Brand Hong Kong

A city brand is a complex entity. It has to encompass all the different facets of a city and face multiple stakeholders with a coherent image. Often, the different facets of the city brand may not be well coordinated, or the city image may leverage excessively on its tourism image. Brand Hong Kong, however, is a case of successful city branding in terms of its well-balanced character. The brand captures the spirit of the city's people and its core competences, from attracting foreign direct investment to tourism and culture. The different pillars under the overall city brand positioning are compatible and mutually supportive when taken together. Hong Kong's branding strategy builds on what the city has and provides a blueprint to identify areas in which it should engage in further development. The successful branding exercise is one of the reasons why Hong Kong ranks among the top five global cities behind New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo in the 2008 Global Cities Index (Foreign Policy, 2009).