Abstract of a BA paper from theUniversity of Aarhus, Denmark, June 2009
Language: Danish


Background - Venice is one of the places that are most marked by the globalization.Every year around 20.000.000 visitors come to the town which has an enormous impact on the environment and also disturbs the life of the people living there. Therefore The City of Venice is, in cooperation with a number of partner companies around the Trademark of Venice, trying to reform the image of the city. From being known as a city by the water and for its architecture and history, they want to make connections to Venice as being also an international centre of culture, a lively and dynamic city as well as in innovative place with ablooming economy. Also the environment plays a central role in this project. This includes awareness of the changes there can be made to reduce the amount of CO2 being let out into the atmosphere as well as gaining the resources to a number of large reconstructions of old buildings and to create better conditions for the inhabitants.  

Purpose -the paper's objective was firstly to describe the creation of a city brand based on existing theories about place branding, co-branding and Brand Identity System and secondly to discuss the shift from one brand image to another.

Design/methodology/approach- the analysis is based upon three fundamental branding strategies; placebranding (Pedersen et al., 2003), co-branding (Helmig et al.,2008) and Brand Identity System (Aaker, 1995)

Findings -the communication from The City of Venice about their wishes and goals is very clear: In collaboration with partner companies they want to create better conditions for inhabitants and tourists and at the same time change the image of Venice globally. Alongside with this, in February 2009 they launched the website www.veniceconnected.com, which serves as a tool for the tourists coming to Venice. Here they can see when the city is less crowded, book in advantage and in this way The City of Venice hopes to make to tourists come in different periods to make it more pleasant for the inhabitants as well as the tourists.
The ideas behind the project are good, but the project, being as "young" asit is, bears evidence of having a result that is still in the process of becoming. There will be some challenges in the future, but with a strong focus on the organisation and the right choice of partners and merchandise, the final result will, hopefully, fulfil the ideas and hopes of the project.  

Nana Nielsen
Marketing and culture analyst