Before reading watch this short video called ‘The Barcelona Brand’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlebvDEOP1s

The Barcelona Brand

by Esther Jones
February 29, 2016
 

A. Use the word given in capitals to form a word that fits in the gap. There is
an example at the beginning (0).
(0) creative

Tell someone you live in Barcelona and invariably their eyes light up. Maybe they’re
thinking of a lazy evening beer on a terrace by the beach or a gentle stroll through the
old streets of the Barri Gòtic. Or perhaps it’s just the easygoing, (0) creative
(CREATE) vibe of this little city that seems to offer so much—from cuisine to beaches,
(1)_Architecture_(ARCHITECT) to football—that makes it a place that everyone
loves. Any multinational would envy the power of the Barcelona brand. Yet, just a
quarter of a century ago, the city was an unlikely holiday or business destination. So,
how did the Catalan capital manage to become one of the world’s favourite cities? And
is there a downside to such international pulling power?

Cities inspire us. Paris makes us think of romance, Tokyo, technology and Las Vegas,
pure indulgence. And, in a hyper-connected world of global business and easy travel,
the ability to stand out is essential. Cities are (2)____Competting____(COMPETE)
with each other for tourists, talent, (3)______Investments_____________(INVEST)
and international events, all of which create jobs and fill the city coffers. They need to
be able to communicate what makes them unique and
(4)___Attractive_______(ATTRACT) to potential visitors, residents and investors. And
that’s where place branding comes in.
Towns and cities around the world are using place branding to define and
communicate their unique qualities. Barcelona makes it look easy but it isn’t. According
to a study by place branding consultancy K629, based on a database of 5,000 place
brands, 86 percent of brands fail within the first year.

Experts agree that a winning city brand has to be a (5)___Truesfull__(TRUE) and an

accurate reflection of the city’s authentic personality and assets. It isn’t an advertising
campaign. According to place branding guru Bill Baker, author of Destination Branding
for Small Cities (2007), the mistake is to apply the same criteria to a place that an
advertising agency might apply to a product. City branding is far more complex. “A city
brand must stand the test of time, public debate, political scrutiny, media questions,
and the analysis of marketing partners and residents,” said Baker. The brand needs to
unite all the city’s stakeholders, from the local government to businesses, and most
importantly, the residents themselves. A (6)____Seccesfull_______(SUCCEED)
brand resonates with the locals and inspires civic pride. Furthermore, a city’s policies
must be consistent with its brand. So, if the branding focuses on being a place to do
business, the city has to be business-friendly. If it’s about being a party city, then
permits and (7)___Regulation_____(REGULATE) for bars and clubs will be a key
factor in its success.

According to the The Guardian's City Brand Barometer, Barcelona is the world’s sixth

most (8)___Powerfull__(POWER) city brand after Los Angeles, New York, London,
Paris and Seoul. Not bad at all for a city of 1.7 million people that, just 25 years ago, for
all its world-class architecture and enviable location, was a post-industrial city with little
international appeal. And the Catalan capital consistently makes the top 10 in a
plethora of global rankings, from lifestyle to foreign investment and innovation.

So how did the Barcelona brand reach such (9)___highest__________(HIGH) in such

a short space of time? The city already had the key ingredients that make it so popular
today: spectacular Modernista architecture, the atmospheric little streets of the Barri
Gòtic, a world-class football team and an (10)___ubeateable_____(BEAT) location on
the Mediterranean. Equally important was its strong sense of identity and desire for
innovation and progress. But, perhaps the main secret of its branding success lay in
the way the city used the outstanding transformation it went through to host the 1992
Olympics.
 B. Complete the rest of the text by putting the phrases below into the gaps.
There are 2 extra phrases you do not need to use.

a) and around 12 percent of property sold in 2015 was bought by foreigners

b) and policies need to be in line with this branding
c) and the city itself can’t expand into the sea
d) As a result of the city’s international success
e) but they keep on coming
f) By the mid-to-late Nineties
g) For while economic growth is vital to this city
h) the demonstrations haven’t become violent yet
i) The sheer number of visitors in the city centre has caused tensions to rise
j) the very charm that attracted tourists in the first place

(11)______, and helped by the advent of low-cost airlines, the Olympic effect began to
show results as the city started gaining a reputation as a weekend leisure destination
and an ideal location for business meetings. The Barcelona brand was taking shape.

