Our politicians never tire of insulting our intelligence by pompously promising that hey presto! they will, overnight, transform aamchi Mumbai into a modern Shanghai.
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They would do well to study the efforts being made by a joint initiative of government and business in Australia to give its premier city Sydney a massive makeover.
Concerned at the culture of complacency that has affected the state's tourism industry since the 2000 Olympic Games, Sydney will soon sell itself as a city of "vibrant magnetism" where its residents work hard and "live large".
A campaign to be unveiled this month will project Sydney's creativity, cultural vibrancy, progressiveness and "can-do" or free-thinking attitude towards problem-solving.
A month-long Vivid Festival, billed as a festival of music, light and ideas, held recently, played to the city's emerging strengths as a place where its free-thinking creativity found an outlet.
More than 200,000 people took part in the light walk, with research showing the event helped drive home the message that Sydney is more than just its natural beauty.
A Crave Festival, planned for October, will celebrate food, comedy, art and outdoor fun.
A committee of 14 executives drawn from tourism, the arts, education, business and the public sector, set up to re-invent the city, which has been working for a year, says Sydney needs to move on. However, the city's icons the Harbour Bridge and Opera House the harbour and other natural attractions will feature
prominently in the promotions.
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PIC/ Getty Images/ Adam Pretty/ Allsport |
The committee for the Brand Sydney Project, which has drawn up the Aus $1 million (approx Rs 4 crore) plan to market the city as a place to live, work and play based on research, would focus on areas where Sydney is excelling but has yet to exploit.
According to the committee's chairman Geoff Parmenter, a former head of marketing for the Australian Rugby Union: "Time and again the word 'vibrancy' came up in the research. There is a lot of energy in this city that we have not tapped."
The vibrancy of the city and the vitality of the people's thinking will be projected in the new branding.
Parmenter says the city's lifestyle, the health of its financial systems, its creative flair and the optimism of its residents will also feature in the image makeover, which is expected to be a partnership between the State Government and the private sector.
"The new branding and logo had to be adopted from the ground up much like was the case for the "Share The Spirit" logo to promote Sydney's bid to host the 2000 Olympics and the "I Love The Big Apple" stickers in New York in the 1980s".
The committee drew on existing research as well as 180 interviews with business people all over the world, including expatriate Australians.
They found that respondents liked the city's natural beauty, its healthy lifestyle, recognisable icons and friendly, open, multicultural people which make it Australia's only truly global city.
On the flip side were complacence, its remoteness, poor infrastructure and transport system, lack of credibility as a sustainable city and the fact that it was lacking in unity of purpose in the public and private sectors.
How about a similar initiative for aamchi Mumbai? Despite the delay and its many shortcomings, the sea link has demonstrated what we can achieve given political will.
As in the case of Sydney, it's time our private sector, as well as the good people in voluntary organisations such as Bombay First and I Love Bombay (why not "Mumbai"?) got their act together, took the initiative and gave government the requisite dhakka.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
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