Measuring image of a city:

A qualitative approach with

case example
Received (in revised form): 31st May, 2006

Pirjo Laaksonen
is head of the Department of Marketing at Vaasa University. She has especially focused on consumer behaviour, and is
chairman of the Finnish Association of Consumer Research. Fields of meanings, image and identity have had a central role in
her previous studies.

Martti Laaksonen
is professor of marketing and dean of the Faculty of Business Studies at Vaasa University. His studies mainly include the
academic field of consumer behaviour and conceptualisation of new products.

Paivi Borisov
works as an assistant in the Department of Marketing at Vaasa University. She has, in addition to city image studies,
concentrated on researching consumer and food-related meanings, attitudes and behaviour.

Jenniina Halkoaho
works as an assistant in the department of marketing at Vaasa University. She has investigated consumer leisure contexts
and university images in her previous studies.

Abstract The framework of this study focuses on conceptualising the city as it is

experienced by people. The study questions the applicability of traditional survey
techniques when researching city images and offers a new technique, a visual collage in
combination with group interviews, that enables researchers to get a more genuine
picture of subjective images of the city; especially how it is constructed in peoples
minds. A city is a complex entity that can be perceived from various perspectives,
which presents challenges for researching and managing city images. Image research
should be able to reach and sustain the width and depth of individuals subjective
images of the city but also offer generalising value for decision makers. The managerial
challenge is how to outline the city image in order to get consensus within target
groups and managers from different sectors. With the help of conceptual and practical
results from an empirical study, this paper offers implications for strategic work to
develop both inside and outside the city image.

Pirjo Laaksonen
Faculty of Business
Administration
Department of Marketing
University of Vaasa
PO Box 700
FIN-65101 Vaasa
Finland
Tel: 358 6-324 8285
Fax: 358 6 324 8251
E-mail:
pirjo.laaksonen@uwasa.fi

210

Keywords: city image, measuring city image, structure of city image, visual collage
technique

INTRODUCTION
The successfulness of cities increasingly
depends on whether they are attractive
places for people to live in, for businesses
to establish, for visitors to enjoy their

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stay and where employees wish to work

(Glaeser et al., 2000; Erickson and
Roberts, 1997). Building an attractive
city image is rarely easy because of the
complicated nature of the city; even

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Measuring image of a city

though the city may have all the

substance, it still may not be attractive
enough. This was noticed in the case of
Vaasa, a coastal, bilingual (Finnish and
Swedish) city located in western Finland
with a population of 57,000. Vaasa, along
with other cities in Finland, had regularly
used surveys to examine its image, but
there was an unaccountable bias between
the attractiveness of the city and its
substance value as indicated by, for
example, the relative quantity of health
and cultural services.
The idea of examining the image of
the city came from the city leaders.
They were interested in finding out how
the Vaasa brand could be developed
further by researching the strengths,
weaknesses and distinctiveness of the city.
Thus the implicative value played an
important role when creating the
database.
What is the role of data collecting in
establishing the implication value? It is
obvious that studied elements should be
relevant and adequate for the
determination of the city image. In other
words, the questions should measure
issues that are important for those who
need research results to support their
branding activities. And further, it does
seem essential that evaluative dimensions
are spontaneously recognised and actively
employed by informants (McKennell,
1974: 27).
This paper focuses on conducting
image research in a way that produces
practical consequences for place
management. The first objective is to
develop a methodological procedure for
investigating place image in a thorough
way. Due to the challenges caused by
diversified and complex place images, the
researchers suggest a qualitative way
combining visual and verbal data as a
methodological base. With the help of a
developed qualitative procedure the
image of the case city, Vaasa, is analysed.

