Sport city branding of a mid-sized city in Finland

Abstract

Global competition amongst cities has grown and branding has lately become an important part of cities’ strategies. The aim of this paper is to study the brand stakeholders’ perceptions of the sport city brand of a mid-sized city, Jyväskylä, in Finland. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with eleven city leaders and sport managers who had an infl uence on the sport brand of the city of Jyväskylä. The results show that in the minds of the respondents Jyväskylä has a strong image as a sport city. It stems from sports education, sports events, strong sports clubs, and active citizens. The results indicate that sports, and sporting events in particular, could be a key element in developing the brand image of the city of Jyväskylä. The results emphasize the importance of a closer cooperation and brand thinking amongst the stakeholders in order to develop the sport city brand of Jyväskylä.

Zbog rastuće globalne konkurencije među gradovima brending je od nedavno postao važan element gradskih strategija. Rad prikazuje kako dionici marke doživljavaju sportsku marku Jyväskyläe, grada srednje veličine u Finskoj. Autori su proveli dubinske intervjue s jedanaest gradskih dužnosnika i sportskih menadžera koji su utjecali na sportsku marku grada Jyväskyläe. Prema rezultatima istraživanja, ispitanici smatraju kako Jyväskylä ima snažan imidž grada sporta. On počiva na sportskom obrazovanju, sportskim događanjima, jakim sportskim klubovima i aktivnom građanstvu. Rezultati pokazuju da bi sport, a posebno sportska događanja, mogli biti ključan element u razvoju imidža marke grada Jyväskyläe. Ističe se da je za razvoj marke grada sporta važna bliska suradnja i dobri, produktivni odnosi među dionicima.