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With some one thousand theme-based-cities being developed at a phenomenal rate here in the Middle East, the branding and name identities of such projects become nightmares. As in size, except a very few, they range between a few acres to even a single large dwelling.
Now this requires a new definition of the term 'city' so as not to confuse the customers with other traditional metropolises. For example, the introduction of Dubai Media City has become great success story, which extends the souk concept to its infinite extremes. But with the emerging jigsaw of cities, it will make it difficult to distinguish among similar overlapping-city themes. Innovation, manufacturing, industrial, transportation, technology, logistics or metals somehow overlap too much. Soon, there could also be Furniture City, Food City, Book City parked within People City. Like The Babushka dolls, cities into cities. A serious battle of image, name-identity and brand positioning rages.

Concept Versus Word

The city as an idea is great. It demands though huge acreage with structural development with all the other support infrastructure to create the likes of a miniature city. The naming concept has serious pre-requisites. It has to be large enough to create a critical mass about a particular theme, and rich enough for the customer to have serious reasons for repetitive visits. But the word 'city' in itself communicates something along the lines of New York, Toronto, Paris or Kolkata. Those are different than tens of thousands of little shopping marts all over the world, named after whatever they seem to specialize in: Sport City, Pizza City, Computer City, Carpet City, Toy City, Silk City or Gold City. Normally, this term may also be perceived as a large specialty store with good variety, under fluorescent lights and sold at cheaper prices. So, does this explain why there are so many close-outs and mega branding failures? Beware. Customers won't be fooled by fake branding names.

Any generic theme like 'Toy' attached to the word 'city' will ensure that its identity is lost among the thousands of equally-watered-down projects with equally similar identities. Does this mean that now these cities should be called 'Toy Country' 'Toy Continent' or even 'Toy World'? No. But creating a stronger brand is accomplished through building a unique experience for the place.

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Naseem Javed, recognized as a world authority on corporate image and global name identities, is a harsh critic of casual and accidental naming. He is a dynamic speaker on corporate image and branding issues, and is also the author of Naming for Power. He founded ABC Namebank International, an image and branding consultancy over 25 years ago. Website: www.abcnamebank.com