Source: Online newspaper “Moya Vinnytsia”
On July 26, the first working meeting of the expert group took place. The group will work on the development of Vinnytsia’s brand as part of PLEDDG Project. At the meeting, special aspects of city marketing and branding were discussed, the methodology for their development was defined and preselection of the type of the marketing strategy and the formation of common goal and tasks were discussed.
Understanding that the image of a city impacts its economic development, Vinnytsia City Council decided to involve experts with relevant work experience in Vinnytsia’s brand development. PLEDDG Project will be assisting Vinnytsia in brand development. The PLEDDG Project is implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) with financial support from the Government of Canada. On March 1, 2016 the meeting of the Advisory Committee was held, which became the starting point of Vinnytsia’s participation in PLEGGG Project.
At the meeting, Head of Vinnytsia City Council Serhiy Morgunov pointed out that the brand should be congruent with the city’s Development Strategy “Vinnytsia – 2020”, the goal of which is to make Vinnytsia a modern and comfortable European city with smiling people. Mr. Morgunov said that it was very important that the city had favorable conditions for business development and a solid positive image not only in Ukraine but also in Europe and wider world. “Without setting such a goal, you will make no headway and won’t develop. That is why it is high time to work on marketing. That will help us promote our city. First of all, I would like to thank the PLEDDG team for setting to work with us. We know that they have extensive experience, and I hope that by acting as one team, we will do a good job and will achieve great results”, – said Mr. Morgunov.
Oleksandr Kucherenko, PLEDDG Director, said that the result of joint efforts should be a product which would be accepted by everybody. “We shall define city’s competitive advantages, find the common ground inside the community as to the values, and we are ready to work together with you. We have the relevant experience of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, we have our own experience in developing marketing and branding strategies in Kryvyi Rig, Pavlograd, Dnipro. We have experts with hands-on experience. We hope to meet with great success together with you and form the basis of the vision of what Vinnytsia is and what place it will take in modern Ukraine”.
Together with Vinnytsia’s residents, PLEDDG Senior Governance Advisor, Kadie Ward, will be working on city’s brand development and formation of the marketing strategy. “I am full of energy and ready to work in your city, as I see great opportunities to do important things for its economic developmet. Vinnytsia is a fantastic city in the center of Ukraine. Here you have beautiful architecture, modern infrastructure. There are a lot of universities full of bright students. It is a green place. Vinnytsia also has a diversified economy and other competitive advantages. Now we have to collect all of that, work it up and develop a marketing strategy and the city’s brand, as they are very important for 
the city’s development.
We would like to get your ideas on that”, –
said Kadie Ward.
PLEDDG consultant, Volodymyr Proskurin, described in more details what the city should do for the success of the marketing strategy and city’s brand. He said that, first of all, it was necessary to identify what makes Vinnytsia different from other Ukrainian cities. And the main task of the overall work was to create a positive reputation for the city, which is a complex process, and not just limited to the development of a number of documents.
In accordance with the Road Map, over the next two months, various surveys will be conducted.The next meeting will be conducted in two months. It is planned that the results of surveys will be presented there. Also, it is planned to hold a number of meetings and discussions on the city’s branding and marketing campaign.
It is expected that the process of Vinnytsia’s marketing strategy and brand development will be completed by the end of this year.
