Marketing and Branding of Calicut as a Smart City Destination

Abstract

Branding is the process of creating and communicating a unique position in the minds of the target customers. This holds good for branding destinations as smart cities too. Place branding thus suggests that places, cities, regions or countries could be considered as brands, as long as it is perceived so. There are lot much challenges in place branding. Due to the changes in the economical, cultural and social changes in the global landscape, there exists a fierce competition among multiple destinations for resources, business relocation, foreign investment and visitors and even for migrants and residents. Based on the prevailing definition of marketing from American Marketing Association, this chapter attempts to use the basic formwork of creating value, communicating value and delivering value in explaining the marketing process of Calicut as a smart city destination. Four elements that are unique to the cultural and geographic aspects of Calicut are identified, which include Calicut cuisine, Uru (traditional vessel), Kalaripayattu (traditional martial art form) and Calicut trade hub. These elements have different value propositions and thus cater to different target customers refer as stakeholders. Using Aaker’s model of brand equity, a detailed study about these elements is conducted and a set of brand elements are identified. Subsequently, other aspects of the brand charter including the brand promise, colour and typology are also identified. Finally, the way of delivering the value to stakeholders through e-marketing and social media platforms is also discussed for all the four elements.