Examining the Role of City Brand in Introducing Iranian Cities to the World

World cities are now in a competition with other places to reach attention of investors, visitors, skillful workers and events. City branding is a strategic way of local government to win this competition and to attain economic, politics and socio-cultural objectives. Unfortunately Iranian cities haven’t been able to take a part in this competition in spite of its inherent potentials and all efforts which they have done. City branding could be the best solution to Iranian cities’ lack of popularity in today’s globalized world and is studied in this research as a tool to improve Iranian cities’ global image and show all their hidden values. First the definition of city brand, the way which is created and then some factors to evaluate the branding potentials of cities was identified to be used in the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine which Iranian city has the most potentials to be successfully branded. The results shows that Isfahan, compared with other cities such as Shiraz and Mashhad with the final priority of 0.438 is chosen as the best and at the end Isfahan was selected among the Iranian cities to be introduced as a global level, hospitable environment and tourism destination, because of its popularity and potential.


Introduction
In today's globalized, networked world, every place has to compete with every other place for its share of the world's consumers, tourists, businesses, investment, capital, respect and attention. Cities, the economic and cultural powerhouses of nations, are increasingly becoming the focus of this international competition for several different advantages such as, funds, talent and fame [1].
City branding has been an emerging practice within last decade that applied by world's cities Councils [2]. It has been so effective for distinguishing a city from the others and highlighting its unique qualities and values to make it as globally recognized.
C.-J. Lee proposed that city branding is a new theory of seeing a city as a brand to develop mature methods in marketing traditional commerce and services, and then applying these methods to a region, city or country [3].
Iran is a country with great branding potentials. Having ecological and cultural diversity, ancient history, beautiful historical and architectural urban spaces and buildings, natural resources, tourism attractions and hospitable residents could have benefited Iran in the globalization process if it had a globally positive image and sense of place, and City branding is considered as a tool that can be used to better the perception and image of a place.
This paper focuses on the definition of city brand and then the branding efforts of two cities in Germany is studied as benchmarks for Iranian cities because Germany like Iran suffered a lot from a huge war and had to change its reputation and brand image as a means of enhancing its economy, their succession shows that by studying the branding process of Germany and implementing their methods, Iran could recover from the Iran-Iraq war's (1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988) casualties like economic costs and etc. At the end the branding potentials of three popular cities, Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad are studied and compared with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and some good and applicable suggestions are presented for the chosen one to be branded and assist Iran to play a role in the globalization process.

Materials and Methods
The first aim of this research is to determine the most potential Iranian city to be branded, three cities, Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad are selected and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is chosen to compare the branding potentials of the cities; because AHP is a simple and flexible multi-criteria decision making approach that can be used in examining urban planning issues with both qualitative and quantitative factors. In this research the calculating process is done with the Expert Choice software, this process is explained thoroughly in the body of the manuscript, but the most important part of AHP is to identify the criteria effecting the decisions, these criteria are identified by doing some documentary studies over the city branding phenomenon.
At the end, after selecting the most potential Iranian city, some more researches are done on its characteristics and potentials for understanding the strength and weakness of the chosen city, therefore some applicable suggestion for presenting a suitable and successful brand is presented for it.

City Brand
World cities are now in a competition with other places to reach attention of investors, visitors, skillful workers and events. City branding is a strategic way of local government to win this competition and to attain economic, politics and socio-cultural objectives [2].The reality demonstrates that, the competition between the cities is harsh, amplified by the economic and politic effects of globalization. The cities are fighting to attract investments, influence, businesses, residents. One of the challenges of the urban management for growing the performance is linked around the construction of the urban brand as a solution in the process of the cities' development [4].
The city brand is gradually becoming the most precious and valuable tangible assets of the city [5]. This phenomenon provides, on one hand, the basis of policy developing to pursue economic development and, on the other hand, it serves as a conduit for city residents to identify with their city [6]. Actually a brand is the foundation that helps to make a place desirable as a business location, visitor destination or a place to call home [7].
Famous and successful cities are usually associated in people's minds with a single quality, promise, attribute or story [1], this quality is known as the image of the city and its bond with the city brand theory should not be neglected since the purpose of branding cities is to develop and differentiate its image and therefore contributing to cities' globalization process. Paris is romance, Milan is Style, New York is energy, Washington is power, Tokyo is modernity and Barcelona is culture, These are the brand of the cities which make a positive image and works as a tool for demonstrating their distinct qualities and characteristics.
An image is the result of various, different and often conflicting messages sent by the city and is formed in the mind of each individual receiver of these messages separately [6]. The image of a city is actually the one characteristic of the city that has been highlighted throughout the years and is mostly conceived by experience. The people of the city and even the outsiders are aware of this quality and associate it with the name of the city. As Kavartzis and Ashworth included, In general, people make sense of places or construct places in their minds through three processes [8]. First, through planned interventions such as planning, urban design and so on; second, the way which they or others use specific places; and third, through various forms of place representations such as films, novels, paintings, news reports and so on. It is generally acknowledged that people encounter places through perceptions and images [8].
Currently, there is general preference in the marketing literature that the brand is more than a name given to a product; it embodies a whole set of physical and socio-psychological attributes and beliefs [6].

