Crossed by the Han River, the conurbanization of Seoul, Goyang and also Incheon has been the central axis of the Korean economic miracle since 1953 until today: its strong industrialization process and the great development of the new leading technologies have raised the quality of life of all South Koreans and also create this megacity, becoming a developed economy.

South Korea’s urban growth

It is therefore important to speak of the Metropolitan Government of Seoul which covers the entire region, and it is in charge of managing its already recognized urban brand. We have to go back to the 2002 World Cup in which this institution first introduced the concept of urban marketing.

Over the years and after rigorous studies, the city of Seoul brought out in 2007 its first promotional campaign with the goal of attracting 12 million foreign tourists and thus reach the ranking of the 10 main city brandings.

Since then Seoul’s growth and popularity has continued to grow and is expected to reach 20 million foreign tourists and become the third global destination of fair cities (MICE).

Attractions of a visit in Seoul

Anyway, Seoul is a large city with its urban environment that has had different campaigns and slogans over the last few years, but maintaining the values and meaning of the brand of the metropolitan area, previously developed in 1996.

Emblem of the great metropolitan area of Seoul

This logo is based on the Korean letters of the word Seoul using a mountain, the sun and the Han River, seeking to create a humanoid figure that shows joy and represents the spirit of its own citizens.

These elements also represent the respect for the environment with the mountain, the blue of the Han river represents history and vitality, and finally the sun in the central part symbolizes the vision of the city that looks to the future.

This symbol is used consistently as the flag of Seoul, in public buildings, signs, corporate material and official documents, and we should not confuse it with the promotional campaigns that complement it.

Seoul always wanted to see other examples of large metropolis representing its own nation states and without which these countries would not have the global recognition they now enjoy.

In 2015, the Seoul Metropolitan Government went further. They had to renew the previous image of Hi Seoul, which had been so successful, and this time they wanted to turn the decision of the winning logo into a participatory process in which the citizenship itself proposed the image and the public would vote it.

In fact, online voting ultimately accounted for 50% of the election, the other face-to-face vote 25% and the valuation of a professional committee, the other 25%.

Eventually I Seoul U won, which is very reminiscent of other successful city brandings using a mix of the city’s own name like I love New York, I Amsterdam or Be Berlin.

Winning application

 “Between people, there is Seoul”, that was the original idea that summarized the message of this new commercial logo of the South Korean capital

Between “you” and “I,” among citizens, and among people all around the world Seoul is at the center of all relationships.  Seoul is a city where diverse nationalities and generations, mountains and rivers, ancient palaces and skyscrapers, and all disparate elements coexist in harmony.

In the Seoul logo it fills the space of two points that represent the passion and the relaxion, and even being the game of words in English, there is an integration between the Korean “ㅇ” and the western “O”. Unambiguously it gives this coexistence with the rest of the world while the Koreans take pride in their cultural particularities.

And in this decade, moreover, if something is characterized by Seoul is to be able to bring technology to the world, being one of the smartest cities on the planet.

Seoul is a constantly changing city

The interconnectedness of the city, the openness of its institutions and the improvement of all its limited resources have made the metropolis a benchmark of everything that can be done in this 21st century: streets that recharge electric vehicles when they are circulating through them, free internet access throughout the city, sensors that measure and improve the environment and commercial services in the canopies of urban buses.

If something can be done with a mobile, it is sure to have been tested in Seoul. If something can be communicated under a city idea, you will surely see it in Seoul.

Our city of Zurich is an international and cosmopolitan city in the middle of the Alps. About 30% of its inhabitants have another nationality different than the Swiss. The city is considered open, multicultural and tolerant thanks to the fact that its foreign population is well above the European average.

Partial view of Zurich

The city is constantly placed in the highest positions of quality of life, health and innovation as result of fact that the city is a magnet for skilled workers from all around the world, which makes this multilingual city, despite its relatively small size, to be considered a global city.

From 2001 to 2008, and 7 times in a row, Zurich was ranked first worldwide as the city with Best quality of life according to Mercer. In the following years, Zurich had a very honest second place in the 320 largest cities evaluated. The aspects considered have been leisure, security, cleaning, political and economic stability, and health.The value of Zurich can also be represented in its own stock exchange, SWX Swiss Exchange, which overcomes the Swiss capital of Bern, and is the result of the merger of the previous stock exchanges of Zurich, Basel and Geneva. It is reference in Europe and has the support of companies like Nestle and Novartis, Zurich make an image of solvency and attracts many foreign investments.

