix: micro and macro perspectives on integrated marketing communication programs. Journal of Marketing Management, 17(7), pp.819–847. Kolb, B., 2006. Chapter 9 - Branding Tourism Destinations. Tourism Marketing for Cities and Towns, pp.207-232. Kotler, P., 2005. The role played by the broadening of marketing movement in the history of marketing thought. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 24(1) (2005), pp.114–116. Marzano, G., & Scott, N., 2009. Power in Destination Branding. Annals of Tourism Research, 36(2), pp.247-267. McCann, E., 2009. City Marketing. International Encyclopaedia of Human Geography, pp.119-124. McCann, E., 2004). Best places: Inter-urban competition, quality of life, and popular media discourse. Urban Studies, 41(10), pp.1909—1929. Riza, M., Doratli, N., & Fasli, M., 2012. City Branding and Identity. Procedia - Social and Behavioural Sciences, 35, pp.293-300. O'Flynn, K., and Oliphant, R., 2012. St. Petersburg: The Tourist Capital. The Moscow Times. Available at. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/beyond_moscow/stpetersburg.html. Accessed on 15-03-2013 Zhang, L., & Zhao, X., 2009. City branding and the Olympic effect: A case study of Beijing. Cities, 26(5), pp.245-254. http://www.saint-petersburg.com/ Read More