Stakeholder analysis as a precursor for successful regional branding (DK)

This analysis is part of a broader marketing strategy, which will lead to campaigns in order to retain and attract new inhabitants to the municipality of Vejen. In this case the word “Culture” needs to be understood in a wide sense, and not only as a word covering cultural institutions. Culture also describes the way we act without even thinking about it. 

(Expected) outcome within the WP:
The main outcome is the report containing a list of concrete and practise-oriented advices that Vejen Municipality can benefit from and focus on prospectively. Furthermore the expected outcome is ideally more newcomers in the municipality.

(Expected) outcome for the region as a whole:
The optimal outcome is to create a positive image of Vejen Municipality as an attractive place to live, work and invest in. The analysis also has the purpose to create more synergy between cultural actors in the municipality, and in that context also to create a more homogenous municipality. The cultural operators all have good inputs regarding the branding of Vejen municipality, which ultimately could contribute to more newcomers. However they need a co-ordinator in this collaboration, e.g. Vejen Kommune.

Which successes were achieved so far in the pilot project?
Cooperative attitude from the stakeholders, on the procurement of the leisure and cultural offers within the municipality

What are the expected boundary conditions for the project to be implemented?

• Boundary conditions regarding the implementation of the different advices:
• Creating a more homogenous municipality is a long-term task
• Being the co-ordinator on the collaboration between the cultural operators can be a            time consuming task

What is the applicability / transferability of the project?
Other municipalities in rural areas could benefit from a similar cultural analysis in order to brand the region. This could be done by a similar methodology  by using questionnaires and making interviews with stakeholders in the municipality. Vejen Municipality as a rural area is characterized by having many small cultural institutions, this is also the case in other smaller rural municipalities, which forms the basis for a future exchange of methods.

Tools:
The methodology used in this analysis consists of both a qualitative as well as a quantitative research method. The quantitative method consists of a questionnaire to the citizens in Vejen Municipality; the purpose of the questionnaire was both to analyze the satisfaction with the leisure and cultural offers from the citizen’s point of view, in order to reveal untapped potential and to make improvement proposals to attract new citizens.

The qualitative method consists of interviews with stakeholders based on a semi structured interview guide. The purpose of the interviews was to gather knowledge about the culture und leisure offers in the municipality in order to reveal untapped potential as well as to initiate a strong cooperation between the stakeholders. Furthermore the interviews served the purpose to get an impression of the culture (in a wider sense) in Vejen Municipality.  

Both of these methods represent good and helpful tools in making a cultural analysis.

Related projects:

• Options of actions - strategic positioning of small and medium sized cities : Key point of focus-http://urbact.eu/en/projects/active-inclusion/op-act/our-project/
• Marketing Tools  to promote Local Tourism in the Jurbarkas Region - http://enrd.ec.europa.eu/policy-in-action/rdp_view/en/view_projects_en.cfm?action=detail&backfuse=jsview&postcard_id=1001

Sustainability

a) How is/can the project be sustainably implemented? What is needed to reach this?

The implementation of the advices could prospectively have a great importance for Vejen Municipality, both to create a more homogenous municipality as well to brand Vejen Municipality as an attractive place to work, live and invest in. As it is now, Vejen Municipality is a heterogeneous municipality, which is the result of a municipal merger back in 2007. The citizens still don’t have a common identity – which leads to a very fragmented municipality. The citizens feel more loyal to their cities than to the municipality as such. Therefore the advices given in the cultural analysis might ideally lead to a more homogenous municipality.    

b) what are the benefits of the project seen from the Profit, Planet, and People side? 

- Vejen Municipality can attract more inhabitants