Positioning
Aarhus for
the future
2 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
Aarhus is a dynamic city that has a lot to offer the world.
It has a growing and youthful population, and it has ambitious
plans for the future. In order to realize these plans, Aarhus will
need to both galvanize the belief and mobilize the activity of
those people who live in the city, and attract new people and
new businesses.
This report recommends the new direction the city should take
to achieve these objectives and update the perceptions of the
city as a place of influence on the world stage.
To find that direction, strategically we need to answer the
question: what is it that Aarhus does best, that customers
seek most, that sets us apart from competing cities?
Contents
What Global Customers are looking for . . Page
3
What makes Aarhus special? . . . . . . . . . . . Page
7
What sets us apart from other cities? . . . Page 13
The big idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 15
Implementing the new idea . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 20
The look of the brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 23
Telling the Aarhus story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 27
What Global
Customers are
looking for
Aarhus needs to work hard to engage with international talent, business
and visitors. As each of these audiences are being lured by cities right
across the globe, it is important to understand what buttons need to be
pressed to get Aarhus to the top of the list not just alphabetically.
4 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
There are four key audiences
we need to attract:
International students
International workers
International businesses
International visitors
International students
For the internationally mobile student, the marketplace is rich with choice. Students are motivated to
study in places that can enhance their career opportunities but also offer a vibrant city experience.
The livability of a city is of primary importance and Aarhus’ livability is singled out by citizens and
visitors alike as one of its key strengths.
Whilst it will be important to expose the city’s livability in brand activation, the headline of the brand
for students should be about quality of courses and, increasingly, a sense of idealism and career
opportunity.
So what does opportunity look like? How do students learn that a city will be a springboard to
career progression?
From a student perspective, university rankings are usually the first criteria to be assessed. Increasingly those indexes are measures of the strength of the institution’s international reputation. Cities
therefore need to project the cosmopolitan experience they offer as well as the world-class level of
research of their educational institutions. But it is more than that, it is an attitude. Students from
humanities to sciences increasingly want to be assured that their studies will have an impact – make
a difference – to politics, society and environment. Cities need to display an attitude which shows
they are willing to take on the big challenges and that they are a natural home for those who want
to be the best in their field.
“Aarhus has a strong and lively student community.”
The no. 1 strength of Aarhus according to students, source: Dit Aarhus survey, Spring 2011
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 5
International workers
The internationally mobile worker will also be looking for career enhancement, the possibility to
progress their career and improve future opportunities, as well as the city’s ability to project a safe
and enjoyable lifestyle. The city’s reputation for sector specialism is also crucial, and a city needs to
find a voice that reflects the importance of those areas of specialism, but also capture and reflect a
cross-sector “employee-credo”. The right mix of stability, entrepreneurship, welfare systems of support and enough ‘business buzz’ to give them the confidence that this is a place with a vibrant and
progressive economic environment.
What makes Aarhus a liveable city?
• Higher Education • Student Life • Natural Beauty
• Shopping
• Restaurants • Family suitability
• Personal safety
• Museums
• History and Heritage
International businesses
As with students and workers, business investors need to be convinced that a city has the right
conditions to enable growth. They are also likely to be swayed to join businesses of a similar sector
to gain access to staff and academic expertise, or link to a local supply chain that can also fit within
the global production network. So again the value proposition has to demonstrate that business
can develop but it must also communicate specific sector features.
Whether it is about the development of products and services, the provision of competent employees or access to new customers, any value proposition for business needs to be both bold and
supportable with real life case studies.
“By plugging companies in to appropriate knowledge networks, Aarhus presents businesses with new opportunities in research and development.”
Source: Business focus group, Aarhus, Spring 2011
6 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
International visitors
The rise of the weekend city break has been a recent phenomenon made viable by the democratization of air travel courtesy of low cost airlines. As a city served by the likes of Ryan Air, Aarhus has
the potential to claim a stake of this market. Today’s city hoppers are looking for simple yet compelling and differentiating itineraries so that they get the most out of their 48 hours.
“As a small and vibrant city, Aarhus is a great place for city hoppers.”