Zurich Stock Exchange

Another company that is also listed on the stock exchange, is the namesake Zurich Insurance Group, which clearly shows how a name of a city may accompany safety behind insurance packages. It is an added value that feeds back.

One in nine jobs in Switzerland is created in the city of Zurich, specifically 82 of the 208 banks in Switzerland have their headquarters in this city. Its banking power is so great that 85% of Swiss financial assets are from this city.

Zurich has the highest income of all Swiss cantons

Apart from the financial sector, Zurich hosts other poles of revitalization as industry, technology and tourism. Its business environment is unique because of two forces: On one hand the low (very low) taxation different from other European industrial cities and secondly, the ground that is generating a great know-how thanks to universities and institutions as the Zurich University, the modern University of Applied Sciences Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

Thus, a number of organizations began to promote the city internationally. The first option was to create a highly segmented marketing strategy for specific audiences and specific segments.

After failed attempts, it was getting unify the messages that were given to expand the field of renovation of an elaborate strategy of city branding.

Finally in 2011 an agreement was achieved to create an integrated destination marketing that brought together the City and Canton of Zurich, and offices of tourism which focus on the Greater Zurich.

The current motto of this platform is “World Class Zurich, Swiss Made“, which apart from advertising campaigns, has a calendar of events and local initiatives in what is expected to be the basic element for other organizations and institutions to join the project.

Zurich current logo with its slogan

Following this message and this logo is stated which is the next step in the promotion of the town: An observed need is also that such a small country like Switzerland to be more involved in the city branding of its main city and it should involve agencies belonging to the Federal Government for promoting the Swiss brand worldwide. (Switzerland Tourism, Pro Helvetia, Switerland Global Enterprise, Swissnex and Presence Switerland among others).

Even so, the current campaign to promote the city takes an unexpected turn 180 degrees and shows us a fun and dynamic Zurich, away from the Alpine and gray vision of the financial sector so far encouraged by the banking sector.

Zurich competition are not the other Swiss cities, that we see as pieces that would support its federal promotion, but other Germanic cities like Munich or Vienna. If Zurich and the Swiss work force have made accessible and sustainable a city in a valley in the middle of the Alps, and has removed barriers that hindered investment and if it shows its cosmopolitanism perhaps the main medium-term challenge is their citizenship more reserved.

If the heart of Zurich wants to open to the world and to be a welcoming city, residents of other cantons must permit it.

View of Houston

The Southern America’s largest city is known for its fusion of TexMex and the huge number of flavors that have brought the migrations of workers.

It has always been reknowned as a city for intrepid entrepreneurs, engineers, technicians and executives. Houston is the energy capital of the world thanks to its industrial base, the center of manufacturing, aeronautics and its port, the country’s first in tonnage, but is also home for 25 of the 500 companies with more capital of the world and, on average, the adult people with a university degree in this city of Texas earn 10% more than their teammates elsewhere in the United States and thus Houston ranks as first in the top cities for recent graduates.

And not all the time is invested in exploiting energy but there are also a large number of cultural activities with its museums, theaters and other attractions. Without going any further, Houston has up to 83 museums and cultural centers, and offers outdoor performances in Cullen Park and George Bush Park, a unique place and one of the largest urban parks throughout America. One of the most unknown of global Houston is just its own museum district which hosts an exclusive collection of exhibits in a neighborhood made by and for culture.

Houston, avant-garde city, offers a high quality of life

Houston attracts talent, both in the medical and in the aerospace fields, which are just the identifying values of its urban brand.

Texas Medical Center (TMC) is the largest medical center in the world and it has one of the highest densities of clinical facilities for patient care -with more than 5 million annual national visitors and 10,000 international – and research health. There is a total of 47 institutions involved in medicine, 13 hospitals and two medical schools that grouped all these facilities.

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was the first member of the group that makes up the TMC and it is a world reference in their fight against cancer and research.

But apart from its economic weight and health, or because of it, Houston is known worldwide and the essence of its urban brand is always accompanied by NASA.

In the collective imagination we misquote “Houston, we have a problem” enunciated by Swigert in the mission of Apollo 13 and now often used colloquially when someone is in trouble.

The city branding of this city has a unique storytelling and beyond the myth, truth of the story is that Houston served as head, hands and eyes of all projects in the US space race. Example of this golden age, and open to everyone, is now the Johnson Space Center. For over 50 years, this center has played a vital role through technological innovations and scientific discoveries.

In its early days, the center led the Gemini, Apollo and Skylab projects and currently serves as the control center for NASA operations of the International Space Station, for many advanced human exploration projects and also plays an important role in commercial crew programs of the organization.

With it, the Houston metropolitan area has become an aerospace center with its own innovation identity.

