City + The Brand - aspern + Die Seestadt Wiens

Cities can be
recognised
by their pace,
just like
people can
by their walk.
Robert Musil
»The Man without Qualities«

7
Why Wherefore
Brands determine our everyday life. They facilitate decisions
and structure product ranges on offer. Only brands
that present themselves clearly and are easily recognisable
will be actually seen, remembered and stored in the
mind.
Every brand depends on the way in which it is communicated.
Its personality can only develop if the whole
presentation transports one single, clearly delineated
image.
This brand book describes the personality of the city
brand aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside.
“The City + The Brand” was designed for all those
who are interested and want to have a stake in aspern
Vienna’s Urban Lakeside: investors, planners, developers
as well as those who speak, write and decide on aspern.
“The City + The Brand” is a primer on the emotions this
brand wants to convey, defining the thematic framework
and providing a reliable guide.
What are the roots of the brand?
What is it based on?
What is the identity of aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside?
All questions arising in the course of planning, implementation
or development tasks should find answers in
the brand book. +
Foreword

aspern
is a place for ...

9
Origins Mission
aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside is one of Europe’s biggest
urban development projects. It is firmly rooted in the
tradition-steeped metropolis Vienna and yet grows far
ahead into the future. As an urban, vibrant centre, it will
add to the high quality of life typical of the Austrian
capital.
aspern is the city for 21 st -century lifestyles that harmonises
private needs and professional requirements,
business success and social responsibility – all essential
preconditions for “The Full Life”. +
What is aspern
Vienna’s Urban
Lakeside?

What is the basis for
the brand aspern?
Foundation Plan
Founding a city gives space and structure to a society,
organises human coexistence and creates possibilities for
social and personal development. Ever since the first human
settlements, this has been one of the most complex
cultural achievements of civilisation.
If we want to build for the future, our actions must derive
from this instinct to create. We must be aware of our
society’s history. We must know where we come from but
also where we want to go: since the city we are building
will shape the lives of its residents, we must consider
the needs of future generations. Only the interaction of
tradition and innovation can safeguard a sound foundation
to carry the city into the future. The project and
brand aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside stem from such a
foundation.
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This is the basis on which plans can evolve and generate
realities. In a world characterised by ever-widening possibilities
for the individual, the demands made on persons,
companies and society at large likewise continue to grow.
Finding the right balance is becoming increasingly important.
Each of us needs to find an inclusive, individual lifestyle
that reconciles personal needs and interests with social
and professional requirements.
aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside harbours all necessary
preconditions, because it offers a clearcut frame to juxtapose
things that might seem incompatible elsewhere.
The Urban Lakeside is not about career or family but about
career + family. Not about lively city pace or easygoing
countryside rhythm but about lively city pace + easygoing
countryside rhythm. Not about big business or start-ups but
about big business + start-ups.
aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside accommodates everyday
contradictions and thus allows its residents to engage in life
and work with all their facets:
... The Full Life.

What will aspern
be made of?
A site with a past
aspern Urban Lakeside is
emerging in the midst of
Donaustadt, the historically
evolved 22 nd municipal
district of Vienna, with
a direct link to the old
village of Aspern.
The identity of aspern
– the core of the brand’s
DNA – stems from this
position, and the name
aspern Vienna’s Urban
Lakeside throws this reference
into relief. +
Identity Uniqueness
aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside is a combination of
elements specific to this location. This is the material that
animates the brand, endows it with its characteristic identity
and a clear profile – in short, makes it unique.
Added value
aspern is a place of many
possibilities. Short distances
connect distinct aspects
of everyday life. Living and
working, job and family, career
and leisure, relaxation
and activity. The business
environment of aspern
Urban Lakeside likewise
offers added benefits.
Apparent contradictions are
harmonised: high-tech and
sustainability, industry and
city life, regional stability
and global action. +
Lake
A lake will mark the centre
of the new city – a lake set
in a large park as a place
of relaxation and leisure.
Water communicates a
special atmosphere and
embodies freedom and cosmopolitanism,
reflection
and wellbeing, dynamism
and energy. +
12