Source: Tourism focus group, Aarhus, Spring 2011
Looking further afield to visitors from other continents, it becomes increasingly difficult for non-capital
cities to be able to offer just reason for a visit unless they can be positioned as a stop-off on an
obvious tourist route. The strategy for cities like Aarhus, therefore, needs to focus on the visitor
trade of the extended families of the students and workers who move to the city to study and work.
Instead of individual tourists, Aarhus is likely to find more success in appealing to business tourists.
Establishing the city as a centre for conferences, exhibitions and symposiums is achievable if the
themes of these business gatherings are relevant to what the city has to offer.
“If we continue to establish the city as a centre of excellence for wind power, it is easy to see how we could structure a series of events and meetings surrounding the topic of sustainable energy.”
Source: Tourism focus group, Aarhus, Spring 2011
What makes
Aarhus special?
Aarhus has a lot going on and a lot going for it. But strong positioning is built upon only the most distinctive qualities. Aarhus
has four unique and differentiating characteristics that should
be at the heart of future messaging.
8 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
Unique differentiator no. 1
Aarhus is a city that takes
on big challenges
With the people of the developing world demanding a higher standard of living and the people of
the developed world living longer and longer, the planet faces a new set of challenges. Food,
energy, healthcare and productivity all need to be looked at in entirely different ways to meet the
needs of such a fast changing world. Aarhus has developed important competencies in all of these
areas.
Energy
The cluster of wind related businesses in the city and the wider region is something that the city
has made a feature of recently, but the city’s footprint in sustainable energy systems spreads much
wider than just wind. District heating, water efficiency and energy metering are all sectors in which
Aarhus can make a powerful ‘expert’ claim. Moreover there is shared philosophy of company
leaders across these sectors, they believe in the importance of the longevity of their products, they
are leading the world in the creation of more efficient, durable products that can compete with tradi­
tional fossil fuels and lead to new technological developments.
“87 percent of the turnover of the Danish wind industry is generated by
companies in the Greater Aarhus area.”
Source: Monday Morning, independent think tank
Food
With the headquarters of some of the world’s biggest food production companies in the region, a
comprehensive and accessible supply chain ‘from farm to fork’, and the leading business to consumer food brands regularly passing through Aarhus to do business, Aarhus can make a strong
claim as a food centre of excellence. But, again, the leaders of the many companies involved in
Aarhus’ food cluster talk a bigger game than merely creating the next flavour of ice cream. “How
do we feed the world’s burgeoning population?” “How do we ensure quality, food safety and nutritional value remain sacrosanct in mass production?” “How do we excite the palette and make the
healthy more interesting?”
“With 3000 workers, the Agro Food Park provides a point of focus for a sector that encompasses the entire region.”
Source: Agro Food Park
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 9
Health
Aarhus has made significant investments in the health sector. With the development of the University
Hospital in Skejby – a state-of-the-art medical research facility – complemented by the desire to look
at the subject in terms of prevention rather than cure give the city the right to join this crucial debate
at the highest level.
“The New University Hospital is the biggest building project in Northern
Europe. It will be organized as a city of districts, streets, plazas and
squares. Designed to meet the future demands of technology, treatments and ways of working.”
Source: Central Denmark Region, DNU
Productivity
According to McKinsey, in the current economic climate, economies wishing to maintain a GDP
growth rate of 2 to 3% a year, should expect only 30% of this growth to come from labour force
expansion and, a huge, 70% to come from increases to productivity. In Western Europe, given a
shrinking labour force, GDP is expected to be driven 100% through increased productivity.
Denmark is ranked no. 1 in the world for commercial productivity and Aarhus companies epitomise this determination to create products that are not only the very best in the world but also
the most efficiently produced. This “more brains, less brawn” attitude makes Aarhus an ideal
working model for other economies to learn from.
“The Aarhus model fits with our own model of business efficiency; we find ourselves in an environment which not only supports but actually underpins our high productivity rates.”
