Warsaw

Warsaw

Fall in love with Warsaw

Innovative Place Brand Management _ URBACT CityLogo Baseline report _ 2012 142


AN AGGLOMERATION OF 1.6 MILLON, CAPITAL OF POLAND

Warsaw is the capital of Poland and also the biggest Polish city (1,600,000 inhabitants in 2011). As

such, it plays an important political, administrative, cultural and economic role not only in Poland,

but also in Europe, in a context of increasing influence of the country in European affairs. The city is

the seat of the majority of Poland’s national government bodies, national institutions, diplomatic

missions, leading national media, financial entities, etc. Many big companies are headquartered in

Warsaw as well as many national institutions, e.g. National Museum, National Stadium or Warsaw

University. The city is also home to the provincial authorities and regional institutions.

Warsaw is also strong of a well‐developed services sector and the highest concentration of research

capacities in Poland. It is also the most attractive labour market in the country, with the highest

number of people with university degree.

Driven by the national process of integration in the “club” of democracy and free market countries

and the access to European Union membership, Warsaw has converted into a city that is constantly

changing, growing in every way, drawing people and capital from Poland and abroad. It has the

opportunity to be a major, recognized European capital.

Another important feature of Warsaw is the destruction of the city at 80% during World War II.

Consequently, it has a limited historical built heritage in comparison with other European capitals.

In this situation, and according to city branding practitioners from the municipality, “heritage is

concentred on its famous people”. Warsaw is the city of Chopin, and also the place of birth of Noble

Price winner Marie Curie, whose family home still exists in Warsaw.

CITY BRANDING IN THE LOCAL AGENDA FOR NEARLY 10 YEARS

The development of a city‐branding strategy of Warsaw emerged in this context of raising influence,

with the principal objective to help the city catch up with other European capitals and become a

global player. The Municipality is aware that global visibility means the necessity for a strong brand,

with a consistent management of the city’s identity and consciousness of its reputation and

perception. In 2004 was launched the city’s logo, taking as visual reference the world famous Polish

school of poster. The logo shows a mermaid, the symbol of Warsaw, and contains the slogan of the

city: “Fall in love with Warsaw”. The design and launching of the logo was accompanied by a brand

manual, which contains guidelines for its use.

Since then, the activities of city‐branding carried out by the Warsaw Municipality have concentrated

on the following delivery channels:

http://herb.um.warszawa.pl/ksiw_warszawa21_09_2011_small.pdf.zip

http://herb.um.warszawa.pl/ksiw_warszawa21_09_2011_small.pdf.zip

Use of big vents to promote the city: UEFA

EURO 2012, Polish Presidency of the EU

Council, Celebration of the Chopin Year

2010, Year of Chemistry or the application

to the European Capital of Culture 2016.

Advertising in the media: spots on TV, radio,

press and also on‐line advertising.

Warsaw’s website and city profiles in social

media.

Outdoor advertising in the city: billboard,

info‐screens, posters.

Promotional stands in investment fairs.

Design of special tourist routes, like the one

on Chopin, including key places, audio‐

guides, apps for smartphones, street art, etc

Since the creation of the logo, the City of Warsaw has done a lot of research about image and

perception of the city by its target groups (annual surveys). One finding is that there is a widespread

and growing recognition of the city logo among the inhabitants of Warsaw (currently around 80%

know the logo).

The city is also active in trans‐national projects and forums dealing with the issue of city‐branding,

namely:

Participation in INTERREG IV‐B’s BaltMet Promo and ONE BSR projects, along with members of

the Baltic Metropoles Network (Warsaw is member since 2002). The BaltMet project was

aimed at attracting tourists, talents and major international investment projects to the Baltic

Sea Region.

Participation in the EUROCITIES Branding Management and City Attractiveness Working

Group.

ADRESSING AN INTEGRATED CITY‐BRANDING STRATEGY

In spite of these efforts, the general opinion in the Municipality is that the city is not well known

internationally. The Anholt‐GfK Roper City Brands IndexSM 2009 report describes a Warsaw’s


international image which does not make flattering reading. This is a city that people have generally

heard of and whose qualities and importance are perhaps beginning to be understood in the rest of

the EU, but is still a very long way from enjoying any accurate, detailed, nuanced, up‐to‐date or

positive associations in most people’s minds.

It is one of the factors that have led the Municipality to consider revising the achievements and

elaborating an integrated brand strategy. The present challenge for the City of Warsaw is to prepare

the brand management strategy with the perspective of year 2020. Target groups for this strategy

are basically native and influx residents, tourists, foreign investors, public opinion (Polish general

public and opinion leaders) and students.

To that end, it has contracted a brand consultancy firm the elaboration of a draft branding strategy.

The document consists of 2 parts. One deals with issues like brand concept, brand handbook, brand

positioning, training for officials, image bank, etc. The other part deals with promotional campaigns,

different for the various target groups.

This work has been based on the many marketing researches and studies which have been done in

past three years. In addition to the annual surveys on perceive image of the city, a brand asset

valuator research was carried out at national level, as well as audits of the brand handbook.

A draft strategy is currently well advanced, and some concrete activities and programmes have

already been pre‐defined:

Warsaw Varieties: promotional campaign on foreign markets, especially in the capitals

of European countries, focused on overcoming negative stereotypes and build a new

image of Warsaw, based on a new identity ‐ as a city with an interesting history,

authentic and inspiring, giving the opportunity to meet in many areas, also a very

attractive city, ‘trendy’ for business (a city of many possibilities).

Inspiriada: weekly European festival of creative disciplines in the arts, science, and even

the industry ‐ for amateurs.