Urbanity
aspern Urban Lakeside
is an independent urban
hub with all the trimmings
– size, concentration,
mobility, condensation and
vibrancy. Through its holistic
concept, it combines
work style and lifestyle
and accommodates all
aspects of human life. +
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Vienna
Vienna is among the
world’s cities with the
highest quality of life all
around and in its unique
way blends living, breathing
traditions with modernity
and innovation.
This is the context aspern
Vienna’s Urban Lakeside is
rooted in. Even more, the
Urban Lakeside will enrich
Vienna’s many assets by
adding its very own set of
new possibilities geared
towards the needs of the
21 st century. This trait will
make the Urban Lakeside
interesting for the region –
now and far into the future.
It will act as a second
vibrant centre of Austria’s
federal capital and as an
interface with the European
economic space.
aspern is Viennese,
aspern is Austrian,
aspern is Centropean. +
People
aspern Vienna’s Urban
Lakeside is more than steel,
concrete, asphalt, water
and trees. aspern is a city
that places human beings
at the focus of all plans.
It is open and flexible
enough to allow each individual
to follow his or her
interests. This generates
a strong appeal to assume
responsibility for aspern.
Everyone in some way
connected with the Urban
Lakeside also shapes it and
must be aware of this role.
The city itself and its personality
are the sum total
of innumerable major and
minor decisions taken day
after day by its planners,
residents and investors. +

15
Personality Standards
aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside has a sharply delineated,
clearly perceivable character. It always stays in tune with
its identity. As a young centre, the Urban Lakeside is active
and trend-conscious. As an innovative business hub, it is
modern, open-minded, performance-oriented, sustainable
and success-driven. As a place to live in, it is vital, natureloving,
humane, ethically correct and hip.
Yet it is also proud of its discernibly different face. It is no
off-the-rack city dependent on the biggest possible market
to sell its wares to. It does not want to be liked by all, at any
cost. aspern Urban Lakeside is strong, unique and selfconfident
because it is planned and constructed by people
following a clear-cut vision.
The face of aspern is not only determined by its builders,
for those who live and work here will likewise contribute
to its personality. They will be professionals and craftspeople,
students and apprentices, singles and families, younger
or older – all strata of the population typical of a modern
city, comparable to Vienna’s 7 th and 8 th municipal districts
combined.
To safeguard all these personality traits in the long term,
aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside sets high standards for
itself and for all who build, invest, work and live here.
These standards underpin 10 quality pledges that are to
contribute towards fully developing the character of the
location brand. +
What will the brand
aspern build on?

Values are to become
reality in aspern
Vienna’s Urban
Lakeside. We define
our values precisely
so that they will be
binding. For
ourselves, our
partners and the
future.
Shared Values
A culture of sharing and communicating
We can share what was formerly divided and in this way
create novel forms of community and togetherness.
Modern society is discovering the value of new communities,
originally a by-product of the Internet: differences
thus not only divide us but can also be something we
enjoy to share.
A city is a shared space of infinite possibilities
Cities are among the most complex achievements of
human civilisation and culture. They cannot be planned
on a top-down basis – a city of the future that is truly
worth living in can only be conceived and built in
co-operation with all its stakeholders. It offers a framework
for shared public space, different forms of use and
contrasting needs, a format for potentials.
Work and leisure – integral elements of life
It is the vision of the Urban Lakeside to harmonise and
balance the myriad facets of life. There is a place for
everything, and all elements are efficiently connected or
detached as required. Project developers hold a stake in
vibrantly alive, functioning public space. This is not a
place of either/or but of both/and.
16

