The Rise of City-Brand Collaboration, Local Marketing and Local Positive Hubs
“Local first” is the new motto in consumers expectations (local brands account for 46% of global consumption and grow twice as fast as international brands), in the organization of production (custom design, micro-production in fablabs local sourcing, …) and in corporate governance (local ownership, local jobs, micro-franchises, local crowdfunding, local entrepreneurs). Local also makes more sense in terms of sustainability and it is by far the best place to intervene on several key sustainability issues: mobility, housing/buildings, health, food, waste, water, biodiversity, etc. Cities and local authorities are in a better position to achieve systemic change, because they can work on people behavior/education as well as on infrastructures and rules (ex. transportation), and they can mix a bottom-up approach (learning from what works on the field) and a top-down approach (changing regulations, norms, infrastructures, etc.). Finally, two key trends of new and more sustainable business models are, in essence, local: the circular economy and the sharing economy. It is not a surprise, therefore, that new practices are emerging: New partnerships of city + brand, trying to leverage global influence and local action to achieve more efficient/systemic change. Learn about these emerging trends and how to tap into their power with Utopies.
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