Cities undertake efforts to create a specific image of the city in the minds of the public.

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Creating a specific image in the minds of the public is about shaping the city’s perceived identity through a deliberate, cohesive identity system. This is branding: developing a clear brand platform, including the city’s personality, promise, visuals, and storytelling, and ensuring all touchpoints—citizens, visitors, services, and experiences—consistently reflect that identity. Marketing, while it can include campaigns to promote a place, is broader and action-oriented toward attracting people or investment, not the sustained image itself. Public relations deals with managing relationships and media messaging to influence perception, but it’s a tool within branding rather than the act of building the brand’s image. Promotion focuses on specific activities to raise awareness or generate interest, which supports branding but doesn’t by itself establish the city’s enduring image.