Abstract
In today's competitive global environment, cities are striving to stand out and be attractive to investors, visitors, and residents. City branding is an important tool to differentiate the city from its competitors and to be preferred by visitors. Every city has its own characteristics resulting from its historical development, the influence of its geography, and its social, cultural, and economic past. Therefore, the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of cities is vital for their promotion and branding. This study aims to show the importance of their cultural heritage, which is the most fundamental feature to differentiate themselves from their competitors in city branding. It is emphasized that the cultural events organized in cities or the assets specific to cities, most of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List, have a significant impact on city branding. In addition, the chapter explains the impact of digitalization, which is one of the most important developments of our time, on city branding and cultural heritage.
TopA tourism destination is a geographical area or a region where the tourists are located in the local community (Tinsley & Lynch, 2001). Such destinations are mostly cities. The effort to make any city distinguishable from its competitors in the eyes of potential visitors is defined as city marketing. This can be achieved by developing a city brand. The city brand formation process involves the application of basic stages of product branding (Kavaratzis & Ashworth, 2005) and concepts such as brand and branding, brand identity, brand image and brand positioning should be understood in this process (Ma et al., 2021, p.3). Cities that have successful branding can attract tourists.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Brand Positioning: The place and value a brand takes in the minds of consumers compared to its competitors, taking into account its benefits and promises.
Digital Cultural Heritage: Tangible and intangible cultural heritage assets that are recorded and displayed on a screen by electronic means.
Brand Identity: The whole of the features that determine the brand or the combination of the visual and verbal elements of the brand and all the values it evokes in the consumer's mind.
BRAND: A name or sign used to identify a product and distinguish it from its competitors.
City Branding: Where a city is differentiated from other cities by highlighting its original features.
Branding: To introduce an object or product, to name and mark to distinguish it from similar ones.
Digitization: The process of creating digital copies of original materials in analogue media using a scanner, camera, or other electronic device.