Citybranding as a tool for image managementthe case of Zaragoza (Spain)

Resumen

How important is image management for a territory? From all kind of perspectives: tourist, business, social… the perceived image is a main key for the development of a territory. In case of cities, which some authors consider them as having the highest level of competitiveness and development currently (Seisdedos, 2004; De Elizagarate, 2008), image management is fundamental to compete in a market which is increasingly more demanding. But it is important to know that a city doesn't have just one image, but we can find different perceptions that we can classify in two big groups: the perceived from the residents and the perceived from the outsiders, who have enough information to have an opinion on it, and that opinion will make them potential tourists. Therefore, the responsible for image management has to have in mind all those perceptions to be able to control its reputation and its position in market. A tool that is being used recently in many cities is branding, which helps the administration to convey the wanted image to the different targets, trying to be congruent with the population identity. Through this paper we try to analyze the importance of the image for a city and the use of branding to manage it, thanks to the study of case of Zaragoza (Spain) and some of the actions developed there.