Source: CEO, Johnson Controls
10 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
Unique differentiator no. 2
A city that works together
The world of city brands is littered with claims of ‘collaboration’ and being ‘networked’. Most of these
claims can be difficult to substantiate but in Aarhus, collaboration is impossible to ignore as it is
inte­gral to so many aspects of city life.
In Aarhus the ability and the desire to collaborate is hard-wired. Several factors contribute to this
shared way of working:
• The size of the city means that more people know more people. What’s more, they’re likely
to trust those people.
• There is a common level of knowledge and intelligence in the citizens of Aarhus which
breeds respect for individual views and encourages people to invite input.
• City Hall is highly active and encourages people to cross-pollinate in new ways, and, importantly, it is respected in this role.
• Key institutions, such as Aarhus University, are open to collaboration with business which
leads to a genuine spirit of entrepreneurialism in the academic community.
• There are a large number of “places” and public-private “agents” whose business models
depend on collaboration.
• The City has actively supported the creation of vertical business clusters. As well as food,
energy and health; IT, Design and Architecture and the Knowledge sector all support the
cluster model.
• More philosophically, there’s an approach, a common set of beliefs, a way of doing things.
Built upon ideas of consensus driven decision-making, non-hierarchical democratic respect,
critical thought and peer review all of which are so embedded in the Aarhus way of life
that they inexorably lead to city wide collaboration.
“By collaborating we’re able to get access to resources and intelligence
we’d never be able to get unless we were a huge company and that
makes us much more competitive.”
Source: Energy focus group, Aarhus, Spring 2011
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 11
Unique differentiator no. 3
A city that is hungry to experiment
and rethink conventional ways of
doing things
There’s a little bit of anarchy in Aarhus: a slight lack of respect for authority and a desire to do
things differently. Putting this in perspective, it would be wrong to suggest that Aarhus could
make a claim to be one of the world’s creative hubs, like London or Berlin, but there is a distinct
flavour to Aarhus’ spirit of experimentation that could be noteworthy when applied to a commercial context.
Aarhus combines the Danish design ethos – minimalism + usability + ethical integrity – with a flair
for the unexpected. This enables it to deliver solutions to problems that are both well thought
through and genuinely innovative.
The desire to be experimental doesn’t just reside with creative industries; it is a theme that was
echoed across all sectors. And, to the people of Aarhus, experimentation doesn’t necessarily
mean ripping up the rule book and instigating wholesale change, it means being driven to find
opportunities to do things differently in even the smallest of circumstances.
“When we look at a sport, we start by asking what could we do differently to make it better.”
Source: Events focus group, Aarhus, Spring 2011
“The Danish system is to not just allow but to encourage critical questioning of conventional wisdom: something we adhere strongly to in Aarhus.”
Source: Education focus group, Aarhus, Spring 2011
“Business hierarchies are minimal here in Aarhus which makes for an environment that’s more conducive to experimentation.”
Source: Expatriates focus group, Aarhus, Spring 2011
12 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
Unique differentiator no. 4
A city with pragmatic determination
to do things better
Aarhus doesn’t hope to advance, it expects to. There’s a belief that things can always be improved
and a nonchalance in people’s ability to create what’s necessary to deliver the improvement.
Aarhusians are relentless, they don’t give up easily and aren’t satisfied until they’ve found a progressive outcome. Whether big leaps of innovation or small steps in efficiency, the Aarhus Effect is
always furtherance.
Interestingly, although Aarhusians readily believe they can improve most things they turn their hands
to, they are reluctant to broadcast this trait. There is a humbleness in attitude that, although endearing,
is a contributor in itself to the relative anonymity of the city.
“It is a lot to do with the way we look at things. In wind turbines, for example, where others have taken the blueprints we designed as the
accepted model, we have continued to seek out better designs.”
Source: Energy Cluster focus group, Aarhus, Spring 2011
“We’re compelled to be efficient, to do more with less, to keep squeezing out that little extra drop. A quality that marries well with the world we live in.”
Source: Architecture and Design focus group, Aarhus, Spring 2011
What sets us
apart from
other cities?
Let’s be clear, City branding is not easy. We’re attempting
to boil down the views of hundreds of organisations and
thousands of people into a simple guiding thought with an
original angle. By trying to please everyone it is all too easy
to end up appealing to no one.
