City + The Brand - aspern + Die Seestadt Wiens

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
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