DURBAN earned two accolades last week when Brand South Africa announced that the 2017 City Brand Index (CBI) revealed that the city had managed to clean up its image the most since 2017.
This feather in the cap for the city came hot on the heels of the announcement that Durban had been named the South African City with the highest quality of life for the fourth consecutive year in the international Mercer’s 20th Quality of Living Survey.
EThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede said the municipality had worked hard to position eThekwini as a world-class City. “We have implemented numerous measures to improve our image and remain competitive not only through marketing but also through ensuring that we reach the targets that we have set for ourselves in all areas.”
She said Durban’s improved image was as a result of increased focus on investment promotion, successful staging of events and programmes, greater resources applied towards marketing as well as ongoing powerful clean-up and safety programmes.
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Findings from the 2017 CBI, which measures the relative global reputation of three South African cities, indicates that of all the South African cities, Durban has achieved the most success in improving its image in 2017, moving up two positions since 2015, with an overall CBI 2017 rank of 46.
The 2017 CBI revealed that South African cities continued to maintain or improve their positions as global citizens displayed increasing appreciation for South African cities. Brand South Africa’s General Manager for Research Dr Petrus de Kock said: “The implication of these dynamics is that the economic, cultural/identity, and political outlook of the country can under no circumstances ignore the critical role urban areas, cities, and metro’s play in shaping the fate of the nation and the Nation Brand.”
He said there was a dynamic inter-relationship between the global profile, positioning and reputation of the City and the Nation Brand. “The global profile, reputation, and positioning of the South African Nation Brand is directly influenced by dynamics of urbanisation, its cities, and metropolitan areas,” he said.
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Brand South Africa’s research team analysed the state of South Africa’s major cities namely Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban and noted that the fate of nearly 65 per cent of the population was tied to the success of urban areas, cities and metros. However, they also observed that at a global level, the improved reputation, visibility, and successes of cities and metros directly impacted on the profile and reputation of the national brand.
The 2017 CBI further revealed that since 2015, Durban’s rank had improved by one position in the Presence, Place, and Prerequisites Indices and by two in the Pulse Index while it moved up by three in the Potential Index and by four in the People Index. Durban ranks 49th in Presence, 42nd in Place, 41st in Prerequisite, 40th in People, 47th in Pulse, and 39th in Potential.
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