The Berlin Case:

Exploring in depth the campaign

[be Berlin]

Course: Cultural Marketing | City branding

Prof: Betty Tsakarestou

Team: Anagnostaki Eva - Koukouli Marilena

Mavriki Rania - Rizou Anastasia

Berlin

• the center of political power in Germany

• a creative, colorful, diverse and tolerant metropolis that many people

from all over the world have made their adopted home.

• constantly changing and always reinventing itself

"City of opportunities" campaign to showcase Berlin's virtues and

promote the city's image as a creative, innovative and value-generating

place to live.

City of opportunities

At the center of the city and especially in trendy neighborhoods

like Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, one finds an almost Babylonian

maze of languages: Italians, French, Turks, Arabs, Indians,

English, Saxons and Swabians live and work side-by-side in

harmony – and in their midst one might even find some born-and-

bred Berliners with their unique "Schnauze" spirit.

Open-minded city

•Berlin is among the Top 10 Smart Cities worldwide.

•From 2015, the capital is home to the largest Smart City

Exhibition “Metropolitan Solutions” and currently more

than 300 Smart City projects are organized in Berlin.

Smart city

• Launched in 2008 by the Berlin Senate

• Financed by both the Senate and the Berlin business community

• Goal:

a. to strengthen Berlin’s positive image

b. to promote the city on a national and international level as:

a great place to live

a leading location for business and industry

a travel destination

• Summer of 2007: a market research revealed that Berlin lacked a clear image

Aim → transform Berlin’s strengths into opportunities and LET

BERLINERS THEMSELVES SPEAK ON BEHALF OF THEIR CITY.

be Berlin - The Campaign

• Berliners were asked to send “success stories”, “catchy phrases”

and original ideas → citizens’ involvement & civic engagement

• 2,000 people participated in the first “three-part phrase”

competition shortly after the campaign was launched. Within

months, thousands of Berliners had sent in their personal

success stories, and the best were published on

www.be.berlin.de. → needs persistence and patience | change

doesn’t come overnight

• Berliners and their voice on the spotlight rather than fancy

marketing events and slogans

• Original name, easily understood, concise meaning

• Integration of new media | bold presence on social media, blog

• “Think globally, act locally”

City marketing approach

• Red speech balloon & three-part phrase “be …, be …, be berlin”

• Elements present all around Berlin. In posters, t-shirts, stickers,

brochures concrete image, through clear narrative

• A red rectangle provides the framework for the three-part phrase

and symbolizes two major elements:

the inward messages of the campaign’s “ambassadors”

the external effect of these messages

→ Integrated approach “We encourage people talk and we truly

hear them, since they are the actors of change”

STORYTELLING & SMART DESIGN

Visual elements

Summary

• 5 years of targeted city marketing with high consistence and engagement

• Private and public sector collaboration

• Today, Berlin is perceived as a far more attractive place to live than in 2007

• Digital and startup capital

• Tourism record

• “The place to be” for business, creatives, families and visionaries

• “European Cities Monitor 2011” issued by Cushman & Wakefield” - jumped

to 5th position (on the list of the most popular European business locations)

Timeline

2008 - [be Berlin] takes off • Regional level

• Strong sense of identification → community building

• High level of brand recognition, pretty soon after launching → incremental

evolution of the campaign

• Collecting stories and 3-part phrases from Berliners → the “best Berliners”

became the campaign’s ambassadors.

• September 200: The “Longest Love Letter to Berlin” was presented on a 120

meter-long sticker at eight Berlin S-Bahn stations. Berliners submitted 2000

three-part phrases as part of the “Your message for Berlin” competition.

• Be Berlin’s red frame was present in all events of Berlin from Marathons to

Fashion week → campaign’s cohesion, constant presence to achieve brand

recognition

• “Berliversum”, launched in September 2008. Thousands of Berliners participated

and submitted their “reasons for Berlin” to the online platform.