Although the focus is on a single city,

inferences can be drawn for other cities
and places as well. Therefore this study
analyses the results in terms of
metathemes, exemplifying these
metathemes with Vaasa-specific
information. The third objective is to
derive and develop practical implications
for researching and managing the place
image.
THE CHALLENGING ASPECTS OF
IMAGE RESEARCH
A typical definition of place image is
given by Kotler et al. (1993), who define
it as the sum of beliefs, ideas, and
impressions that people have of a place.
The definition is true in its contents but
offers little help for the researcher of the
city image. How can one find out those
beliefs, ideas and impressions? Where are
they actually connected, and, more
importantly, what decisions do they
guide one to make?
Place image is the base for place
branding as it is presented by, for
example, Karavatzis (2004: 58). It is
generally recognised that before starting
consciously to build a certain brand for a
city, one has to know the current image
that the city holds. But it is not entirely
agreed which is the best way to collect
information about the city image.
Traditionally images have been examined
through semantic differential or
Likert-scale-type question structures, but
there are also interpretative approaches
available. These can be the answer in
situations where traditional surveys are
not considered to be revealing and
discriminating enough.
Image is based on factors that are
central and important in a relation
between a person and the city (Gray and
Smeltzer, 1985: 75). In other words, a
person may see a particular dimension of
the city as important in general, but does

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Laaksonen, Laaksonen, Borisov and Halkoaho

not find that dimension important for

herself/himself. That is because different
demographic and psychographic factors
of people make them see and experience
things very differently. Individuals value
and perceive different things, and
connect to them different kinds of
meanings. The relation that a person has
with the city, eg as entrepreneur, student
or visitor, is a determinative factor when
forming an image of a city; thus there
will always be many different sub-images.
This study focuses on the umbrella image
of the city, which gathers those
sub-images together.
It is commonly noticed that not all
brand personality facets are equally
important to individuals (Peter and
Olson, 2005: 81; Azoulay and Kapferer,
2003). Differences in cultural contexts
and the nature of objects studied present
difficulties when using fixed scales (such
as the brand personality scale developed
by Aaker, 1997). When applying
interpretative approaches, results can be
easier to relate to a meaningful standard
so that they are actually relevant to
customers, instead of researching
anything and everything about the city.
People may bring forth sides of the city
that are not consciously emphasised and
overlook aspects of the city that are
considered to be important.
It is suggested that considering many
different dimensions causes problems for
an individual when framing an overall
opinion about an object (Baron and
Byrne, 1974: 102). Usually, if
respondents live in or near the city, there
are more elements that constitute their
city image than for those who do not
know the city well; for the latter, one
distinctive element alone can be enough
to define the image. Often, though, the
image of the city is versatile and attached
to many elements, descriptions and
evaluations which can be seemingly
contradictory. City can be seen as big

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and small, beautiful and ugly, etc. People

subjectively choose the elements that
form their image and give different
emphasis to elements they have
perceived. They may also make the same
overall evaluation for different reasons
(McKennell, 1974: 45). In this respect,
image measurements have to be sensitive
to the nature of the image.
Past research has shown that rating
scales and free-choice pick any
measures of brand perceptions provide
quite similar results. But free-choice
approaches are found to be quicker
and simpler to answer and are better at
discriminating between brands than
scale approaches (see eg Romaniuk,
2005). Romaniuks research suggests
that underreporting of beliefs is not
necessarily a concern for those using a
free-choice approach. In fact, the
free-choice approach even showed
better success than the scale approach
when measuring trait associations
among non- brand-users.
Another important decision to make
when measuring the city image is
whether to use verbal or visual
question types. Visual methods can
stimulate thinking and thus ease the
approach to the study object. As
Zaltman (1996: 13) states, thoughts
occur as images, and social meanings
are mostly exchanged in non-verbal
ways. Metaphors are also central to
thought because they are used to
express and outline thoughts and
phenomena (Goatly, 1997). Metaphors
are representations of one thing in
terms of another (Zaltman, 1996: 14).
By exploring and categorising the
various metaphors the aim is to
understand the studied object as seen
in peoples minds (Davies and Chun,
2003: 46; Zaltman 1996: 14). Clearly,
visual and metaphorical research
methods do have a place when
researching images.

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Measuring image of a city

1. Every participant created

a visual collage

To stimulate and reveal latent associations connected to the city

2. Adjectives that describe

the city were added to
collages

To add verbal agreement and explain the evaluative meaning of

chosen pictures

3. Participants described
and discussed their

To arouse discussion on themes that are relevant to participants

in the group

collages in groups

4. A cartoon balloon
questions What do I think

To explain the interaction between the city and the respondent

and reveal opinions that are top of mind

about Vaasa?, What does

Vaasa think about me?

