Winning the Reputation Game: Insights from Our Early February Webinar

Three key takeaways from the webinar:

1. Hosting events transforms reputation and fosters civic pride
   Major sporting events can have a profound impact on a city's reputation, especially domestically. Local skepticism often turns into pride as communities experience the excitement, engagement, and benefits of hosting a world-class event.
2. You must control the narrative
   A city needs to define its own story. Decide what you want to be known for and who your key audiences are. Paris positioned itself as an "urban field of play," while Los Angeles is expanding its narrative beyond entertainment to highlight its economic, cultural, and social strengths.
3. Reputation is a means, not an end
   It's about knowing your city's overall objectives and then leveraging reputation as a tool to achieve them. This involves defining whom you talk to and for what purpose. And success requires managing the full reputation lifecycle-the pre-event build-up, the peak during the games, and the post-event legacy-with thoughtful planning to ensure gains endure long after the final whistle.

The webinar provided a fascinating look at how cities can strategically use major sporting events to enhance reputation, foster pride, and create a lasting positive legacy.

The conversation continues

To continue the conversation, Burson will be launching a new white paper in March, titled Taking the Spotlight, which will provide actionable event activation strategies for cities hosting a major sporting event-or for those seeking to leverage such events to drive engagement and impact, even if they are not hosting. You can contribute to this report by participating in our short global survey. If you are a city representative, please take our surveyhere.