Customer: Michelstadt
Project period: 2022 – 2023
The project in brief
What do you know about Michelstadt?
Historic town hall, pretty half-timbered houses, Odenwald … these are the typical associations with the small town (approx. 16,000 inhabitants) in Hesse.
But Michelstadt is so much more.
It is culture, event diversity and craftsmanship, it is proximity to Frankfurt and nature around the city. Michelstadt has also been a member of Cittaslow, the international network of liveable cities (Slow City movement), since 2018.
We support Michelstadt’s city center management department in this process,
- analyze and strategically exploit the city’s strengths (positioning),
- reorganize place branding (city marketing concept) and
- to define and communicate a retail and gastronomy concept around cittaslow for the first time in Germany (pioneering work!).
The goals of the process: a sharpened profile for internal and external communication, more attractiveness and appeal for residents and visitors alike – as well as activated city stakeholders who fully support the self-image and messages of Michelstadt.
Task and background
Michelstadt is a special city – with its very own strengths and local characteristics, with attractiveness and appeal. For decades, the city has been committed to marketing and revitalizing the (inner) city with markets, cultural events and guest advertising.
But Michelstadt is also in the midst of our changing times. The city is aware of the changing needs of the various stakeholders, the residents, guests, the local economy and trade. The Structural change, particularly in city centers, harbors risks and challenges that challenges that Michelstadt must also face in order to survive successfully in the medium and long term.
Before the start of the project, there was no explicit city marketing strategy for the strategic and conceptual orientation of the city’s communication and marketing. In order to change this, Michelstadt is receiving funding from the federal program Zukunftsfähige Innenstädte und Zentren.
The order at a glance
The strategy development is entitled “Michelstadt erzählen” and includes a wide range of tasks for our team.
- Analyzing the city’s strengths in a participatory process
- Link city marketing strategy to the cittaslow mission statement
- Identify target groups and optimization potential
- Coherently bundle and expand (communication) measures
- Develop recommendations for action for the future direction of place branding
- Additional project: Implement retail and gastronomy concept in line with the Cittaslow mission statement
Our way of working
City marketing strategy: “Telling the story of Michelstadt”
Especially when it comes to city marketing strategies, we don’t start from scratch for cities like Michelstadt. On the contrary: we examine years of preparatory work and the status quo in an appreciative manner. Thanks to this analysis as well as workshops, individual discussions and feedback, we approach the complex picture of the city. We trace the common threads that run through the city’s society in the form of structures, processes and relationships – and obtain a map of the city’s strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and risks.
Together with the customer, we then take the next step: we draw the picture of the future and outline the paths that will lead us into this future. For Michelstadt, this meant strengthening our strengths, acting across the board and planning and acting for the long term.
Strategy development process modules
- Content and positioning approach: What specific circumstances make Michelstadt attractive? What are its strengths – and how are they noticeable?
- Methods: As-is analysis, individual discussions, workshops, establishment of a steering group, other participation formats
- Result: Areas of strength and goals, fields of action and measures
- Organization and processes: What structures are necessary to meet the changing changing tasks and requirements of city marketing? How can the new strategy be best implemented / operationalized?
- Methods: Workshops, organizational development, stakeholder management
- Result: Strategy and action guidelines
- Implementing the concept: measures Realize step by step.
- Methodology: strategic consulting, stakeholder management
- Result: Recommendations for action, communication, cooperation
Michelstadt’s areas of strength identified
- historic old town and city centre to stroll through
- Be active in the Odenwald natural landscape
- Living culture and craftsmanship
New approaches under historic half-timbered houses: workshop on Michelstadt’s areas of strength
Retail and gastronomy concept: “Experience Cittaslow”
As an additional project within the city marketing strategy, we were commissioned to develop a retail and gastronomy concept. The aim of the new concept: a clear and unique profile for the inner-city offering in Michelstadt.
Together with our client, we rely on the Cittaslow model, which is about the sustainable development of small towns worth living in according to the three-pillar model of economic efficiency, ecology and social cohesion .There are currently 24 Cittaslow towns and communities in Germany.
Similar to “Slow Food“ it is for the “Slow Cities” is about a better quality of life through deceleration and awareness, sustainability and regionality as well as tradition and cooperation.
A Cittaslow is a city where people live who are curious about the time they have found again, which is rich in squares, theaters, stores, cafés, restaurants, places full of spirit, original landscapes, fascinating craftsmanship, where people still appreciate the slow pace of life, enjoy the changing seasons, the authenticity of products and the spontaneity of customs, respect taste and health…
Pioneering work in Michelstadt: First Cittaslow retail concept is created
Michelstadt is a true pioneer with the idea of inspiring inner-city businesses with the cittaslow model: no other city has ever had a retail and gastronomy concept that is explicitly derived from the cittaslow criteria. This is why we worked closely with the cittaslow steering group, the cittaslow working groups, the Michelstadt trade association and other city centre stakeholdersto develop the concept.
After initial preliminary discussions with the city’s stakeholders, it was confirmed that the Cittaslow mission statement offers potential for marketing and opportunities to position Michelstadt’s city centre.
Criteria for evaluating a Citaslow
The retail and gastronomy concept for Michelstadt is based on the seven criteria by which a Cittaslow is measured:
- Energy and environmental policy
- Infrastructure
- urban quality
- Agriculture, tourism and crafts
- Hospitality, awareness and education
- Social cohesion
- Partnerships
Application of the Cittaslow criteria to retail and gastronomy
For Michelstadt’s retail and gastronomy concept, this means that the Cittaslow idea of urban quality of life quality of life should be anchored in the inner-city offerings and in the economic activities of the businesses.
This is based on the realization of how important the specialties, services, goods and shop windows of Michelstadt’s businesses are for the city. Retail and gastronomy are anchors of attractiveness in place branding and points of attraction for residents and guests alike.
Key steps in concept development
- Analyze the initial situation and identify challenges:
- Integrating the Cittaslow model into the city’s areas of strength
- Applying the Cittaslow criteria: What does Cittaslow mean in relation to retail and gastronomy? Which utilization concepts contradict Cittaslow (chain stores, system gastronomy, etc.)?
- Define Cittaslow guidelines:
- Formulate a common goal and key points
- Michelstadt trade and gastronomy manifesto is created
- Plan implementation:
- Define measures along the Cittaslow criteria (= fields of action)
- Develop certification procedures and seals
Participation is a matter of conviction: development of strategy and concept in coordination with city stakeholders
The result
What do you know about Michelstadt? You can now answer this question more comprehensively than at the beginning of the page. In the course of the project, new insights into what makes Michelstadt unique also emerged among those responsible for the city and the many stakeholders involved in the Innstadt – concretely captured in three areas of strength for place branding as well as in a unique retail and gastronomy concept in line with the Cittaslow mission statement.