City Branding Methods
Understanding the brand of their respective cities, and examining how they are viewed by potential visitors, investors, customers and future citizens around the world is crucial for political and business leaders. If the image doesn't match up to the reality, they need to decide what to do in order to close up the gap between the two [1].
The building of a city brand is a huge project, involving economic, environmental, social and many other factors [9]. There is the general agreement that a powerful city brand must be created holistic, because the entire city represents a brand. In the creation process of the brand, some aspects, such as images, characteristics and experiences are usually selected, while others are eliminated [4].
In order to create a good brand for our city, we must know that a good city must have the following characteristics: • Offer attractive employment.

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Not unduly expensive wages.

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Reasonable public transportation • Good schools and recreational/cultural attractions. • Reasonable climate. And the way that brands work for a city is how these qualities are projected: by word-of-mouth, public relations, and in some cases, advertising [10].

Graphic Design
Cities have used graphic design as a tool to assist associating the name of the city with its characteristics and demonstrating their brand identity. It could be used in tourism websites, traveling catalogs, media, advertisement and specially logos, in this case.
A logo, symbol or distinctive typography has a role to play, and sometimes an indispensable one, as an identifier [11]. City logo can be considered as the tangible asset of city. It is one of the most appealing elements that are possible to reinforcing a city brand by creating a positive image and emotive impression in people's mind. City logo stands as a brand identity that symbolizes a city's assets to its targeted audiences [2], like the "I LOVE NEW YORK" logo that was created for the campaign to brand New York and contributed greatly in changing New York from a crime ridden place to a tourism destination.

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Examining the Role of City Brand in Introducing Iranian Cities to the World

Slogans
In recent years sloganeering has become a popular way to enhance city image and brand identity. Most efforts have succeeded: mottos are being crafted more cleverly and competitively, and are being promoted in creative and compelling ways. A catchy and simple slogan could raise awareness about what the city stands for and crystalize public opinion about the place. "The City That Never Sleeps" is a popular slogan that comes from the lyrics of the song "New York New York" which is successful for attracting people's attention to it. However, as Hildreth mentioned, not many slogans are as good: ' Panama: it will never leave you ' , for example, a line currently in use, might make some chuckle as they picture the committee voting on it, and narrowly choosing it over 'Panama: you will never leave it'. Everybody loves a good slogan, but a bad one is probably worse than useless [11].

Architecture
Having an architectural icon that is immediately recognized by almost everyone worldwide like the Eiffel Tower, the London's Eye, and the Pyramids could make the cities well-known. These architectural icons may be buildings, bridges, monuments, signs, landmarks or observation towers. A great architectural icon which is immediately identified conveys its location and should symbolize the values of the people who live there; for example, the Statue of Liberty stands for New York openness, welcoming of strangers, freedom and hospitality.

Events
Mega events that include sport mega-events like the London Olympics and FIFA World Cup or festivals like Cannes Film Festival and Rio Carnival can attract tourism and investments to the place and thus help improving its brand identity.
C.J. Lee defines mega-events as planned events within a finite period of time, which have one or more of the following additional effects on the host region: travel volume, tourist expenditures, promotions resulting in the elevation of awareness and a more positive image, and relevant infrastructure and organizational development that greatly enhances potential and attraction [3].

Branding of Germany
Germany is a nation that has struggled with its identity in the past, and because of the 2nd World War's effects, Nazi crimes, their reputation for racism and the Berlin Wall that separated the East and West Germany, needed some branding efforts to save it from its dark past towards a more promising future. Although nation branding on its own has its limits, it has undoubtedly served as a very positive influence on Germany's identity and now it has one of the strongest nation brands in the world. These are some assets that helped Germany in this process: • Job opportunities, skilled workforce, market climate The other thing that effected the branding process of Germany in a positive way was hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2006 and creating a campaign to take advantage of this great opportunity to reveal a new image to the world.
Bellow the branding process of 2 cities, Munich, and Berlin is studied to identify the reasons to their success and failures and also their similarities and differences to Iranian cities and use their experiences in the process of branding the Iranian cities. The results are summarized as follows:

Munich
Munich was already a well-known city mostly because of the Oktoberfest which is a popular festival hosted annually there, thus the planners used this popularity as an advantage to add some more qualities and values to the Oktoberfest image. In addition to the Oktoberfest, Munich could also be a lot more, the city of Christmas market, the city of sports or the city of culture. But in order to promote an image for the city it is essential to communicate with companies and professionals; otherwise, people would never know about the hidden qualities of the city.

