Bells, windmills or a new song could help brand the city internationally
If vuvuzelas are the sound of Johannesburg, then what is the sound of Copenhagen?
That is what tourism agency Wonderful Copenhagen is attempting to find out.
Martin Bender, events and conference director for the agency, called the vuvuzela’s bee-like buzz that penetrated television speakers ‘marketing genius’, and added that Copenhagen needed something similar.
In order to find that sound, Wonderful Copenhagen has commissioned Berlingske Tidende newspaper to poll readers about what sound they think represents the city.
Bender said that given the popularity of cycling, ‘the Sound of Copenhagen could be a bell, for example. When we hold next year’s world championships in road cycling – one of the world’s biggest sporting events – we could conceivably issue 20,000 bells to spectators’.
He said there were other possibilities for what the Sound of Copenhagen could be, such as a wind turbine.
‘But it has to be a sound that’s unique and original, and something that people can make with simple tools,’ he added.
Creating a trademark sound was a good idea, according to branding expert Martin Lindstrøm, but very difficult to implement. He said the most effective method of establishing a sound was to introduce it during a big international event.
And Lindstrøm added that the prevalent trend toward sarcasm in Danish advertising should absolutely be avoided.
‘Danes are perceived abroad as being a very happy and positive people, so whatever sound is chosen should be a positive one’.
The Copenhagen Post
