Marketing Regions & Cities Nicholas Walters February 2007

Introduction  Senior Consultant for 25 years  Advisor to London First (now Think London), Invest Hong Kong, UNIDO, London City Airport and The Government of the British Virgin Islands  Lived and worked in Asia, USA and Europe

Key Challenge is clutter  More than 1,500 development agencies active in Western Europe  National, regional, provinces, county, city, land organisations, special development zones  Over 1000 in Asia  Over 200 of these have a permanent office in the USA  A business might be contacted 200/300 times in a year by inward investment bodies

Marketing  Must not confuse with branding, public relations, promotion, advertising etc  A marketing strategy defines the attributes of a product and service for a particular target audience  For a City or region this requires a 5/10 year economic plan. A clear vision of the future look and structure - research  This can be turned into a brand character – truthful, distinctive, attractive  Which in turn can then be intelligently presented to the potential buyer

Reputation stepping stone Awareness Interest Warmth Confidence Trust Action Support

Assessing image Familiarity Favourability Best Fit

Analyse perceptions Key AudiencesThink NowShould Think Customers“…………” “…………” Media“…………” “…………” Workforce“…………” “…………” Investors“…………” “…………” Legislators“…………” “…………” Business Community“…………” “…………”

Cushman & Wakefield 2006 Study  2006 European Cities Monitor  Carried out every year since 1990  Interviews with CEO/CFO or person most likely to make relocation decision  Top five cities have remained fairly consistent – London, Paris, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Brussels

Cushman & Wakefield Study 2006  19% had relocated or outsourced operations in the last 12 months  21% currently plan to relocate or outsource in the next 2 years  In order of priority – production, assembly, distribution and logistics  Big drop in relocation to Western European cities – big increase in interest in looking East  Warsaw, Moscow, Budapest, Prague and Bucharest showing biggest interest

Cushman Wakefield 2006 Study  Easy access to markets, customers or clients – 63%  Availability of qualified staff – 59%  Transport links - 55%  Quality of telecommunications – 50%  Cost of staff – 36%  Government created climate for business including tax and incentives – 31%  NB quality of life and environmental issues have crept into the top ten at 19% & 15% respectively

Launching London  Think London (then known as London First) is London’s inward investment body set up to promote The City worldwide  Appointed the Henley Centre for Business Studies to conduct qualitative CEO research programme  50 Euro, 50 US, 50 Asia  Criteria for relocation and attributes of London

What they wanted to know the answers too  1)ease of access to markets & customers  2)availability and cost of trained/qualified people  3)quality and availability of technology/telecoms/TV  4)value for money and availability of prime space  5)business climate –legislation, tax, & incentives  6)languages and multiculturism of the community  7)quality of life  8)environment/pollution issues  9)ease of movement within the City  10)safety

What they then thought of London  30 years of tourism marketing highly successful  London buses, Buckingham Palace, Changing of the Guard, The Royal Family  No relationship or spin off for business  London a “must” to visit but not a “must” to consider for relocation on grounds of cost, modernity, incentives, staffing, business culture etc

Power & Influence The World’s Boardroom

Selling London to Londoners  QE 2  Prime Minister  700 London’s most senior businessmen  Foreign companies in London already  Ambassador programme - taxis  Takeaway pack  The film

Roll out  Film and pack in every embassy around the world  Presentations in over 30 countries on community programme  18 Business briefings launched in London  Cushman & Wakefield (Healey & Baker) Study was born from this activity

Lessons learnt  Talk to the customer  Regional and City economic development is all about team and focus  Stand out and relevance  Long term commitment