Branding: Learning from Louisville, KY

There have been many campaigns to promote Louisville over the years, but this is the first effort to consider the Louisville brand in its entirety and embark on location branding.

Location branding isn't a new concept: cities, states, regions, and countries around the globe are embracing branding strategies to achieve competitive advantages and to increase tourism, to recruit and retain talent, and to attract new businesses. Louisville wants to reveal what it is that makes its region attractive and special, and then communicate it to the rest of the world.

Community Branding: The Nuts and Bolts

What's Branding?

• A brand is the relationship between the user and the product or service, or in the case of location branding, the place.
• A brand describes the emotions and experiences users have when they interact with a place.
• A brand defines the central, timeless essence or soul of this place and its intangible, emotional core.
• A brand exists in the mind of the user and connects the user's own personal identity with that experience.
• A brand consists of a powerful set of promises that deliver a relevant and distinctive experience, promising the same feelings and experiences every time the product or service is used, or the place is experienced.
• A brand is not a slogan or a logo or an ad campaign. These are the marketing elements that help convey the brand, but are not the brand itself.
• A brand must be relevant, differentiated from the competition, highly regarded, believable, and have emotional value.

Learn more about Louisville's branding effort.