City branding: making the invisible visible

The Alba Iulia (RO) practice gives voice to a challenge faced by many small or medium-sized cities from Europe: how to gain visibility in a changing economic context while promoting its cultural heritage? Strong with a rich history and a complex inheritance (a citadel, historic sites and medieval library) that were left to ruins, Alba Iulia built an integrated branding approach, directly linked with the city’s strategic planning process. By strategic positioning and valorization of its assets and strengthening its local identity, the city (73 000 inhabitants) managed to position itself as a reference for investors, tourists and citizens alike. It thus managed to attract important funding for the renovation of the citadel (60 million €), increases its population by 10 000 inhabitants in five years, due to working opportunities, and the number of tourists by 65% during the same period.