The Location Branding 2012 report, produced by PublicAffairsAsia and Ogilvy Public Relations, surveyed 300 senior executives in the communication industry between June 20 and August 21 this year.
Singapore emerged top of the list with a score of 9.7 out of 10. The city state was recognised for its low-tax, political stability, clean and safe environment, and its growing arts, leisure and gaming scene. However the city was poorly rated in terms of press freedom and small-c conservatism.
According to the survey’s criteria, a city’s positive brand is built mainly on its infrastructure, transport, economic growth, culture, environment, political stability, low crime, healthcare and sanitation.
The reported noted: “Building an iconic location brand needs a well-honed narrative which marries marketing and messaging with real-life experiences which reflect the brand position.
“A disconnect between the brand statement and the investor or visitor experience is likely to have negative effects on development.
“As this research confirms, word of mouth heavily influences brand reputation, so the real situation within locations has to live up to the branding.”
The survey gauged participants’ views on the importance of different communications mediums to a city, region or country’s brand values.
Word-of-mouth ranked highest, with nearly six in 10 respondents citing the views of their peers as “very important”.
Next to this in terms of importance came PR and news reporting (51 per cent), social media (40 per cent).
“We can see from the analysis that the strongest city brands in Asia Pacific – Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney – are the cities whose reputations are comparatively long-standing,” said Steve Dahllof, Chief Executive Officer of Ogilvy Public Relations Asia Pacific.
“With 11 of the 16 rated cities receiving a very good rating from less than a third of respondents, many cities across the region still have their work cut out for them when it comes to defining their brand image,” he added.
Top Asia-Pacific City brands:
1. Singapore; 2. Hong Kong; 3. Sydney; 4. Tokyo; 5. Melbourne; 6. Shanghai; 7. Seoul; 8. Osaka/Kobe; 9. Bangkok; 10. Beijing; 11. Kuala Lumpur; 12. Ho Chi Minh City; 13. Mumbai; 14. Delhi; 15. Jakarta; 16. Manila.
The full report can be downloaded at publicaffairsasia.net/location_brand ing2012.pdf