Abstract
The world has witnessed the widespread use of city branding in many parts of the world during the last decade or so (Kavaratzis, 2005; Freire, 2007). City managers are in competition to attract investments and tourists. In doing so, cities are branded in according to their unique characteristics and potentials. While research exploring the implementation of city branding has been undertaken by many researchers, it is little known how local characteristics in the form of cultural identity play a role (Ho, 2004; Plaza, 2015). This study focuses on the extent to which local characteristics and culture of the local community are considered in either the formation of city identity as well as the city marketing through branding. This study covers several cities pioneering city branding in Indonesia, given limited international exposure of the city branding implementation in the global south. In particular, Indonesia, as one of the richest countries in terms of cultural identities, provides a suitable example of how cultural identity may influence, or not, the creation of city branding. The methodology used in this research is content analysis and in-depth interviews. This study analysed and summarized journal articles published locally and news articles related to city branding implementation in Indonesian cities. Additionally, a series of the interview is undertaken for the government officials and tourism agencies located in Jakarta. Jakarta is selected to represent other cities given that it is the first city to implement city branding. Findings of this study indicate that the imagery of cities in Indonesia is generally still limited to the formation of slogans and logos. It pays little attention to the cultural elements and aspirations of the local community. As a consequence of this, several cities had to replace the slogans in the logo within a few years due to public criticism. Findings of this study may contribute to the improvement of the policy process in the composition of city branding. Additionally, the results of this study may also provide additional insight on the relation between city branding and local cultural identity.