• “Your message for Berlin” competition→ encouraging participation, let Berliners

freely express themselves, asset mapping, top-down and down-up approach

simultaneously

• Projecting the sender’s name onto the Brandenburg Gate → uniqueness and

sense of belonging

2009 - [be Berlin] goes international

• Campaign’s aspiration → establishing Berlin as “the place to be”

• “City of Change” after the fall of the Berlin Wall → connection with the city’s

past

• Berlin Days: International event (New York, Istanbul, Copenhagen, Brussels,

Shanghai, Moscow, Tokyo and Warsaw). 100 “pieces of the Wall,” upon which

Berlin fans from all over the world wrote messages, as well as the “Berlin →

City of Change” exhibition.

• Friendliness initiative (March 2009): 15 Berlin service partners supported the

campaign → engaging more city stakeholders

• be Berlin citystore: unique concept, set up in the form of a temporary exhibition

and event space in hip Berlin-Mitte. Designed by Master’s students in design at

Berlin’s Technical University→ once again let Berliner’s speak for themselves,

express themselves, organise events Feeling that the city supports and

counts on them.

• Be Berlin’s tours in Germany: the campaign toured Germany to showcase

Berlin

• The Berlin box: It contains free information and advertising material.

Thousands of “boxes” shipped to embassies, nstitutes and other public

institutions worldwide → brand recognition, international “audience”

building, make a buzz

2010 - [be Berlin] Industry & engagement

• Berliners sent stories to the “Berlin, Show Your Colors” initiative of how they

volunteered in social projects: Berlin as a “social” city was one of the central

themes in 2010

• Also marked the launch of the “ich bin ein berliner”. Initiative to present

innovative products made in Berlin - sponsored by 15 renowned companies

• Continuation of Berlin Days in Shanghai/Shenzhen, London and Melbourne.

ex. Berlin presented itself in Shanghai as a sustainable, creative metropolis.

•Berlin’s official Facebook page welcomed its 500,000th fan in December,

making it Europe’s most successful city on the world’s largest social network.

Outreach marketing

2011 – [be Berlin] Innovative and a great place to live

The opening of the “ich bin ein berliner”. Industry exhibition at Potsdamer Platz

The large “be Berlin” industry quiz, which was launched at the same time, also

enjoyed record success: more than 10,000 people provided the correct answers

to questions on Berlin’s industrial history at www.sei.berlin.de. → playful,

engaging approach

Participation in international trade events → consistent presence, building brand

awareness

“be Berlinternational” campaign: hundreds of Berliners submitted their personal

stories telling of their own active promotion of integration in the city.

be Berlin and visitBerlin underlined the summer of 2011 with a joint campaign

promoting Berlin as “A Great Place to Live.” → collaboration

Berlin Days: Moscow, Warsaw, Tokyo

People from 190 countries live together in Berlin and influence the city by

promoting integration. In 2011, the be Berlinternational initiative highlighted

Berlin’s cultural diversity.

2012 – [be Berlin] City of opportunities

• With the campaign “A great place to live”, Berlin has managed to overcome the

negative side-effects of a large urban area with millions of residents by setting

natural counterpoints

• The new “City of opportunities” theme expanded on the liveability campaign, adding

extra aspects to the equation.

• Berlin truly is the city of opportunities for many reasons. [be Berlin] emphasizes and

underscores this with additional motifs that focus on the wide-ranging opportunities.

The projects that include and provide all these, had different and interesting

extensions:

- Talent in Berlin - Ideas in Berlin

- Science in Berlin - Culture in Berlin

- Entrepreneurs in Berlin - Nature in Berlin

- International Berlin - Working in Berlin

Conclusions Why did it work?

• Starting building its brand from its raw material → Berliners

• All partners were highly committed to the goal

• Playful campaigns

• Encouraging citizens’ participations (competitions etc)

• Presence in all main city’s events to build a concrete brand image and a strong

brand awareness

• Small-scale events instead of spectacular ones → investing in long-term results

• Incremental evolution of the campaign

• Top-down and down-up approach simultaneously

• Building a sense of belonging

• Connection with the city’s past and history

THANK YOU!!!