Utrecht Brand Management

Operations / Organisation / Strategy

Commissioned by

The Utrecht Brand Network is a coalition of nine important stakeholders: the City of Utrecht, Economic Board Utrecht, Rabobank, Jaarbeurs, Corio, the Town Centre Management, Utrecht Museums, Utrecht Tourism and Utrecht Science Park.

BOISEN was commissioned in 2015 together with the Amsterdam-based consultancy Strategiemakers.

The Context

Utrecht is both the name of a city, and of a region – in the heart of the Netherlands. It’s been deemed Europe’s most competitive region in both 2010 and 2013 – topping a list of 262 European regions, closely followed by regions such as London and Ile-de-France. However, Utrecht is also – unrightfully so, according to Lonely Planet – one of Europe’s most unsung places.

A thriving business climate, a world class knowledge hub and romantic historical town centre all constitute great assets. In spite of these assets – or possibly because of them – Utrecht has never managed to create a lasting organisation tasked with improving it’s international and national presence, recognition and image.

Our Contribution

BOISEN brought state-of-the-art knowledge and experience on the organisation, financing and modus operandi of place branding and advised on the setup and tasks of a proposed new entity tasked with the place brand management.

Also, BOISEN participated in several Strategiemaker-workshops on coalition-building with the purpose of stimulating and facilitating more on-brand activities in both the city and its region.