“I am Dunedin” is an advertising slogan

Advertising slogan

Advertising slogans are short, often memorable phrases used in advertising campaigns. They are claimed to be the most effective means of drawing attention to one or more aspects of a product. A strapline is a British term used as a secondary sentence attached to a brand name...

 created for Dunedin

Dunedin

Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...

 in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 by Marketing and Communication Agency of the Dunedin City Council (DCC). It was used in a famous television commercial "Are You Ready for Dunedin life?", several print advertisements, and several television advertisements for Dunedin’s culture

Culture

Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

 and heritage

Cultural heritage

Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...

.
The I am Dunedin logo

Logo

A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...

 consists the capital letter I, followed by minuscule letters am, then capital word Dunedin, with a blue dot in the letter i. The background is blue and the slogan is gold. The official website of the City of Dunedin is at the lower right hand side of the logo.

Origin

For two decades, 1980-1999, the City of Dunedin experienced slow population growth, with around 10,000 people “lost” to cities further north of New Zealand or overseas. This included the loss of governmental and corporate head offices and of significant middle management, trade and professional career opportunities.

Therefore, the perception

Perception

Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...

 of Dunedin was quite negative. DCC organized a public meeting in which a group of people from councillors to tertiary to social services, not only that, representatives from different communities chose the statement along with all the other statements that’s been submitted, nevertheless they chose “I am”. The original purpose of the slogan was to change people’s perception from negative to positive (mainly people outside of Dunedin). One year later, a public survey

Statistical survey

Survey methodology is the field that studies surveys, that is, the sample of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies....

 conducted by Marketing and Communication Agency showed that most businesses were unable to find skilled workers, which has become a potential threat to Dunedin’s economy

Economy

An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...

.

The challenge for a City of Dunedin marketing campaign was not only to attract skilled and professional workers to the city, but also to do so in an environment where other New Zealand cities had experienced long-term economic growth and where there was a perception of better job and lifestyle opportunities elsewhere. In response to the declining population and concerns about business growth, the DCC’s Economic Development Committee developed a strategic plan to achieve economic growth and job creation.

For the next 6 years, the Marketing and Communication Agency’s highest priority is to create a public campaign via a suitable brand statement to meet public’s needs and to achieve DCC’s overall goal.

History of promoting Dunedin

In the late 1980s, Dunedin earned a reputation

Reputation

Reputation of a social entity is an opinion about that entity, typically a result of social evaluation on a set of criteria...

 for innovative, leading-edge place marketing within New Zealand. The city was the first in the country to develop a comprehensive branding strategy. The It's All Right Here campaign launched in 1988 remained successful until the early 1990s, when it declined due to lack of financial support.

In an effort to revitalise Dunedin’s brand image in 1998, the That's the Spirit of Dunedin campaign was conceived and launched. This was an attempt to build on and refresh the original It’s All Right Here campaign. An annual budget

Budget

A budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...

 was committed to the city’s promotional strategy and received some positive recognition.

However, lack of consultation in both campaigns meant that rather than basing the campaign on an integrated community approach, an outside agency imposed a solution for Dunedin. There was also concern that Dunedin’s brand image had become confused and cluttered by the use of the two positioning statements, neither of which captured the unique essence

Essence

In philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the object or substance has contingently, without...

 of Dunedin. There was a need for a new sharp, clear image of Dunedin.

On 26 July 2001, DCC officially launched its new City Branding campaign in Dunedin to 1,000 business and community leaders. The ‘I am Dunedin’ breaks with the traditional style of presenting the City and elicits passion, emotion, and pride.

Purpose

By launching the “I am Dunedin” campaign, the DCC’s purpose is “to encourage changes of perception and to continue the city’s aim to increase business, tourism and population growth.”

Moreover, DCC has been to profile Dunedin positively and to present the City as an attractive place to live, work, do business and be educated. The I Am Dunedin campaigns linked directly with the Economic Development strategy with the aim to sustain and increase business growth. The DCC’s marketing department’s assigned focus has been to change negative perceptions of Dunedin and, more recently, to encourage skilled workers and families to move to Dunedin by increasing awareness of employment vacancies in the City.

“Are You Ready for Dunedin Life?”

The most successful campaign was a correspondent

Correspondent

A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...

 slogan “Are You Ready for Dunedin Life?”, a television commercial directed by Murray Page of ZOOM Productions. Murray Page worked with Marketing and Communication Agency in the Council and their photographer as the brainstorming

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which a group tries to find a solution for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members...

 group that developed the campaign together.

In 2004, the I Am Dunedin campaign took a risk by concentrating on one key message that was especially designed to take advantage of topical debate on transportation issues in Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 and Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

, which were under severe pressure from congestion

Traffic congestion

Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough that the interaction...

. Its core creative was a hard-hitting message that was relevant to all target audiences and offered Dunedin as the competitive alternative.

