City branding is a 21st century phenomenon that has been enthusiastically embraced by cities in high income countries. In emerging markets or developing countries city branding has not received much enthusiasm for arguably varying reasons. Cities brand themselves as viable destinations for possible investment, tourist destinations and to work in. City branding reduces risk for the customer or the traveller and acts as a sign of quality. Branding a city is an endeavour to enhance brand equity and to
strengthen the core values of the city which results in competitiveness. The main objective of this study was to investigate possible strategies or ways of branding the city of Gaborone into a competitive city brand. The study used content analysis as a research technique and the respondents of this study came from the private sector and the academia. The findings of this study show that branding the city of Gaborone could result in a unique selling proposition and a well-thought city identity. The respondents indicated that Gaborone was unknown and could not compete against cities like London, Paris and
Cape Town as a tourist destination. The second theme emerging from the findings of this study was that branded cities compete better than unbranded cities due to their identities and characteristics. It could be argued that a city must look at elements or characteristics that it can leverage on in order to
become competitive. For example, the findings of this study showed that peace and security could be used to brand the city of Gaborone. However, it is important to note that peace and security on their own are not a tourist attraction but merely enablers for the branding of a city. The findings also showed that visitors, students and investors looked for personal safety before they could choose to visit a place. Branding a city undoubtedly influences customers’ perceptions about the city and can create a good reputation for the city. Gaborone, if branded well, would possibly have its current level of brand equity enhanced for future enhanced tourist attractiveness