14 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
To stand out from other cities, therefore, it is essential that the Aarhus brand:
• Is single-minded – says one thing as opposed to a multitude of things.
• Focuses on a target audience rather than trying to be all things to all people.
• Is straightforward about what it does and doesn’t try to be too clever in the delivery of its
core message.
• Substantiates its message at every opportunity.
• Attributes its success to a clear and ownable approach.
• Uses writing that is a little bit more surprising, spiky and inventive.
Bringing it all together
So what is it that Aarhus does best, that customers want most that competitors offer least?
That’s the question that lies at the heart of the way we look to position Aarhus for the future.
What Aarhus does best:
• We take on big challenges successfully
• We really do work together well
• We are hungry to experiment and rethink the conventional way things are done
• We are pragmatically determined to improve things
What our customers want most:
• Opportunities to further individual careers
• Opportunities to grow business
• Simple signposting to help them achieve their objectives (whether that be an exciting
weekend visit or a long term business solution)
What competitors do least:
• Provide a clear and simple promise
• Support that promise with a workable and demonstrable methodology
The
big idea
16 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
The proposition
Aarhus invites people, companies and
whole sectors to move forward by
immersing them in an innovation
ecosystem that’s broader and more
diligent than any other on the planet.
Now that looks like a pretty bold claim, but Aarhus definitely has what it takes to substantiate it.
The big headline here is the approach the city takes to innovation: it has the intimacy and the flexibility to bring together more smart people, from more diverse sectors, more quickly, and more
frequently than any other city can make possible. This city wide approach to innovation enables
Aarhus to get big thinkers to work together without barriers and the result is ideas and actions
that are simply better.
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 17
The approach
City wide innovation
The coming together of citizens, businesses, agents, City Hall and the education sector in
pur­pose-built places all with the willingness to provide new solutions by working together.
Citizens
Businesses
Agents
City wide
innovation
Places
itizens
C
Individuals that understand that product and
service design can only really work with significant involvement from users in the development phase. Intelligent and proactive innovation guinea pigs e.g. members of Sailing
Aarhus.
usinesses
B
Commercial organisations that understand the
benefit of collaboration and cross-pollination
and are willing to commit resources to achieve
their own results and results for others, e.g.
Vestas, Arla, Systematic etc.
Education
& research
ducation & research
E
Learning and research centres that believe
knowledge and thinking are nothing unless
they are readily applicable to genuine business
applications and real life user experience.
Places
Physical campuses that provide the geographical epicenter for sector specific colla­boration,
such as The Agro Food Park for the food
sector.
Agents
Independent sector protagonists such as
The Alexandra Institute that form the bridge between business, education and City Hall.
18 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
The invitation
So that’s the theory
– but how does it manifest?
We’re proud of our city wide network. Everyone of us involved in creating, networking, innovating
and collaborating. It is our way, it is the Aarhus approach. We recognise that we have been good at
collaborating with each other, but now we want to offer that approach to the world, we want to
invite the world to progress with us:
Progress with us
The benefit
Tangible improvement
If a person, a company or a challenge gets immersed in this unique innovation system, it will undergo a measurable improvement, a definitive progression that will make it better than before it experienced the Aarhus effect. No matter what you are trying to achieve you can progress with us.
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 19
The benefit line
• Progress can be a giant leap or a small step
• It is therefore pragmatic and not “Hollywood”
• It is more realistic and therefore more Aarhusian
• It says we’re a Danish city, essential in placing a city many haven’t heard of
• It has a subtle, cheeky confidence that makes you smile
• It allows us to define what progress is
• It has a genuine, tangible promise that’s relevant to all target customers
• It is serious, matter of fact and definitely not cheesy
• It passes the t-shirt test
Here we are providing newcomers to the city with what looks like a Danish dictionary definition for
Aarhus. The phrase explains that Aarhus is a Danish city but, more importantly, it defines the one
thing visitors can expect to get from the city if they were to venture here: progression. Progress can
be a giant leap or a small step therefore it is quite pragmatic and honest, which very much fits with
the values of Aarhusians. But at the same time, by being definitive about Aarhus being the place for
progress, we create an ownable promise for the city and suggest that nowhere else in Denmark,
or indeed the world, can come close to our progressive way of thinking. Although a little cheeky,
the phrase sets down a very tangible and matter-of-fact ideal that the modern world needs.
