Preparations are well under way for the City Nation Place Global Forum this November in London, UK – an event you don’t want to miss if your city, region or country is actively engaging in talent attraction, placemaking, economic development, public diplomacy, place branding or place marketing.
Recommended: Key takeaways and lessons from previous City Nation Place gatherings this year, in the UK, Los Angeles and Costa Rica
City Nation Place Awards – 2019 Finalists
One of the highlights of the annual conference in London are the awards, recognizing particularly innovative approaches and strategies to promoting and improving places around the world.
Entries from the Government of Finland and the City of Helsinki have dominated the shortlist just announced for the 2019 City Nation Place Awards.
Visit Finland’s “Rent A Finn” tourism marketing campaign, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs “Capital of Metal” competition, and two projects led by the City of Helsinki – to engage citizens in sustainability targets and provide a social media guide for Chinese visitors – demonstrate that the Scandinavian nation continues to focus on its values and its international reputation. [Finland is currently ranked as “The Happiest Nation in the World” and tops “The Good Country Index”.]
Now in their fifth year, the City Nation Place Awards benchmark and celebrate place brand design, marketing communications, use of social media, citizen engagement, and place brand strategy for towns, cities, regions, and nations around the world.
With entries from 24 countries in 2019, the list of finalists has representation from Australia, Sri Lanka, Chile, Costa Rica, the USA, South Africa, Azerbaijan, and across Europe.
The UK is represented on the shortlist by the City of Sheffield, Visit Wiltshire, Brand Scotland, and London’s Royal Docks.
Director of citynationplace.com Clare Dewhirst:
“It’s been very noticeable over the past five years of the Awards that standards of creativity and innovation in place marketing have stepped up – homogenous tourism or investment promotion marketing campaigns no longer deliver results. We can also see that places in all geographies and of all sizes are taking a much more sustainable approach to tourism and economic development planning – it’s clear that the quality of life and full engagement of citizens is increasingly recognized as the core objective of place brand strategies.”
See you there?
The winners of the 2019 City Nation Place Awards will be announced at the City Nation Place Global conference taking place in London on 7 November. The event will bring together 200 delegates representing nation branding committees, city marketing boards, destination marketing organisations, and investment promotion agencies from around the world.
The Place Brand Observer is a long-time supporter of City Nation Place and will be represented at the conference in London by TPBO founder and editor, Florian Kaefer.
You have a good story to tell and would like to catch up with Florian? Send a message!