5. Group discussion about

the ideal city of Vaasa

To get new ideas for developing the city, and end the session
by summarising the answers

Figure 1: Methodological procedure

RESEARCH METHODS AND DATA

COLLECTION
The challenge of this study was to
manage the variety of different interest
groups in a city without losing in-depth
images and meanings. In this study the
city wanted to develop its overall image
by including all main audiences: local
residents, entrepreneurs, the
Swedish-speaking minority, culture
enthusiasts, mothers, young adults, retired
people, students and also visitors from
outside the city. The purpose was to
reach a common core umbrella image of
the city. The data were obtained through
20 focus groups representing different
interest groups, of which 15 were local

and five were outside the city. Each

group comprised four to seven people of
similar background so that they could
have a pleasant and inspiring atmosphere.
Further, group discussions were used to
reveal points of both agreement and
disagreement.
Figure 1 shows the researchers
methodological approach to the challenge
of the scope and scale of images. There
was a clear overall logic when collecting
the data. First, participants created a
many-sided image and brought up
important aspects of Vaasa. Then
interviews probed to reveal the
explanations behind answers. At the end,
a holistic, summarised view was obtained

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Laaksonen, Laaksonen, Borisov and Halkoaho

through discussions about the ideal city

of Vaasa.
Researchers wanted to use visual and
metaphorical methods because these have
shown themselves able to reveal and
stimulate deep and often latent images,
feelings and attitudes (eg Zaltman, 1996;
Lieber, 1997; Sack, 1998; Sheehy, 1999;
Coulter et al., 2001). The chosen
research technique for the case was a
visual collage, of which there are only
few examples so far and none in the
academic field of place branding (see eg
Costa et al., 2003). In collage studies
participants are given pictures, scissors,
paste and paper and asked to build a
meaningful collage (Schiffman and
Kanuk, 2000). In this study each
informant created their own visual
collage (size A5) to describe their
perceptions of the city. Participants had
over 100 pictures from which to choose,
but none of the pictures actually
described the studied city itself. This
encouraged participants to use pictures
more as metaphors. The role of
metaphor in the research was to make
better sense of a complex idea, such as
that of a city.
To complete and verbalise ideas and
impressions about the city, participants
got 73 adjectives from which to choose
and add to their collages. They were
allowed to write their own adjectives
and draw pictures if they thought there
was not enough material available. To
ease the analysis and stimulate discussion
the participants were asked to describe
and explain their collages when they
were finished. At the end of the session
participants were also asked about their
ideal city of Vaasa. Themes presented in
collages were discussed further with the
lead of an interviewer.
In addition to the collage technique
and group discussions, a
cartoon-balloon-type question technique
was used to explain the interaction

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between an individual and the city. The

participants were asked to write down
their public and secret opinions about
the city, and also to write in other
balloons what they consider that the city
of Vaasa thinks about them publicly and
secretly. The idea that one can have a
relationship with a brand is an extension
of the brand is a person perspective
(Davies and Chun, 2003: 51; see also
Blackston, 1993).
To test the research techniques, one
test group was arranged. Participants in
the test group felt that if a normal
interview had been used they may have
had fewer thoughts in mind. In addition
the sessions seemed to be rather
enjoyable and inspiring for participants.
CONCEPTUAL RESULTS OF THE
ANALYSIS OF THE CITY IMAGE A
CONSTRUCTIVE VIEWPOINT
Results of group discussions were
analysed by two researchers. First,
researchers found the main themes to
which evaluations of the city were
attached. The groups interviewed did not
vary much with the respect to themes
that were pictured in the collages, but
there were differences in the emphasis
and evaluation of the themes and the
depth of discussion between groups. At a
general level, the themes revealed in the
study were similar to those found in
other survey studies: the main themes of
the city image were nature, built
environment, culture and industry. Also
linkages between these four themes were
found. This means that people do not
perceive the city as separate pieces but
simplify the total surroundings and form
their own image from the totality of the
city. The simplification of the content
and structure of the city image with
examples from the Vaasa case are
presented in Figure 2. Vaasa-specific
perceptions are not discussed here in

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Nature
The observation level
Sea, shore, archipelago

The evaluation level

Beautiful, ugly, empty ...

The atmosphere level

Peaceful, safe, passive ...