Implementing
the new idea
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 21
Implementation challenges
The key to delivering Aarhus’ new positioning successfully is demonstration, demonstration,
demonstration. We need to take every available opportunity to make the approach come to life
and turn our promise into daily proof points.
From the viewpoint of a customer journey – the steps a newcomer might go through as they
interact with the city – below are the key questions for the implementation.
Hooks
How do we introduce the city’s proposition to newcomers and attract them to look further?
Windows
If a newcomer arrives in the city or decides to investigate further online, how easy is it for them to
experience the city’s philosophy in the first instance?
Doorways
Once they understand the concept of city wide innovation and what the city has to offer from a
lifestyle perspective, how easy is it for them to access it?
Homes
Once into the system, how do they continue to gain access to the different parts of the innovation
network and, from a livability point of view, how do they properly integrate into society?
22 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
Aarhus Marketing Alliance
The Aarhus Marketing Alliance will be the founding and driving organisation in implementing and
activating the Aarhus brand and building the city’s international profile over the coming years.
Aarhus is a network. We are at our best when we work at a city wide level to achieve our goals.
That’s why we have formed the Aarhus Marketing Alliance: a city wide network where the
members work together to build the events and actions that create the Aarhus experience.
The network is comprised of key brand stakeholders and organisations all of whom are already
brand ambassadors and promote Aarhus internationally as part of their organisational strategy.
Each alliance member has distinct extensive networks with key international audiences.
The goals of the Aarhus Marketing Alliance are:
• To attract and retain international audiences to Aarhus generating a coordinated
approach to international promotion.
• To create synergy from the varied international promotion efforts of each organisation.
• T
o create a team of ambassadors who can champion the brand narrative and bring
the visual identity to life.
• T
o create a shared international promotion agenda to harness the power of member
brands and their collaborators.
The Marketing Alliance will therefore create a rallying call around the proposition – Danish for
progress – but the organisations and businesses that make up the network will become the key
vehicles for messaging and demonstrating action.
The Marketing Alliance will determine future promotional initiatives for each of the steps in the customers’ journey, creating hooks, windows, doorways and homes for each of our key target groups.
The look
of the
brand
24 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
Creating a visual identity for a city
In creating the visual identity we are clear that we are not creating a corporate identity. We have
already got plenty of those, every city does. We’re creating a platform and invitation to all our
partners to join us in promoting the city.
We believe that our brand will be understood by how we show it, not just how we say it, and that
means through our shared actions. The people, companies, organisations and institutions that
make up the city are the means of communicating the brand. They are actually the ones that will
activate the brand internationally.
For that reason we have created a visual identity which is flexible and dynamic. It has to work in
many different contexts, with many different partners. It has to be recognizable but it shouldn’t
compete with our stakeholders’ own visual identities.
The visual identity has to be easy to implement without big costs. That’s why the identity is a
straightforward graphic design with a striking and contemporary colour palette.
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 25
Design with us
We don’t want to be prescriptive in how the brand is used, in fact we want people to be as
imaginative as we have come to expect from Aarhusians.
As in the typical Aarhus approach there are very few rules for the use of the brand. The visual
identity will be made accessible with some guidelines for the use, but it is up to the city to use it
creatively with their existing material.
The colour palette includes nearly every colour of the rainbow and can be combined with existing
colours that are already part of other visual identities.
26 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
With Aarhus
With Aarhus is an invitation using the “us” in Aarhus. The visual identity reflects the fact that city wide
collabo­ration is one of Aarhus’ biggest strengths. And we want to open our tight-knit network to
others. We are internationalising our approach and inviting international workers, students,
companies and tourists to experience our approach to achieve their goals and to progress in which­
ever way they want, with us.
