Using the motto “#WirSindEinBerlin” [#WeAreOneBerlin], the City of Berlin is advertising a stronger community feeling. The campaign is the first step in a new participatory branding strategy that puts the capital’s residents at the centre and presents the city’s brand in a new design.
“Berlin is the city of freedom, tolerance and diversity. The new brand identity for the City of Berlin is about emphasising the diversity lived by each individual as well as what connects people in Berlin with each other,” says Governing Mayor Michael Müller. The basis for the new direction is a guiding principle developed over the last two and a half years. Susanne Kuhlmann, who coordinated the guiding-principle process as team leader of public relations at the mayor’s office, said to local broadcasterrbb, “Berliners want more solidarity and community. They do not want to be constantly associated with disaster and the ‘failed city’ label, or be overrun with other hypotheses; they want something positive. That is why we sought a participatory branding strategy that expresses the love and pride in this city.”
While the “beBerlin” slogan introduced in 2008 put an emphasis on individual freedom, the focus is now intended to shift to a new spirit of togetherness. The corporate image campaign developed by agency Jung von Matt Spree therefore uses humour to speak to the city’s people in everyday situations. Jung von Matt Brand Identity developed the new logo based on the Berlin bear, which features on the city’s coat of arms. In keeping with the concept, the new bear and other brand elements such as the specially developed typeface will be open access and able to be used by all. It will still take some time until Berlin can communicate completely in the new design, since government ministries and borough authorities will progressively transition only after the senate approves the design guidelines. This will likely start at year end.