Individuality is respected
The role of the individual as the beginning and end of all
planning activities is integral. Every planning measure
starts from the question of how it will affect the people
who live and work here. Urban quality offers an individualist
society the opportunity of interchanging and balancing
different life models.
Sharing with future generations
Sustainability is more than environmental protection;
rather, it is a form of intergenerational awareness that
informs resource use all around. Construction and energy
technologies that save resources and do not negatively
impact the climate, farsighted social responsibility for a
changing society and long-term economic viability are the
three pillars of a sustainable city.
Nature is indivisible from urban quality
City and nature are no longer mutually exclusive: when a
new urban centre is built at the periphery of the metropolis,
green zones are part of it, and the city itself
becomes green space.
Shared use of streets and squares
Movement that respects human needs demands shared
road space, different speeds and parallel means of
transport that can be flexibly combined. A leisurely pace
prevails – the Urban Lakeside is connected to the Underground
network and encourages cycling and walking.
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Small-scale structures and ample spaces
The quality of a city is partly derived from its size and
spaciousness and partly stems from its variety and smallscale
structures. aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside blends
both principles by mixing, organising and varying different
spaces and forms of use, thereby creating tension and
vibrancy.
Open spaces are part of the plan
Urban space must be planned smartly and yet offer scope
for freedom. There must be leeway for thinking and
designing, for flexibility and participation. Both tranquil
and animated open spaces must be safeguarded as well as
private and public, empty and intensively used, designed
and uncontrolled zones – styled as terraces or balconies of
flats, as meadows or parks between buildings, as a square
and a lake at the centre.
Identity grows from participation
aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside is an invitation to participate,
to engage in dialogue, to embrace the new. Our
objective is a culture of shared values, joint activities and
mutual respect in a multi-faceted living environment.
This approach embodies our vision of an urban identity
that is capable of shaping the future.

What is the name of
the brand?
aspern Urban Lakeside
aspern is characterised by its location and design. aspern
is part of the historically evolved municipal district
Donaustadt. The big lake at its centre makes aspern something
more than a city – an urban lakeside. And
aspern is not just any urban lakeside – it is Vienna’s
Urban Lakeside.
The elements that make up aspern also give it its name:
aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside
Yet “aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside” is no rigid construct.
The cluster embodied in the name harbours great
flexibility. “aspern” and, respectively, “Urban Lakeside”
can be used on their own, as can be “aspern Urban Lakeside”.
No matter what form of the name is used – “aspern” is
singled out in every text, since aspern is always written
using a bold font and in lower case, even at the beginning
of a sentence. +
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Green White Plus
A ring road encircles the core of aspern. This lifeline not
only provides the inspiration for the logo but symbolises the
nature of aspern as well – it is no smooth, circular shape but
an organic, proudly authentic form that radiates movement
and interactivity.
aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside stands for individually
combinable advantages and qualities and for the elimination
of ambivalences. In brief, it is “more”. And this “more” is
reflected in the logo: assuming an equally organic form, the
plus sign “+” is placed beside the larger round shape. As an
additional graphic element, it exemplifies added value and
gain. +
What does aspern
look like?

What does the brand stand for?
What does aspern offer?
Chat Debate
Going public Sleeping in
Meeting table Kitchen table
Annual report Love letter
Work style
Caviar Garlic bread
22

Business lunch Baby oatmeal
Headstand Head-start on wealth
Committee meeting Yoga session
Lifestyle
Face to face Arm in arm
Tie pin Hammock
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Tree house Glass roof
Head-start on wealth Headstand
Barg
Superviso
Outlook Visi

aining game Leisure sports
ry board Pillow fight
on
Order book Wedding day
Sunbathing Talking business
Party animal Lone wolf
Organic High-tech
Departure Arrival
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The Full Life.

