David Harvey in “The Art of Rent” outlines the importance of the selling of place in order to generate monopoly rents. No city has mastered this technique better than Barcelona. Since the 1992 Summer Olympics, Barcelona has successfully marketed itself as a modern, innovative, and cosmopolitan global city that offers tourists and investors design, culture, high-end products, and cutting-edge technology. Companies like Natura Bissé (cosmetics), Custo (clothing) and Damm (beer) have attached the name Barcelona to their products to help sell them. To protect the Barcelona Brand, the Barcelona City Council has decided to patent its good name. If the Spanish Office of Patents and Brands (la Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas) rules in favor of the request on April 16, 2012, Barcelona will become the first metropolitan area in Spain to be granted a patent.
To find out more, read Jaume Aroca’s article in La Vanguardia (in Spanish).
Wow. Interesting to see in the Vanguardia article that Madrid tried before but had the wrong strategy / “Planteó mal su estrategia.”
Also interesting in the Vanguardia article is the argument that the traditional Spanish branding of “sun and beaches” beginning in the 60s with the “Spain is Different” campaign is hurting the Barcelona Brand…Wow. I might downplay that point until after the national ruling…