Industry

Culture

Built environment
Figure 2: The construction of interconnected perception levels in the context of city image

more detail, but it should be mentioned

that these are important for the decision
makers within the city because
perceptions are central builders of the
image.
As the result of analysis the structure
of the city image was classified into three
perceptional levels: observation level,
evaluation level and atmosphere level. The
observation level includes themes to
which perception is attached: nature,
built environment, culture and industry.
This level corresponds to the concept of
pure image without any attitude added to
it (Kotler et al., 1993: 141). An
evaluation level reveals attitudes that are
connected to perceptions. The
subjectivity was clear, as can be seen for
example in this answer concerning the
evaluation level of the built environment:
Vaasa is beautiful and ugly, depending on
the place where you look at the city
from. The evaluation level of the image
indicates that the image is rarely only
positive or negative, but is often a

mixture of both. It includes a relational

aspect, thus the city is compared to some
other city or place when making
evaluations. This was especially the case
for groups coming from outside the city.
Interesting was that the home town was
not always the place used for
comparison: the object varied depending
on the theme discussed.
Third, an atmosphere level indicates
the subjective impression of the city.
This level was strongly present in the
collages and discussions of the study, and
showed relevant concerns and points of
development for the city image.
Although Vaasa did not evoking strong
feelings, there were interesting feelings
such as irritation and frustration,
especially towards those themes that were
close to respondents. The city was seen,
for example, as inflexible, distant, unkind
and incapable of coordination, although
everyday life was seen positively. For the
purpose of analysing the atmosphere in
more detail, researchers applied the

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Laaksonen, Laaksonen, Borisov and Halkoaho

Arousing

youthful
cultural
athletic

Unpleasant

beautiful
traditional
peaceful quiet

fine

Pleasant

small

introverted
conservative
inflexible
boring

aimless
passive

Sleepy
Figure 3: The atmosphere descriptions of Vaasa

quadrant developed by Russell and Pratt

(1980).
In this case the affects evoked by the
city were concerned on one hand with
inactiveness, quietness and passiveness,
but on the other hand with beauty and a
pleasant environment. People living
outside the city saw the atmosphere as
more extrovert, active and fun. The
reason for this could be that visitors take
part in the happenings organised within
the city, or are informed of these, and
therefore see especially the active side of
the city. The atmosphere of Vaasa is
illustrated in Figure 3.
When going deeper into affects and
atmosphere, it was possible to obtain
implicit factors that have a strong
influence on the total evaluation of the
image. It was also noticed that
perceptional levels are connected
together, so that observation, evaluation
and impression of atmosphere appear
together. In other words, observation
usually includes an evaluation and an
affect and those really matter when
examining the city image.

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The specific content of the perception

levels is naturally different in different
cities, but the idea of these levels can be
applied to every city. The analysis of
different levels is essential in revealing
the depth of the city image because
there may be cases in which the surface
of the city image is satisfactory but the
affect level reveals something else. This
was somewhat true in the case of Vaasa.
It would be interesting to know whether
the rather neutral atmosphere is common
to all cities; in other words, can one city
evoke stronger affects than another?
METHODOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
Visual and metaphorical research
techniques combined with group
discussions are well suited for expressing
opinions, beliefs and feelings. The aim of
getting deep and rich images was
achieved. Metaphorical pictures in the
study brought expression closer to the
real level of human thoughts. On the
other hand, there was also a need to
compare subjective images and get an

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integrated comprehension of those. This

was obtained by adding group discussions
to individual-level answers.
In previous image studies different
themes have usually been measured
independently. Results of this study
revealed that, in reality, the elements of
the image are not separated but affect the
evaluation of each other. Summing the
individual scores could create bias
because people put different emphasis on
different factors.
Even the same theme can be both
positive and negative to the same
respondent, eg size of the city. This was
seen especially in the attributes that local
resident participants chose in their
collages. The same respondent could
describe the city with contradictory
adjectives such as ordinary and unique,
distant and close. These types of findings
are difficult to accomplish if the semantic
differential is used. Obviously, a Likert
scale can also be misleading because it
does not always tell whether evaluation
is positive or negative, or even relevant
to the respondent.
Distinctively, the research technique
was able to reveal rich atmosphere
structures. The technique is especially
suitable when there is a need to know
what kind of image a place holds. It also
seems to answer well to the demand of
validity when participants themselves
create and explain their subjective images
of the city, although it should be
mentioned that in fact validity is a
property of inferences made by
researchers, not of methods, data or
results (Lund, 2005: 121). In the terms
of reliability, the study suffers from
generally recognised problems in
qualitative research, although on the
positive side considerable data were
collected (n 100) and were analysed by
two researchers.
The qualitative analysis of the study
proved to be challenging but rewarding.