The Are You Ready for Dunedin Life? tactical campaign portrayed three of the original Testimonials and key target markets (family, trades people, business professionals) stuck in their city’s traffic. It showed them stressed and under pressure from the time-consuming toll, it took out of them. The television commercials were technically innovative in that they showed traffic coming to a halt, a billboard

Billboard

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

 coming to life, and real people, who had moved to Dunedin, speaking directly to them of their new quality of life in Dunedin compared with the hassle of living in over-populated North Island

North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...

 cities such as wellington. This empathises with the reality of life in Northern centres where people are stuck in traffic – unable to get out and have a life. The solution - “Are you Ready for Dunedin life?”

Additionally, “Are You Ready for Dunedin Life?” has been awarded with Marketing Awards Non-Profit category.

Music Video

The official promotion music video titled "I am Dunedin" was produced by the Dunedin City Council in association with ZOOM Evolution, Bill Nichol Photography Limited and composed

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

 by Murray Grindlay.
The music video featured a theme song titled "I am Dunedin".
The second promotion video was released in 2008 consisting five different parts including: I am 'Learning' Dunedin and the City's excellence in education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

 from pre-school through to tertiary; I am 'Passion' Dunedin showing the City's passion

Passion (emotion)

Passion is a term applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something....

 for all sporting

Sporting

Sporting may refer to:*Sport, recreational games and play.It may also refer to a sporting club:*Sporting Clube de Portugal, a sports club from Lisbon, Portugal.*Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut, a sports club from Beirut, Lebanon.*A.O...

 activities; and I am 'Fashion' Dunedin highlighting the vitality and creativity

Creativity

Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...

 of Dunedin. I am 'Alive' Dunedin showed the vibrant nightlife

Nightlife

Nightlife is the collective term for any entertainment that is available and more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning...

 and café

Café

A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...

 scene; and I am 'Wild' Dunedin showed how uniquely close the city is to an abundance of wildlife

Wildlife

Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....

 and eco-tourism. These messages were incorporated into a yearlong advertising campaign that complemented key events such as fashion

Fashion

Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...

 and sports, as well as local initiatives in education and tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

.

Criticism

A significant number of people criticize that the slogan “I am Dunedin” does not represent something unique to Dunedin, it is merely a general commercial statement to attract business and investment from outside of Dunedin. Moreover, DCC has not gone through the public to select a suitable slogan therefore it has not been able to represent the Dunedin citizens as a whole.

Compliment

Despite a significant amount of criticism from Dunedin’s citizens, the majority of people around New Zealand speak highly of the benefit and effectiveness this “I am Dunedin” campaign has brought to the local economy and boost of the job opportunities. For example, people outside of Dunedin remain very positive and highly disposed to Dunedin as a place to visit. Based on what they have seen or heard, a total of nine in ten people (90%) considered Dunedin one of their preferred places to live, wouldn’t mind living there if they had the chance, or would like to learn more about Dunedin.

Achievement

Annual market research quantified the “I am Dunedin” success with positive awareness increasing from 21% in December 2001 to 29% in 2003, and later leapt to 60% and 73% positive awareness for April 2005. Dunedin City was the most recalled city in New Zealand, beating Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch for two years in a row.

For seven years the city marketing

City marketing

City marketing is the promotion of a city, or a district within it, with the aim of encouraging certain activities to take place there. It is used to alter the external perceptions of a city in order to encourage tourism, attract inward migration of residents, or enable business relocation...

’s key role was to externally promote Dunedin outside of the city to New Zealand and overseas. The city’s population rose incrementally from 115,000 people in 2001 to 122,000 people in 2006.

Re-evaluation

DCC believes that it is now time for the city marketing mandate to be reviewed in order for future campaigns to have a meaningful contribution to Dunedin’s economic and social prosperity. Moreover, the Council’s marketing team has been conducting a series of focus groups with community leaders to identify issues and develop a long-term marketing strategy.

DCC also believes that “I am Dunedin” will continue to be successful and effective due to its innovative flair and the originality of branding a city and positively changing perceptions. The brand has no barriers, is therefore sustainable, and can be developed into a multitude of campaigns that are timely and relevant to the City of Dunedin’s future promotional and communication needs.

Slogan to be dropped

The slogan I AM DUNEDIN is to be dropped and the council is currently searching for a new one. Several options, many "tongue in cheek" have been put forward by members of the public

Sources

• Hooker, Jennifer. ‘Branding Dunedin: passionate, active, vibrant, youthful.’ Working on the edge: A Portrait of Business in Dunedin. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press, 2007. 78-87
• ‘I am Dunedin.’ Com. Murray Grindlay, ZOOM Evolution, 2007.
• Jennifer Hooker. Personal interview. Face to Face. Audiocassette in possession of author. 27 March 2009.

Further reading

• Inkson, K, Browning, V. and Kirkwood, J. eds. Working on the edge: A Portrait of Business in Dunedin. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press, 2007.