How does aspern
sound like?
Language History
aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside expresses its personality
also through its language, which is self-confident,
modern, urbane, cosmopolitan and likable, with a touch
of Austrian idiosyncrasies. Texts convey competence and
reliability yet at the same time show a sense of humour
and a certain lightheartedness. aspern can also be ironic:
charming and respectful but unswervingly honest, it does
not shy from broaching unpleasant issues or ruffling
feathers. Above all, it is true to itself – when in doubt, it
prefers to stand out as different to trying to please all and
sundry.
The Urban Lakeside is aware of who it is talking to and
adapts accordingly. Business partners will be addressed
in business style. But even when imparting sober facts,
the content is never couched in arbitrary or random terms
but concise and always memorable. When speaking to private
individuals and the public at large, the style is
inviting, fresh and positive.
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aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside offers the full life. Life is
full of stories big and small, emphatic and understated,
important and incidental. This is why the Urban Lakeside
also communicates through its stories. Every story told by
aspern is clearly structured, with strong emotional impact
and an evident core message. It is unusual, surprising,
authentic, relevant for its audience and closely linked to
the Urban Lakeside. It provides emotional access to all
that aspern stands for, beyond facts and figures, bullet
points and tables.
Every core message is given its own story as a communication
tool. This generates a fixed set of stories with
specific, distinct, unambiguous content. By drawing
continuously from this pool of stories and repeating them,
they – and hence the core messages – are firmly established
in the audience’s mind. +

How does the brand
present itself?
Images Colours

aspern Vienna’s
Urban Lakeside
emerges from a living
process: architects,
planners, residents
– everybody involved
influences the
outcome.
The Urban Lakeside
sets standards and
offers space. Within a
determined
framework, it
encourages
participation.
And active
contribution.
And thought.
And answers.
For oneself.
For one’s project.
For the future.
For aspern Vienna’s
Urban Lakeside.
aspern who what how:
What is the colour of aspern?
Who shapes aspern?
How is the weather in aspern?
What age is recommended for becoming part of aspern?
Who invests in aspern?
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How big is aspern?
What will not exist in aspern?
What are the seasons of aspern?
Who is behind aspern?
How does aspern sound?

What enterprises plan to settle in aspern?
Who will benefit from aspern?
Who will work in aspern?
Why should I move to aspern?
What is the architecture of aspern?
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How does aspern smell?
How does aspern feel like?
What fashions are trendy in aspern?
What about traffic in aspern?
What other brands are like aspern?

How does aspern communicate?
How do you write in aspern?
What do you eat in aspern?
What time is it in aspern?
How will aspern develop?
Map Graphics
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Brand Development
Since the very first settlements, founding cities has been the most
seminal project of human civilisation. The aim is to create a framework
where people can coexist in harmony while interlinking all
dimensions – social, economic, technological, cultural, environmental,
media- and mobility-related – so that they will jointly find their own
space and form. The development of the city brand aspern Vienna’s
Urban Lakeside is based on this principle. From the project kick-off
in October 2007 to the branding decision in June 2008, the project
involved more than 200 experts and opinion leaders from the fields
of business, politics, administration and interest groups personally in
the discussions. The Viennese agency for strategic branding Buero 16
(today: Brainds) designed and monitored the entire process in close
co-operation with Wien 3420 AG.
The starting point of brand development was a two-day workshop in
Retz (Lower Austria) together with representatives of ten organisations
in connection with the envisaged urban development plans for the
former Aspern airfield. This was followed by over 50 interviews with
experts and opinion leaders as well as a comprehensive media resonance
analysis for 2007. A benchmark study of comparable projects
moreover investigated international standards of city branding. The
outcome – roughly 400 pages of data and analyses – was used by
Brainds in conjunction with the key city brand stakeholders to
develop eight options for positioning the city of the future. +
From eight to three
In the context of two workshops with client teams, these eight
options were cut down to three: “Creative City”, “International City”
and “Work-Life Balance City”. To involve non-branding experts in the
54

