Events as a Strategic Imaging Tool For City Branding

Cities are growingly facing competition from one another on a regional, national and
international level. To grow and prosper, cities are contesting across the board for their share of
tourists, investors, businesses and a qualified workforce. In order to shape and influence what
their target markets thinks of them, cities have discovered the advantages of creating and
fostering a city brand. To further spur benefits for their target markets, cities have been
increasingly using events as catalysts for not only image building, but also for (re)development
strategies and economic benefits. Despite events having long been seen as vital constituents in
cities’ strategic policies, there has been paucity in empirical analyses with assessing events as a
strategic imaging tool for city branding across several target markets.
This PhD dissertation attempts to address this research gap by empirically investigating on
identifying effects event (portfolios) can have on a city’s brand as a strategic imaging tool on
several different target markets. Principally, by drawing on empirical data, it provides further
evidential contributions to academic and practical discussions on (a) what constitutes a strategic
image fit between event and city, (b) events and their drawing power on prospective residents, (c)
assessing event portfolios in their entirety for imaging strategies and (d) better understanding
event attendance motivations for event and city marketing strategies. This PhD dissertation is
expected to increase academic and practitioner knowledge on how events can best be utilized for
contributing to a city’s brand.