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PROJECT
Alba Iulia: Building The City Brand
CATEGORY
Branding, Strategy, Web Development, Mobile Development, Campaign, Experiential Marketing, Community, Place Marketing, City Branding
CONTEXT
There are 10.000 cities in the world, all of them competing for a limited number of investors, entrepreneurs, students, tourists. Why would they choose your city? That was the challenge we had to solve when Heraldist & Wondermarks first took the city of Alba Iulia as a client.
Years later, Alba Iulia becomes one of the most inspiring place-marketing case-studies in Europe. The small Transylvanian town was just appointed by the EU, to be the lead city in the EU’s first-ever place marketing program, and cities like Budapest, Limerick (Ireland), and Perugia (Italy) will be learning from its example. Pretty impressive for a little town from the Eastern European ‘nomansland’.
IDEA
Apart from a good the touristic promise, Alba Iulia needed a strong, long-term brand positioning. This is why we started by following the key elements that built the identity of the city along the centuries. We were surprised to find out that, for the last 2000 years of history, Alba Iulia has always been a small city but, paradoxically, it always had a disproportionately important role in the history of Transylvania and later, in the history of Romania.
Perhaps Alba Iulia is not the actual capital of Romania but it is for sure..."The Other Capital of Romania”. The star-shaped citadel with 7 corners and 3 concentric walls inspired the most famous logo of any city in Romania.
EXECUTION
Alba Iulia was the first in the Eastern European area to have a long-term brand strategy, brand manual, and brand identity. Once we finished building the foundation of the brand, we developed the official visitors website, the mobile app, print materials, outdoor projects, merchandise and more.
The place branding & place marketing project created by Heraldist & Wondermarks for the city of Alba Iulia, is now regarded by the EU as a premiere example for other cities in Europe.
⬆ The city logo is inspired by the star-shaped Medieval fortress
⬆ Mobile app created by Heraldist & Wondermarks for Alba Iulia
⬆ The website created by Heraldist & Wondermarks presents the most interesting sites in Alba Iulia
⬆ The new brochures that introduce the city to visitors
⬆ Alba Iulia is one of the first cities in Europe to have a professional brand manual, that includes both brand identity rules and brand strategy principles. It has been recognized by the EU as a major positive case study in Europe
⬆ Exhibition design projects created by Heraldist, together with a talented architect from Barcelona. The installation is 10m wide and it is inspired by the shape of the city logo
⬆ Alba Iulia, the Medieval capital of Transylvania, is a symbol of unification in Romania. The city is prepared to be a symbol of unification in Europe.
⬅
Starting 2021, Alba Iulia will be the leader of “Find your greatness”, European Union’s first program for place branding. Cities from seven EU countries will learn from Alba Iulia’s experience in place marketing. Heraldist & Wondermarks continues to be the creative engine behind the city’s success in this field. For the last 10 years, we have created the city logo, the brand strategy, the website and apps, and creative campaigns that made it to the international media.