Houston shows past and future of aerospace exploration

In this context, a major attraction that Houston has now is the Space Center that emphasizes science and education in a fun way and it seeks to inspire admiration for the space explorations to the visitors.

This center is designed for all ages and it has an incredible variety of exhibitions, the world’s largest collection of moon rocks and samples of our satellite. It is, in short,  the home of Mission Control at NASA and the basis for training of astronauts that visitors can see when they discover just over Houston.

Current image of Space Center

How to create a good image, modern and contemporary, for such a spacial and special city?

As we have said, Houston has an emblem that brings together all urban facets : “City with no limits”

The mission of the Greater Houston Partnership, which is the organization that includes the Chamber of Commerce of Houston, the Houston Economic Development Council and the Houston World Trade Association, is to show as Houston the best place to live, work and do business. Houston has had an incredible growth and it is partly due to this association which has a large private investment, playing  an important role in creating jobs and maintaining a healthy environment for developing business relations.

This new brand comes from two communication agencies, the Agency MMI Houston and Avalanche Consulting of Austin. The final work embodies the pride and history of the space city, a city that has dreamers, entrepreneurs and free spirit people, and this is the reason why the “H” logo looks like a space rocket.

The city with no limits applications

This logo design can be easily modified and may represent multiple ideals and city projects.

For all these applications the web thecitywithnolimits.com helps us to see the city without limits.

Houston is an incredible city with a great future. It should not surprise us to play a key role in the United States and in the world, thanks to its technological potential. Its brand image, newly renovated, will help us to position as the technology capital of the Western world, key to be competitive in this new global era.

Azebaijan capital returns to be protagonist this year to host what is expected as a sports star event in Europe: The European Games in its very first edition.

The city has changed, it has been remodeled and has evolved. Baku has 13 transportation projects and upgrading subway is expected to be open for the Games. The renovated Heydar Aliyev Airport of Baku also plans to open route with 50 cities of over 22 countries, making reference destination for transition of the Transcaucasian area, all thanks to the shot in the arm that was in its past moment the candidacy of  Baku 2020 for summer Olympics, a real project of synergies and renovation of the city.

Map Project Baku Olympic Village

It is not just a matter of Azerbaijan has attracted a lot of foreign investment last decade or even the Olympic spirit has begun in his previous bid large projects to change the skyline of this city, but is also behind a real declaration of intent on turning Baku into a more European capital, although it is the easternmost country of political Europe. We remember that Azerbaijan is geographically divided between the two continents, like Turkey.

The European Olympic Committees bring together 50 countries with a major sporting power and whose official headquarters was in Rome since 1968. These committees had a role until now symbolic and it is expected to achieve with Baku 2015 the same than other groups of continental Olympic committees, right on the world region than has most advanced in integration.

His staging of course is a major international call to other neighboring countries of the old continent to visit Baku and to encourage their sports federations in the categories, in addition to that, they are more minority and that without a exhibition, such as the Olympic promotions, they would not have the media coverage and public funding such as these.

The June 12, 2015 everything has to be ready and prepared including new facilities such as the National Stadium in Baku , National Gymnastics Arena or the Aquatic Center and other facilities.

The application of the corporate image is provided by the agency SomeOne a British study that already had its Olympic debut in London last year and applied the official logo of Baku 2015 (Adem Yunosov’s design) inspired by the millennial Azerbaijani culture and it includes:

• Flames because Azerbaijan uses this element as a national mark.
• Water considering that Baku city would not be understood as a port capital of the Caspian Sea.
• The mythical Simurgh is a benevolent flying mythological creature that represents the union between heaven and earth.
• The carpet of Azerbaijan that is part of the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2010.
• And finally the Pomegranate symbolizing fertility and abundance because 2015 Baku 2015’s ambition is “to attract people from all over Europe in a celebration of sport and create a legacy for future generations.”

Baku 2015 Logo

And of course, it is expected that two mascots have been created,  Nar, which is just an Azerbaijani Pomegranate and Jeyran the Gazelle, which are a must for the youth in the First Edition of the European Games.

Jeyran and Nar are the official  mascots of the European Games Baku 2015

The logo application evokes not only the basic colors of the Olympics but the vitality of the pomegranate tree. This product is essential for international trade of Azerbaijan and graphically a great success for neighboring countries to relate the culture of the Caucasian country with the Olympic dynamism and modernity of its forms.

Posters of the different sports categories

From all this a tremendous energy is released for the Azerbaijani neighbours who make with their capital a  benchmark in Europe, even from the other side of the Caucasus , and they feel very close.