discussion, the positions embodied by the future city were rendered
tangible through pictures, fictitious quotes and event posters. This
exhibition in Vienna’s Wollzeile was shown to four focus groups in
their turn composed of close to 50 opinion leaders and moreover
used for an industry survey at the Real Vienna 2008 real-estate trade
fair. + Focus group in
Wollzeile
From three to aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside
After eight months of project work, a branding decision was taken in
summer 2008 over an only six-day period: the work-life balance was
to become the core of the city brand. The mission statement comprises
20 pages and outlines the identity of the new city quarter.
To implement the branding concept for the former airfield creatively
and communicatively, a Europe-wide tender was organised to
identify the most suitable communications agency. A working group
composed of the two Vienna-based agencies Trimedia (today: Grayling)
and PKP (today: PKP BBDO) convinced with a consistent and
creative design and communications concept that breathes life and
stories into the city brand. In a record time of less than three months,
the first practical brand applications were prepared: the website
www.aspern-seestadt.at, initial information material, a corporate
video, a documentary as well as a trade fair concept were created.
The atmospheric brand launch at Media Quarter Marx on
25 September 2008 marked the official “birth” of aspern Vienna’s
Urban Lakeside, followed by the international launch in October at
Expo Real in Munich.
Wien 3420 AG regularly organises Urban Lakeside forums to review
brand development together with key decision-makers on the basis of
market and media resonance analyses as well as to set new thematic
accents. +
55
The Real Vienna 2008
trade fair was used
for industry surveys.
Brand launch at Media
Quarter Marx
International launch
at Expo Real in
Munich

Josef Lueger
Marketing director of Wien 3420 AG
The master plan describes the spatial and functional
structure of the future Urban Lakeside. What interests me
most, though, is to complement this plan with the emotionally
accessible, communicable image of an urban development
project that is not only big but genuinely grand
as well. The Urban Lakeside brand inspires us as a team,
defines a direction for development strategies and actors
in the fields of politics and administration and provides
support in communicating with investors, developers and
future users. Although aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside is
young, it has already become a part of people’s lives.
We all may be proud of this result – work + balance!
Thomas Hotko
Project leader at Brainds (formerly: Buero 16)
When we embarked on our quest to develop a new
marketing strategy for the Urban Lakeside in 2007, there
were hundreds of questions and even more stakeholders
who had no conception of the new city quarter. “Aspern?
Aspern airfield? Where is that?” It was our remit to generate
clear-cut images and establish the new city quarter
in the minds of people. Today the Urban Lakeside has
truly arrived in Vienna + in Europe. We are very proud to
be part of a team that has invested so much analytic spirit
+ lifeblood, brainpower + joy. I want to thank the entire
team of Wien 3420 AG and my own team at Brainds.
aspern is a special opportunity to create a city – let’s
make it something truly beautiful and livable!
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Ingrid Spörk
Project leader at Grayling (formerly: Trimedia)
In my travels, I have always been interested in visiting
cities. Delving into their everyday life and understanding
how they are informed by their history is a fascinating
experience. With aspern Urban Lakeside, though, we look
not into the past but into the future. My PR task is to act
as a tour guide for different groups around a city that as
yet only exists in theory – as a master plan, in planning
manuals, architectural competition tenders or visualisations
– and to show all of them those qualities of the
Urban Lakeside that interest them most. An exciting
journey, I’d say!
Jan Hosa
Creative director at PKP BBDO
The task of creating a brand for an entire city and to
showcase this brand is definitely one of the greatest but
also one of the most interesting challenges for a communications
agency. A city is more than a product on a
shelf, more than an accumulation of architecture, more
than infrastructure and function, more than just planned
surfaces. A city is made up of people, their concerns and
motivations. This is why our communication is all about
“The Full Life.” +

Legal Notice
aspern Vienna’s Urban Lakeside
a project by
Wien 3420 Aspern Development AG
Rosthorngasse 5
A 1220 Wien
Phone: +43 1 774 02 74 – 0
Fax: +43 1 774 02 74 – 99
e-Mail: office@wien3420.at
www.wien3420.at
www.aspern-seestadt.at
Owner and publisher
Wien 3420 Aspern Development AG
Rosthorngasse 5
A 1220 Wien
www.wien3420.at
Graphic design & concept
PKP BBDO Werbeagentur GmbH
Translation
Sigrid Szabó
Image copyright
Wien 3420 AG
p. 30: Tovatt Architects & Planners AB
p. 32: schreinerkastler
p. 55: Alexandra Kromus, Wien Marketing,
Rudi Handl, Robert Kampfer
p. 56: Godany, Thomas Topf
p. 57: Rosenburg, Brainds
© Wien 3420 Aspern Development AG
Vienna, July 2010