Get Know Me!: programme of cooperation with the world's major media. It includes the

organization of press trips and press tours for Polish and foreign journalists.

Pop‐Up Store Warsaw: where people could buy souvenirs and design gadgets of the city.

Ambassadors Warsaw: long‐term cooperation with well‐known Varsovians, for

promotional (e.g. PR, presence in media, etc.) and lobbying purposes.

Joint Motion – Warsaw: programme engaging people in exploring and creating the

identity of Warsaw, including trough a series of quests and games in different districts of

the city.


Finally, it is worth adding that the Warsaw Municipality is preparing a Tourism Development

Strategy, with the same time frame. The basic idea is to transfer strategic goals of the brand

strategy to this tourism strategy, as far as tourism branding is concerned. Last year, it was

established the Warsaw Tourist Organization, together with a dozen of cultural, arts, science and

business organizations. It develops activities (funded by the members’ fees) which are rather

focused on business tourism.

DEALING WITH FRAGMENTATION AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Fragmentation of city‐branding activities (a complex local administrative division generates

problems for effective promotion and branding) and the need for broader stakeholder engagement

are at this stage main challenges for the forthcoming strategy, mainly a governance issue.

Although the draft city branding strategy is going to include propositions regarding stakeholder

involvement, the Municipality is already working on finding solutions. The CityLogo project comes

timely with regard to this important stage of the strategy elaboration, along with submitting the

contents of the draft strategy to consultation. Warsaw needs a particular management and


planning approach to meet the great variety of stakeholders in a country capital, so as to maximize

coordination of promotional activities and enhancing the brand appropriation.

This challenge of stakeholder engagement and management has two dimensions: internal (within

the Municipality’s organization) and external (with the related stakeholders). Thus, there are

currently a wide range of municipality departments involved in marketing and promotion activities:

City Promotion Bureau: the main unit of the city marketing management structure. It consists

of the Brand Management Department, the Outdoor Promotion Department and the Internet

Projects Department and City Projects Department. There are about 40 employees and 3

directors working in this unit. CPB’ activities are: Warsaw brand building, implementation of

city’s promotion policy, preparation and coordination of the city’s participation in national

and international fairs, management of the Municipality’s official website, economic

promotion of Warsaw.

Public Communications Centre: it deals with projects focused on the city’s inhabitants, for

instance information and promotion activities in the field of social policy, cooperation with

NGOs, etc.

Culture Bureau: organization and promotion of cultural events and activities, collaboration

with the city districts on cultural initiatives.

Sports & Recreation Bureau: promotion of Warsaw through sport.

Warsaw Tourist Office: promotion of Warsaw as a tourist destination under the supervision of

the City Promotion Bureau. It has about 47 employees and 2 directors. WTO’s activities

include implementing the tourism development strategy, promoting business and congress

tourism, participating in tourism fairs and other promotional events, dissemination of

information and promotional materials, cooperation with public and private entities to

improve the attractiveness of Warsaw.

18 local districts with their own Mayors, and own promotion and communication policies. The

CPB is in charge of coordinating and overseeing the implementation of the promotion

activities by districts in order to ensure consistent city promotion policy. However, this

administrative organization is source of difficulties, which may harm the implementation of a

common approach to brand identity and “discipline”, because districts may claim their own

identity.

As for the external dimension of stakeholder management, the Municipality still needs to precisely

define the relevant entities in relation with each of the target groups of the branding strategy. In

this sense, the Municipality is currently working on the idea of two governance entities for it s

branding strategy:


A Coordination Team on city promotion, which should consist of the various departments

of the municipality which have a relation with city promotion and marketing, and also the

financial department of the city.

A Brand Council, which would basically bring together opinion leaders and representatives

of the various entities that have the greatest impact on branding in the context of the

different target groups.

In this context, the URBACT Local Support Group to be established within the CityLogo project could

consist of the members of the Coordination Team on City Promotion, along with representatives

from the Brand Council (with at least one representative from each category dealing with a specific

target group):

Relevant departments of the Warsaw’s municipality, in line with the Promotion Coordination

Bureau.

Tourism and visitor economy: Mazovian Regional Tourist Organization (coordination with the

regional level in this field will be an important issue); Warsaw Tourist Organization, Warsaw

Chopin Airport.

Research and knowledge: University of Social Sciences and Humanities, etc.

Business and industry: representatives of business associations and main clusters (currently

members of the so‐called SME team) along with representatives of the Municipality, Warsaw

Stock Exchange, etc.

Marketing and communication: SAR Marketing Communication Association.

Other valuable representatives of the civil society.

Warsaw´s national stadium


SYTHESIS

Strengths / contributions Gaps / demands main challenges / LAP

As capital of Poland, with a population of 1.6 million, the city hosts a wide range of assets and high concentration of potential prescribers. Existing city logo since 2004, with high recognition among the local population. Clear institutionalization of city branding in the Municipality: Brand Management Department belonging to the City Promotion Bureau. A city brand strategy now in progress. Consistent research on perceived image of the city. Management of big events as channel for city promotion. Work already done involving stakeholders in relation to tourism promotion: Warsaw Tourist Organization.

Low level of inter‐department cooperation within the Municipality around city branding issues. Administrative barriers and low leadership for a sound city branding policy. Lack of platforms for stakeholder involvement and management in integrated city branding. Poor engagement of the private sector in the promotional initiatives. Unbalanced city‐brand development, more focused on tourism and less in branding the city as business place.

New organizational system for integrated city branding in Warsaw, based on internal cooperation and effective stakeholder involvement clustered by target groups.


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