Brand Urbanism®: a new role for brands in the city

JCDecaux and the agency UTOPIES have published a study that explores new ways in which brands express themselves in the urban space. 50 examples of urban initiatives which improve citizens’ quality of life and reaffirm brands’ local roots.

What is Brand Urbanism®?

While cities are going through profound changes to cope with the challenges our society is facing, notably in terms of sustainable development, brands are also expected to assert their social usefulness. This new paradigm is developing public and private synergies and the expansion of initiatives in favor of living better in the city. 

This emerging practice is what we call Brand Urbanism®, which consists in forming partnerships with cities to launch and/or finance temporary or permanent urban development projects, devoting a fraction of their marketing budgets to improve city dwellers’ quality of life.

Nike renovated Court Duperré, 9th arrondissement of Paris, France and created a basketball court.

JCDecaux as a bridge between cities and brands

Brand Urbanism® is consistent with the ADN of JCDecaux, who already had the vertuous quality of bringing local authorities and brands together.

By offering the option to finance a service for all to cities (bus shelters, city information panels, Morris columns) through advertising, JCDecaux was a pioneer of Brand Urbanism®.

As a facilitator and catalyst of daily relationships between cities and brands, JCDecaux is convinced of Brand Urbanism® pertinence to help cities overcome the challenges facing them (regarding the environment, the climate, social links, and the renovation of abandoned districts) and to help brands establish stronger local roots.

Dulux puts its expertise and products at the service of facade painting. Above, St Mary’s, City Quay in Dublin.

Overview of Brand Urbanism® experiments

Facilitating access to sports, reenchanting the urban space, preserving the heritage and local identity, Brand Urbanism® as an emerging practice takes on different forms and extend to different areas  to solve a multitude of problematics. 

UTOPIES has studied 50 cases of Brand Urbanism® throughout the world and has  investigated what creates the sucess factors and  the best practices to respect in order to promote this concept sucessfully.

Brand Urbanism®: a new role for brands in the public urban space