Branding Nagpur

Year ends / New years are great. People usually take off for a quick break/vacation and in most places its a great time to be outside. (Unless of course, you are stuck in Chicago snow blizzard)

We are already into 2010. Boy, what a decade this past one has been! Time magazine called it a "decade from Hell". After reading that article I sure thought it was.

We are into the 2 digits of the new century. That means we have 10 more years to achieve what we have set out to - making Nagpur a Global City.

Something struck me while I was reading an in flight magazine last week on my return flight back from the vacation. I saw that the small Arkansas town called 'Little Rock' had a brief paid advertising section in the flight magazine. It ran for about a couple of pages and I was intrigued by the information it had about this city.

For example, Little Rock has the 4Th best Economy in the US..(Did not see that coming). And it added 10,000 new jobs just last year. (By US standards, 10K is very high) Who would have thought that? Honestly before reading this, all I knew about Little Rock was that it was capital city of Arkansas; a state not on most people's radar.

I have a feeling the City Authorities of Little Rock are out there to brand it as a 'happening town'. And hence these paid ads. To make LR visible on the people's radar such branding activities are needed. The ad talked of, the great health care system that LR has, the great college culture it has, it talked of the new Clinton Library etc. Basically focusing on all positive aspects of that sleepy little town.

I liked the spirit of that article. It left me feeling positive about Little Rock.( And no, I am not packing my bags and going there. Chicago is just fine)

All those things that were said about LR, had me thinking, "how about our own little rock there in central India, huh?". How can we best BRAND Nagpur in coming years? I know it has similar positives. It has better than average Health Care system vis-a-vis other Indian cities. It has great college culture too. There may be few other similarities.

I think to make Nagpur visible in grand scheme of things, we'd have to brand it in a certain way. Something that should be appealing. For many people Nagpur may be a sleepy mid-tier city. But for many others that could actually be a plus. Slow, laid back, yet fun.

Should we form a team of people who can come up with ideas to Brand Nagpur? I think we should. Lets have a focus group to discuss how Nagpur can best be put on the Global Radar. Lets call it Branding Nagpur.

If you feel you have that zeal of a Marketing/Advertising genius, please come forward and add your vision for the same.

Lets make 2010 the year of 'Branding Nagpur'... and let's have a Nagpuri Buzz out there. What say you?