About the Story
The Philadelphia Story emerged from the Philadelphia region's participation in The Brookings Institution's Global Cities Initiative, a project intended to help leaders in U.S. metropolitan areas reorient their economies toward greater engagement in global markets. A critical step toward this goal is establishing a region's global identity and helping local civic leaders adopt it for their own efforts.
More Than Marketing
It is a unified and coherent presence in the face of global competition, providing a sense of self and purpose.
For Both External and Internal Audiences
While intended for audiences outside of a metropolitan area, a global identity is also the glue that helps a region shape a narrative about itself and make decisions about priorities.
A Region's DNA
It is an identity that reflects a unique inherited collection of assets, history, traits, and culture that distinguish a metropolitan region internationally.
Visibility
It raises a metropolitan region's profile—increasing awareness, recognition, and presence among the target audience in the marketplace.
Branding
It serves as an intentional and organized value proposition that differentiates a region in the market and drives demand through both facts and emotion.
Reputation
It reflects how someone perceives a region, based on direct experience or indirect references and associations, which may or may not be an accurate reflection of performance.
Philadelphia is a "New World City"
"New World Cities" successfully compete on quality-of-life advantages, innovation, brand appeal, institutional strength, and effectively managing challenges. They continue to outperform "Established World Cities" on many core metrics, reinforcing the cycle of investor demand. Philadelphia joined the "New World Cities" category for the first time in 2019, called out specifically as an "innovator."