Analysing the visual material could have

been more difficult without verbal
explanations from participants. It seemed
that feelings towards the city are not too
personal for individuals, so participants
could present their thoughts openly in
focus groups; however, there might have
been bias towards homogeneous images
among participants of the same groups.
It seems that the research technique
used in this case brings at least as deep
and wide results as traditional survey
techniques. The results have a
resemblance with the Anholt-GMI City
Brands Index (Anholt, 2006). All the six
components of presence, place, potential,
pulse, people and prerequisites were
found in this study; but this study also
suggests a kind of dimension capturing
the depth of perception should be
included in image research. According to
this study, the perceptions range from
pure observations to evaluation, and
further to emotional atmospheres.
MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR
DEVELOPING THE CITY IMAGE
The starting point for improving the
image is to undertake concrete actions to
make real changes; for example, changes
in built environment, practices,
accessibility and cultural activities are
needed. The role of advertising and
communication in general is only to
inform about the improvements (Anholt,
2006).
When there is as complex an object as
a city, finding common will and
understanding are emphasised. Naturally,
different groups in the study had
different kinds of opinions, but it was
possible to summarise the overall
evaluation and points for developing the
city. The group discussions often ended
by stating that the city is a good place to
live in and raise a family. In addition, the
rich cultural activities, diverse

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Laaksonen, Laaksonen, Borisov and Halkoaho

leisure-time possibilities and the beauty

of the city bring quality to life.
Researchers found the better life to be the
combining and thus leading theme for
Vaasa. The aim of better life is a mirror,
in which actions within the city can be
reflected in terms of whether they
support the aim or not.
In order to resolve the problem of
unattractiveness and the passive
atmosphere of the city the researchers
suggested that the four main themes of
the city image should be linked together
through developing new contact surfaces
between them. Basically, this means for
example bringing culture closer to nature
and industry. Uniqueness of a city arises
from imaginative ways of combining
structures, processes and functions of
different areas. The practical work within
the city that tries to bring different
interest groups closer to each other helps
achieve a more coherent city image.
Practically, the city of Vaasa is, for
example, aiming at getting more action
to beautiful but peaceful beaches and the
big but empty city centre. The idea is to
create mental and physical meeting places
for people with different interests so that
the city combines disparate areas.
In Vaasa a large-scale development of
city image was started right after the
research. The aim was to create an
overall appealing picture of the city by
improving the weaknesses and
highlighting the good points of the city.
First, the researchers gave lectures to
different decision- making groups in the
city. Leaders of tourism, culture, sports
and business sectors approved the results
and ideas presented by an outside
authority, and were ready to distribute
the mutual image message of the city.
The next step was to make action
plans within the city for the following
years (20022004) and start creating new
promotional material. The image message
of Better life was applied to more

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concrete actions. For instance, the

renewing of the city market square was
started instantly. The idea of better life
was set in the strategy for the year 2015,
when the city will have services of good
quality and the people have a safe life in
a clean and inspiring environment.
It was considered important to take
care of both promotion and
communication, because they can
support each other. In particular, themes
that were found to be important for the
city residents were discussed in local
newspapers. In fact, the city wants to
engage each and every resident to know
their home town well and be satisfied
and proud marketers of the city.
Advertising conducted outside the city is
more focused on certain fields, such as
culture, sports, conferences, tourism and
building. Many different kinds of
promotional material for different
purposes were and are released.
Integrated marketing activities such as
product placement in a television series
together with active television advertising
have been conducted.
Those in charge of the city image
project are satisfied with the practicality of
the study. The research techniques used
helped to identify the major strengths but
also problems in the image, and the city
got guidelines to strengthen and improve
these elements. In the latest measures of
the city image there has already been a
slight upgrade. Still, the biggest challenge
in the city of Vaasa is to see that image is
not only the concern of decision makers
but also of local residents.
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