Berlin
Berlin was once a city with beautiful architecture and culture, an unusual mix of architecture which presented all dark and difficult history in the 20th century, and nowadays has many attractive places to visit from earlier centuries, like opera houses, theaters, museums, galleries and film festivals.
Although Berlin was a beautiful and historical city, it did not have the proper brand image that other European cities like London, Rome and Paris had. So it was in the middle of a harsh competition with the other European cities to play a role in the globalization process.
It could be said that the biggest branding problem that Berlin must have had faced was the effects of Nazi crimes during Second World War and the Berlin wall. Berlin's branding process was the question of how to use its both positive and negative qualities to save it from its dark past towards a promising future. One of the biggest branding efforts in berlin was the creation of a campaign with the slogan "be Berlin".
Be Berlin was called to life in the spring of 2008. In the first year, the campaign to market Berlin primarily addressed a regional audience with its signature features, the red frame and the three-part phrases, "be…, be…, be Berlin". Since 2009, the campaign has used the slogan "the place to be" Internationally and promotes Berlin in particular via the "Berlin Days" as an attractive location for art and culture, for business and science, and also to live and work. The "be Berlin" brand has been successfully established. Individual, successful projects will be further developed as part of the brand campaign for distinguishing the capital and the location [12].

The Nation Brand Index
The most well-known model in branding nations and cities is credited to Simon Anholt the father of the Term "Nation Brand", he developed the Nation Brands Index in 2005 as a way to measure the image and reputation of the world's nations, and to track their profiles as they rise or fall. The Anholt Nation Brand Index measures the image of 50 nations. Each year, approximately 20,000 adults ages 18 and up are interviewed in 20 core panel countries it also measures the power and appeal of each country's 'brand image' by examining six dimensions of national competence. Together, these dimensions make up the Nation Brand Hexagon: Culture, People, Tourism, Governance, Immigration, Investments and Exports [13]. In this index Iran is one of the countries that has been compared with 49 others in the above dimensions but unfortunately in the overall ranking it has got the lowest score and it is utterly essential to promote and better its brand and image globally.

Case Study of Iran
Iran is a country with great tourism potentials. Having ecological and cultural diversity, ancient history, beautiful historical and architectural urban spaces and buildings, natural resources, tourism attractions and hospitable residents could have benefited Iran in the globalization process if it had a globally positive image and sense of place. But in spite of all the efforts made to use these potentials as an advantage no progress has been made, and even most of Iranians spend their time and money in the foreign countries. Some important reasons of vague Iran's brand could be as follows: • The false impression of foreigners about Iran.

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The negative publicity against Iran which has been made through some foreigner Medias.

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Since a bad advertisement against Iran, few foreigners know Iran truly.

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The middle-east's unstable situation has kept away tourists from traveling to the most of the region.

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The lack of quality in the recreational facilities. After studying the potentials and problems of developing a new image and identity for Iran, 3 cities, Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad which are both populated and have the best potentials to be branded are compared with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to identify the city that has the most capacity to be successfully branded. The best one is studied to present some applicable suggestions to make its brand better, therefore a great change in Iran's reputation will be occurred.

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)
The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was developed by Thomas L. Saaty and is the most well-known model in decision-makings methodology. Saaty [14] describes AHP as a theory of measurement through pairwise comparisons that relies on the judgments of experts to derive priority scales which measure intangibles in relative terms. The comparisons are made using a scale of absolute judgments that represents, how much more, one element dominates another with respect to a given attribute. The judgments may be inconsistent, and how to measure inconsistency and improve the judgments, when possible to obtain better consistency is a concern of the AHP. The derived priority scales are synthesized by multiplying them by the priority of their parent nodes and adding for all such nodes [14].

Creating the Hierarchy
Perhaps the most creative task in making a decision is to choose the factors that are important for that decision. In the Analytic Hierarchy Process we arrange these factors, once selected, in a hierarchic structure descending from an overall goal to criteria, sub-criteria and alternatives in successive levels [15].
In this paper after studying the phenomenon of city brand the factors were identified, as shown in the table 1.