Therefore we have added an explicit call to action into the visual identity.
Whenever you do something with Aarhus you do it with us. This statement is very welcoming and
opens up the visual identity for customization. It is very easy to combine this statement with an
existing campaign, slogan, cause etc.
Telling the
Aarhus story
It is essential that we start to compile consistent and
compelling case studies of the progressive achievements of
Aarhus. Every piece of storytelling needs to do two things...
28 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
+
Be unexpected
Be forward thinking
Unexpected
To capture the progressive nature of the city, we always need to capture an experimental and
surprising tonality in what we communicate.
Forward thinking
Being surprising alone is not good enough if it doesn’t result in progress.
On the following pages you’ll find some real examples of Aarhus’ city wide innovation in action
and get to see how being a progressive city is something that comes naturally.
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 29
In Aarhus, we value beautiful minds
not beautiful handwriting
It’s funny isn’t it? Every aspect of a student’s education is now digital but at
the most crucial point of all, the final exam, we ask them to use a very old
technology – pencil and paper.
Working on a computer is not only what students prefer, it means
information can be analysed more thoroughly, ideas can be expressed
more dramatically and opinions formed more coherently. So, as a city
obsessed with progress, how could we enable students to use computers
in exams but prevent them Googling the answers? Discuss.
Fortunately, we passed this test with flying colours. The first ever fully
digital exam will take place in Aarhus later this summer.
30 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
In Aarhus, great minds don’t think alike
We don’t think of progress as a nice to have, we think of it as an essential. That’s why we make innovation something that happens on a citywide basis, bringing together the private sector, the public sector and the
people of our city in entirely new ways. Because where there are
differences of opinion, so too there are great ideas.
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 31
In Aarhus, all ideas are renewable
People like to talk about “thinking big”. In Aarhus, we think the small
ideas are powerful too. In our experience, ‘thinking small’ can result in
some extraordinary benefits.
When we adjusted the shape of a wind turbine’s blades by dimensions
that are barely visible to the naked eye, we made enormous gains in
efficiency. It’s this obsession with precision and refinement that has
helped Aarhus to lead the world in the development of wind energy
technologies.
It’s not only in the wind technology sector where you’ll see this kind of
thinking. In Aarhus, wherever you look, there’s vision.
32 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
In Aarhus, a lucky break is carefully planned
We believe that at the heart of progress lies talent. Talent, especially young
talent, needs nurturing if it’s to reach its potential. So, where we see talent
being ignored or getting crushed, we find it hard not to step in.
Every year in Aarhus, we run Spot Festival. It’s a unique line up of music
concerts where only unknown acts get a mainstream audience.
Thanks to Spot, some of the region’s biggest names were discovered.
The Ravonettes, Mew and Junior Senior, to name a few.
So, in Aarhus, talented musicians aren’t just spotted, they get the break
they really deserve.
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 33
In Aarhus, food always gets better with more ingredients
Our region is not just home to ten of the world’s biggest food
producers, it’s a centre of excellence for every part of the food chain,
from farm to fork. In Aarhus, we can help food companies to do anything
– from discovering new flavours, to creating entirely new models of
production. Together we’re solving some of the toughest challenges
in the world of food and nutrition.
So, far from “too many cooks spoiling the broth”, we prefer to think that
a range of expertise, knowledge and skill can serve up some remarkable
results.
34 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
In Aarhus, a yacht race may be on the horizon but the
In
Aarhus, a lucky break is carefully planned
spectators will always be on the edge of their seats
As a coastal city, we love nothing more than keeling over at 45 degrees
on an ocean going yacht. Here, regattas are a religion. But sailing isn’t the
easiest sport to follow. It’s not just that the boats are far away but that,
as the sport is so tactical, it’s not always clear who’s in the lead.
By bringing together some of the world’s best sailors with the world’s
leading technology and usability experts, we were able to dramatically
enhance the spectator’s experience.
We think we’ve improved a sport that’s a few thousand years old.
Imagine what we might be able to do for young businesses.
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 35
In Aarhus, it may be an away game but you’ll feel at home
Cities often seem to see visiting football fans as something to be
“managed”. In Aarhus, we think differently. We welcome them.
