From Cities to Soap Powder, the answer is always the same. Discuss.

There's an interesting podcast on the Centre for Cities podcast (listen here) where Andrew Carter discusses the latest 'UK's Most Talked About Cities' Report with ING Media and in particular – what it means for City branding. One of the overwhelming conclusions from the report's findings was that the the key to most cities success, the cities that punch above their investment weight is ... visibility – salience – awareness – fame.

Of course – that's not going to come as huge surprise to anyone working in Adland and BrandWorld. We all now, I think, accept the work of Byron Sharp and the Awareness Bible that is 'How Brands Grow'. Certainly the Community & Place team here at Whistlejacket Studio have been banging on about this for ages.

But it's really interesting to hear a group of people from outside the normal circle of brand conversations getting to the same place via a very different route. One of the unfair criticisms (in that it's wrong) of How Brands Grow is that its fine for FMCG but how true is it for anything else – Business to Business or Service Business or Technology Unicorns. Or indeed – cities.

Well – here's some evidence that it's the key.