Pairwise Comparison of the Main Criteria
The next step in the AHP is to comparison the main criteria, and to make comparisons, we need a scale of numbers that indicates how many times more important or dominant one element is over another element with respect to the criterion or property with respect to which they are compared [14]. Table 2 exhibits the scale.
In this study the Process of decision-making in AHP is made with the Expert Choice Software, there are 4 pairwise comparison matrices in this stage, one for the criteria with respect to the goal which is shown in table 3 and 3 for the sub-criteria shown in tables 4, 5 and 6.
In Table 3, the criteria listed on the left are one by one compared with each criterion listed on top as to which one is more important with respect to the goal of qualifying the branding potentials. In Tables 4, 5 and 6 the sub-criteria on the left are compared with the sub-criteria on top as to measure their importance with respect to their parent nodes. Extreme importance The evidence favoring one activity over another is the highest possible order of affirmation

Reciprocals of above
If activity i has one of the above non-zero numbers assigned to it when compared with activity j, then j has the reciprocal value when compared with i A reasonable assumption If the activities are very close May be difficult to assign the best value but when compared with other contrasting activities the size of the small numbers would not be too Noticeable, they can still indicate the relative importance of the activities.

Pairwise Comparison of the Alternatives
The last step in this process is to comparison the 3 alternatives with respect to the criteria and sub-criteria, it contains 13 matrices which is filled with the help of some urban planning students that are familiar with the cities and their opinions is combined with geometric average that their final results are shown in the table 7.
The compared alternatives results in respect to the criteria are also shown in figure 1.  In the end to calculate the final priority results of each alternative in respect to the criteria and sub-criteria should be multiplied by the priority of its criterion or sub-criterion and the resulting weighs should be added for each alternative to get its final priority, this part of the process is called, synthesis, which in this research was calculated by the Expert Choice software and the results are shown in table 8. In addition, the overall inconsistency of the matrices is 0.03 which is under 0.1 and shows that the process is correct. The results shows that the final priorities of Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad are 0.438, 0.267 and 0.295 respectively, which shows that Isfahan has the most potentials to be branded therefore it is studied to identify its potentials and problems to promote its brand.

Isfahan
Although Isfahan has many cultural, historic, religious and ecotourism attractions like Imam Square (Naqsh-e-Jahan), Sheikh Lotfollah and Imam Mosques, Chehel Sotun, Hasht Behesht and Ali Ghapu Palaces, Khaju and Si-o-se pol Bridges, markets (The Bazaar), Vank Cathedral, Tombs, Museums and natural attractions it hasn't been able to attract tourism investments globally. It has beautiful street design and urban landscape, high quality hotels and restaurants and also unique and coherent architecture and urban design.
As it is said "Isfahan Nesf-e Jahan" (Isfahan, Half of the World), one should walk throughout this city in order to have a better understanding of it. A city known as; blossomed rose, earthly paradise, turquoise bridge etc... , These are only some titles given to Isfahan [16]. It is quite fascinating that those who in spite of the lack of knowledge about Isfahan have traveled there have mostly a positive opinion about it and are willing to come back.
It is essential to study the reasons of Isfahan's failure in city branding process in spite of all its potential to better its global image and identity. This fact should raise the planners' awareness to the importance of the phenomenon of city branding in making Isfahan a more appealing and distinctive city.

Results
In this paper the definition of city brand, nation brand and the way they are created and also the branding efforts of Germany and the cities of Munich and Berlin was studied to make them as benchmarks for the development of Iran's brand and its cities, then the branding potentials of 3 cities in Iran, Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad were compared with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to identify the city that has the most potentials to be successfully branded. The results showed that Isfahan is the best one, therefore its branding potentials and problems were reviewed thoroughly to make some applicable suggestions on how to create and introduce the brand of Isfahan globally which would even help Iran in the globalization process.
The branding experience of Germany demonstrates that a country that was in the middle of a huge world war, suffered a lot from it and its effects ruined its reputation could still stand on its own feet and again be a part of the nations' competition to attract tourism, investments and businesses, and also that a city like Munich which already had a well-known image could use it as an advantage to further introduce its other potentials and improve its image. It's completely clear that these improvements were made by promoting the brand with some assets like graphic design, logos, internet advertisements, commercials, campaigns and slogans.
Some good and applicable suggestions that were mentioned above are as follows: • The already known slogan, "Isfahan Nesf-e Jahan" (

Conclusion
In a survey established by Simon Anholt called the Nation Brand Index to measure the brand image of 50 nations Iran got the lowest score in the overall ranking, therefore the methods of creating a successful city brand and their application on Isfahan, a city that based on this research has the most potentials to have a global city brand between Iranian cities, was studied and it was proposed that a campaign be established to improve Isfahan's image and show its hidden values with the promotion of the already known slogan, "Isfahan, half of the world".