We want them to have the best time possible.
More than that, we strive to make their experience of the big match
and our city even more exciting and memorable. By providing them
with up-to-the-minute information and clever tools and apps, fans not
only get more out of the game but from the city of Aarhus itself.
We like to think that our obsession with progress is helping to make
“the beautiful game” even more beautiful.
36 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
In Aarhus, if the people won’t come to art,
art will come to the people
To us, art should be a basic element of city life. A right, not a privilege. So,
as well as making our museums and galleries much more accessible, we
exhibit art outside the gallery – quite literally.
Every second summer, Sculptures by the Sea displays a temporary
collection of public art along the beautiful shorelines and natural coastal
paths that surround our city.
We do this because we think that beautiful creativity should be exhibited in
a way that is, well, creative and beautiful. Simple really, but then isn’t that
always the way?
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 37
How to tell the story of Aarhus
We hope that you can see from these anecdotes and opinion pieces that the idea of progress is
something that really is inherent to what Aarhus has been, and will continue to be all about. As we
stated earlier, to make this brand positioning work, we all need to embrace the idea of progress
and continue to demonstrate our progressive, creative and innovative approach at every opportunity. It is easy to take the things that you deem to be the norm for granted, but from our research and
testing, many of the initiatives here are far from ordinary; they’re uncommon practices the city needs
to be proud of and others need to benefit from.
We’d like to gather as many stories of progress and city wide innovation as possible. So, here’s a
brief guide on how to compile a strong Aarhus story.
Content
1.Everything has to have some evidence of progression. It doesn’t matter if it is an example of
where we have merely pushed the peanut forward or kicked it into next week, as long as the
reader can clearly understand that progress has been made. So start by writing a long list of
achievements and be sure to include even the things that may at first glance not seem like a
big enough story.
2.Ideally the progression will have been made possible by people working together or a piece of
lateral thinking. These stories are as much about the methodology that was used to make the
progression as the progression itself. So, write down all the people involved, even if it was just a
phone call. Think as if you’re writing a recipe and get the long list of ingredients from the main
meat to the pinch of seasoning.
3.Try to capture the methodology in its entirety – every twist and turn, the highs and the lows of
the process you followed. Get it all down on paper first, it can always be shortened.
38 | Positioning Aarhus for the future
Style
1.Deliver the story in the first person
– “We noticed this”, “It is our belief that”.
2.Engage the reader in the thinking and make it feel so natural that they could have come up with
it themselves – “Yachting takes place a long way away so we wanted to make it feel closer.”
3.Try to be somewhat humble. It is much more human to use phrases like “We stumbled across
this by accident” or “Sometimes the best ideas are the ones that are staring you in the face”
than to be overly scientific or technical about how progress is made.
4.Try to bring intimacy into the writing. Make it feel that this was the thinking of a group of close
friends and it is because those friends knew each other and trusted each other’s judgment that
the progression was possible. “So, a couple of calls to Søren at the University and Mads at the
Innovation Lab and we were on our way.”
5.Don’t be afraid to be confident and cheeky, we need to appear proud of the things we do
to make progress and believe that our approach is the right way: “So, often you see talent
wasted, but...”
Positioning Aarhus for the future | 39
Progress can be big. Progress can be small. Progress
is the fuel of the future. Progress is a compulsion to move
forward. Progress is a promise of improvement. Progress
can happen in the blink of an eye. Progress takes determination and relentless positivity. Progress doesn’t overpromise. Progress is not wild and whacky but it could be.
Progress makes the past ridiculous. Progress is beautifully pragmatic. Progress is seeing the wood for the trees.
Progress obliterates barriers. Progress is personal.
Progress recognises that efficiency is beautiful. Progress
makes the world a better place.
This publication is for all organisations, businesses and citizens in Aarhus.
If you want to know more about – or contribute to – the international branding of Aarhus, please contact:
Communication, Mayor’s Department, City of Aarhus. T: +45 8940 2211. E: [email protected]. W: www.citybrandaarhus.dk.