City branding can be valuable after all, DW poll results reveal

Only a quarter of designers believe city branding is irrelevant, according to a survey by Design Week.

The poll, which is on www.designweek.co.uk, shows that just 25 per cent of respondents agreed with Michael Wolff’s statement that city branding is irrelevant. In a speech earlier this month, Wolff described city branding as like attempting to ‘eat a dinosaur’.

Referring to plans to create a brand for London, he added, ‘Whether the word “London” is written in Helvetica or the logo has Dick Whittington in it will not have much bearing on how people actually think of, and experience, the city.’

The logo in the Greater London Authority’s A Brand for London competition was scheduled to be delivered on 1 November, but it is understood that a consultancy has yet to be appointed to the task.