Two Marketing Classes to Rebrand Florence and Milan

THE STUDENTS OF BRAND MANAGEMENT, DIVIDED INTO GROUPS, CARRIED OUT A SERIES OF PROJECTS ON SPECIFIC AND DIFFERENT THEMES, WHICH ALL TOGETHER BUILT A COMPLETE PICTURE FOR A CITY BRANDING FOR THE TWO CITIES

City branding, that is the set of activities aimed at transforming a city from a simple product into a place that attracts, welcomes, and is preferred, was the theme at the center of the projects carried out by the students of two Marketing Management classes for the Brand Management course held by Maria Carmela Ostillio, which ended with the awarding of 7 groups. More specifically, one class was assigned projects on themes related to the city of Florence and the other on the city of Milan. "Working on city branding is an excellent opportunity for students to deal with a theme that is now at the center of several researches and certainly very important for the Italian territory," explains Ostillio. "As the topic is broad, each team developed projects on different and specific aspects of the city".

The class who worked on the brand of Milan was responsible for analyzing the city for its promotion to foreign tourists: a group focused on Asian tourism, one on European and another on American. Other groups designed activities aimed at enhancing the offer of Milan nightlife, while others studied how to attract foreign investors. "My group was given the task of understanding how to promote the city by focusing on Asian tourism. We studied the activities developed by other similar cities and analyzed the target," explains the student Gianmarco Ventriglia. "For example, we realized that Asian tourists believe that Milan is too polluted and prefer to move on foot or by bike, which is why among our proposals there was a guided tour by bicycle using the bike sharing service and city guides”.

The groups that worked on the city brand of Florence dealt with, among other things, how to enhance the summer city offer, how to promote some museums, how to renew the image of Calcio storico fiorentino – a particular form of football. "Our task was, for example, to analyze the brand identity of the Nelson Mandela Forum - an indoor sports arena -, to understand with which activities it was possible to best convey its values, without however deviating from the image that the citizens of Florence already have," explains Diletta Schito, student.

"The very positive aspect of dealing with such different issues was that we could not compare or 'be conditioned' by the projects and proposals of other groups", agree Diletta and Gianmarco. "We all appreciated the possibility of carrying out projects on specific themes also because, during the presentations, which took place in front of those who followed this initiative on behalf of the two municipalities, we put forward numerous proposals and brand strategies that, all together, have built a more or less complete picture of city branding for the two cities, and we hope that those who listened found some useful ideas!"


 

by Benedetta Ciotto