Brand Cochin

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Over the years, the city I have made my home has grown on me. Having lived in bigger cities like Delhi and Bangalore, the idea of living in Cochin took time getting used to. But today when I think about it there are probably very few places that can boast of the benefits that Cochin has. A recent news article on the branding of Cochin’s current pet peeve, the Metro, came practically alongside an article that mentioned Cochin as Kerala’s choice for the Indian government’s smart cities project and the selection of an agency to develop the detailed project report. The two articles together got me thinking on the opportunities that Cochin had to project its unique character and position itself as an attractive destination for tourists and residents. What Cochin needs, I feel, is to brand itself.
In today’s globalized world cities compete with each other to attract investment, tourism and people – trade, tourism and talent, so to speak – because cities prosper when its citizens prosper and vice versa. This calls for cities to be easily identifiable and differentiate themselves from others – to brand themselves.
But place branding is quite different from and far more complicated than product branding. While a product’s brand name may be the based on what the product promises to be, a city has an existing image that is based on its history, location or principal business. In Cochin’s case it is a little more complex. On the one hand Cochin has always been synonymous with tourism. The City is a unique combination of the backwaters, of proximity to the sea and the mountains, of different cultures, religions and nationalities. That is how most people outside Cochin see the City.
On the other hand, Cochin aspires to rival other Indian metropolises in its modern IT parks, plush malls, and infrastructure projects like the Kochi Metro. That is how the City and its people would like others to see in it. The answer probably lies in a combination of both – A thriving metropolis with modern infrastructure and opportunity that sits alongside one of India’s foremost tourist destinations.

It isn’t going to be easy. The City would have to nurture this dichotomy while catering to the needs of its people. It would have to develop tourism infrastructure and protect tourist locations together with developing the infrastructure that a city needs – public amenities, places for work and places for leisure. For this to happen, government, civic bodies, businesses, NGOs and the people have to work together. It is asking for a lot, especially in India but, I believe, in Cochin’s case, if the political will emerges then the other pieces will quickly fall in place.

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