Creating the city's brand

Competition between modern urban centres and their communities is es sential. To be competitive, the cities seek for any unique features to distinguish themselves in the global market. It seems that in the global economic crisis, the brand is the foundation for the idea of competitiveness as a driving force of the free market. Strict defining of the city's Unique Selling Proposition (USP) by us ing existing or reactivated brands can be a decisive factor that gives the city competi tive advantage on the market.

The City Promotion and European Integration Office, as the specialised organisational unit responsible for city mar keting, took the initiative of Mayor Maciej Kobylinski,and started to reactivate the Stolper Jungchen brand (The boy of Slupsk), one of the most recognisable pre-war food products.

The reactivation of the 'Stolper Jungchen' brand was one of the di rections in the primary strategic objective to build a strong brand -Slupsk. One of the guiding principles is to preserve and adapt all valuable and unique features of the historic Slupsk to the modern conditions of life.

The process of reactivation of the 'Stolper Jungchen' brand is divided into three main stages: stage I - legal protection of the brand, stage II - bringing the brand onto the market, stage III - brand marketing. In the first stage, a key issue was to obtain the rights to the trademark Stolper Jungchen - Camembert in Poland and Germany.

Phase II which is establishing cooperation with the manufacturer, started with the municipal applications to the Patent Office to grant protection rights for trademarks. Success at this stage was crucial to the whole process of reactivation. In 2007 the company called 'Cheese-Milk' located in Zielin near Slupsk started the production of Camembert-type cheese under the brand name 'Stolper Jungchen'. Common strategic objectives of the company and the municipality have become a platform for cooperation which was possible due to fulfilling some basic conditions:

• the municipality has brand protection rights in Poland and Germany,
• there is high brand awareness,
• it is possible to use modern promotion instruments,
• there is not a negative perception of the brand.

In parallel, the Slupsk led actions to promote the 'Stolper Jungchen' brand. The process to reactivate the brand Stolper Jungchen -Camembert launched in 2004 was a success. After five years of intensive work, the brand successfully competes on the Polish cheese market. Being a symbol of multicultural Slupsk it shapes the positive image of the city.