(12)______, tourism, which accounted for less than two percent of the city's pre-
Olympic GDP, is now worth 12.5 percent. Barcelona's airport handled 2.9 million
passengers in 1991; last year that figure had risen to 21 million.

International consultancy firm EY ranked Barcelona as the 8th most attractive

European city for investors, (13) ______. In addition, Barcelona is number one in
Europe for business conferences and, on paper at least, it seems that Barcelona is
achieving the impossible: pleasing all people, all of the time.

It isn’t all plain sailing though, and behind the numbers there is some disgruntlement.
(14)______, particularly in those neighbourhoods which receive the most visitors,
namely Ciutat Vella and the Barceloneta. The shopping antics of three naked Italian
men in the Barceloneta in 2014 resulted in demonstrations by local residents. Illegal
rental apartments are frequently blamed for the rise in the low-cost tourism based
around the city centre, encouraging Barcelona’s reputation as a party city with an
‘anything goes’ atmosphere. The Ajuntament has since reacted with a heavy hand to
keep things in line, banning organised bar crawls and outlawing unlicensed
apartments, but some say it has been slow to anticipate the problems. For many local
residents the overflowing streets are changing the personality of the city, (15)______.
The risk, they say, is that Barcelona becomes like Venice, long since resigned to be a
year-round open-air museum. Tourists are, of course, disappointed by the long queues
for the Sagrada Familia and the Bus Turístic, and the jam-packed streets in the old
town, (16)______.

So, while successful branding needs to be based on the city’s authentic character and
assets, (17)______, is there a risk that the branding itself will start to drive the policies
and change the city’s character, particularly if one group of stakeholders is seen as
more valuable than another? Is it possible to meet the needs of residents, tourists and
business visitors without favouring one group?

So what lies ahead for Barcelona as it weighs up the positive and negative effects of its
global branding success story? It seems likely that the Barcelona
brand will try to steer away from the low-cost party crowd while
continuing to establish itself as a serious city for investment and
business. Inevitably, different interest groups will continue to have
conflicting agendas and it will be up to the local government to
tread a delicate path as it tries to keep all stakeholders on board.
(18)______, it is likely to be short lived unless it is based on a
reality that everyone buys into.

C. Read these comments about the Barcelona brand in

response to the article, and write your own.

OPINIONS

What do you think of the Barcelona Brand?

Claire Nielsen (tourist), North Carolina, USA "Barcelona has absolutely lived up to my
expectations. We expected an old city with windy streets and that's exactly what we've found.
We also anticipated a cosmopolitan and multicultural atmosphere and this is definitely true of
Barcelona."

Rohit Gadkar (foreign resident), New York City, USA "I think Barcelona undeniably has a
great reputation among foreigners, as it’s done a good job marketing itself as a 'cool' city. As a
resident, I tend to agree with the veracity of that image, but when you live here, you become so
absorbed in your day-to-day life and don't get to enjoy all those things as much. In addition,
tourists are not mingling with the locals so I think they get the impression that the city is more
cosmopolitan than it really is; although, in the six years I’ve been here, the city has become
quite a bit more cosmopolitan. Overall, I think Barcelona's brand is relatively accurate with
reality, as long as you have time to enjoy all that the city has to offer. Living somewhere is
always different to visiting, no matter which city it is."

Miguel Ángel Viloslada (local resident), Barcelona “The brand has been a huge success,
and as a local I have seen a radical change for the better, but I believe that the city needs to
renew its branding model in order to create a more sustainable situation. An in-depth analysis
from different angles is required, not just in terms of urbanism and business, but with a focus on
social factors and how the different players—residents, tourists and stakeholders—are affected
by it."

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