Balancing Authenticity and Aspiration in City Branding

When asking questions during the engagement phase of a place branding process, people always ask us, “Are you wanting me to answer that for how our community is now (authentically) or how we want to be (our aspiration)?'”

Our answer is… both.

Authenticity and aspiration don’t have to be contradictory when it comes to your identity. The goal of place branding is to capture the authentic essence of a place while helping it become the best version of itself.

So to the question of do we answer this as we are now or how we want to be, an analogy we often share is this. Imagine you’re at the mall shopping for a new outfit. You want something fresh and brand new but that still feels like you. It’s not about putting on a costume but instead about finding the outfit that while completely new makes you feel like the best version of yourself. I imagine we’ve all had that moment where we put on something completely new but it makes us feel great and we say “this is me!”

So yes, it is authentic and based in reality, but it’s also an attainable aspiration that is exciting and motivating. City branding is about creating an identity and brand story that reflects the core values, heritage, and authentic identity of the community today while moving it forward towards its aspirations and potential. It acknowledges growth, change, and evolution while remaining authentic and rooted reality.

With this always being our goal it makes us really appreciate this quote by Strong Town’s Chuck Marhon, when he was on our podcast, and was describing the work we do at CivicBrand,

“I’ve seen a lot of people who try to do what you do and often what comes out of the other end is a brand logo that people in the community look at and say that’s a bunch of BS – that’s what we pretend to be to someone else, but that’s not who we are. I’ve seen enough of the work you’ve done and the process you use is to say how do we do this authentically and how do we help you become the people you want to be.”

The path from reality to aspiration can certainly be challenging and many place brands struggle to translate their vision into reality. It’s not enough to craft a compelling narrative and desired future state. You must also lay the groundwork for its implementation to make it real. Branding is about casting an authentic vision and then working to fulfill that brand promise consistently over and over.

City branding is not a one-off project but rather an ongoing process and a journey toward realizing the full potential of a place. The work is never really done. It is about finding the balance between authenticity and aspiration and getting really honest with where you are now, where you are headed, and then backing it up with the actions and an  implementation plan to make it happen.