We asked Blandine Thenet, Director of the ONLYLYON Tourism and Congress promotional tour, four questions.
Blandine Thenet, is manager of the ONLYLYON ON TOUR project and has travelled with the tour through each of the 10 stops. We take a look back over the tour which culminated in London on 8 July.
What is the concept of ONLYLYON ON TOUR ?
From 6 May to 8 July, a bus sporting the ONLYLYON colours travelled to 10 European cities to promote the city of Lyon to the general public. This unprecedented event was organised by ONLYLYON Tourism and Congress, and was joined by ONLYLYON and its partners.
Students, entrepreneurs and potential tourists were all welcome to discover the diverse entertainment and activities on offer at the ONLYLYON ON TOUR village, such as the performance by the Lyon-based hip-hop dance world champions, Pokemon Crew. The goal was to promote the city through entertainment and events. We wanted visitors to discover the quality of life and advantages our city has to offer in a festive environment.
ONLYLYON ON TOUR in London with Gérard Collomb
How did the public react?
Throughout the journey, the feedback was very positive. The people we met really appreciated our unique approach. Aside from being original, the fact that our the event employed local people really helped to create ties with the local people.
The mayors of the cities we visited were informed of our arrival by our own mayor, Gérard Collomb. Some host cities were particularly open to our approach: Marseille, Milan, Barcelona, Brussels, Frankfurt, Lille, Paris, Amsterdam…
Each stop also offered a great opportunity to meet ONLYLYON Ambassadors. In Brussels we brought together some twenty ambassadors and a few former EM Lyon students.
Did the people you met already know Lyon? What ideas did they have about the city?
The bus travelled to cities that can be reached from Lyon within 3 hours. Most people had heard of Lyon, but they didn’t have any specific ideas about the city’s activities. People from northern cities, for example, know of Lyon simply because they travel through it on their way to the south in the summer. Our information point, attended by professionals, was therefore of great interest to the general public and helped them to discover the city’s many aspects.
We also offered the public a promotional card that offers reduced-price accommodation as well as the Lyon City Card.
Tell us a little bit about London, the final destination of ONLYLYON ON TOUR.
The bus made its final stop in London on 8 July though still offering all the same entertainment. At the same time, ADERLY invited British and foreign CEOs to participate in a conference attended by Gérard Collomb. The aim of this conference entitled: “Doing business in Lyon” was to promote Lyon’s economic advantages to potential foreign investors: find out more about ‘Operation Séduction à Londres’ at the onlylyon.org website.
See more pictures of the event +
Nuits Sonores 2011 – our highlights
A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enough to spend four days (and nights!) at Lyon’s indie and electronic music festival, Nuits Sonores. Now in its ninth year, the festival attracts thousands of visitors from all around Europe and is, of course, incredibly popular with the Lyonnaise too. Thanks to the full support of the people of Lyon (including Gérard Collomb, the mayor), festivities take place across the whole city – in trendy bars and clubs, at the city’s Museum of Contemporary Arts, the 17th-century city hall, the Piscine du Rhone – the list is endless!
With international acts such as DJ Shadow and Caribou on the line-up, choosing our favourite festival moments hasn’t been an easy job. However, after much deliberation, we’ve managed to narrow them down to our top 5 – scroll down to see them. Do you agree?
Next year will see Nuits Sonores celebrating its 10th birthday, and we’re sure that they’ll be doing it in style. If you could choose any indie or electronic music artist to play, who would it be? Are there any venues in Lyon that you’d like to see it take place at? Why not let us know by commenting on this post.
Our top 5 highlights
1) The animal agility competition!
2) DJ sets at the Piscine Du Rhone
3) Partying at Apéro Sonore Sonnenstrasse
4) Bathing in the visual spectacle of DJ Shadow’s set at Scène 1 – Marché Gare
5) Watching the Sonics thrash out some of their classics on the guitar
ALL IMAGES ©www.b-rob.com
How is Lyon perceived abroad ?
Quality of life, culture and heritage, gastronomy, a dynamic economy…how is Lyon perceived abroad? Let’s take a look at Lyon’s reputation in the foreign press and the see how the city is perceived outside of metropolitan France.
Several of Lyon’s events attract a number of tourists every year. The Festival of Lights is, of course, one of the events that offers Lyon an international platform and is often the subject of articles in the foreign press. This year, the Dailymail and the Telegraph devoted an article and a video to this “extraordinary festival of lights”.
International tourists discovering Lyon are often very attracted to its gastronomic cuisine. The city is crowned the Capital of Gastronomy. Moreover, British newspaper The Dailymail published a significant article devoted to gastronomic cuisine in Lyon, namely its traditional Lyon cuisine and ‘Bouchons’, but also contemporary cuisine that, according to the British paper, has nothing on Paris, London or New York. Let us also note that the association ‘Les toques blanches lyonnaises’ includes a hundred or so chefs from Lyon and the Rhône Alpes region and makes it its duty to promote both Lyon and France’s culinary reputation abroad.
Business men and women love Lyon too. Last month, the Wall Street Journal devoted an article to this subject and highlighted all of the best places to stay, dine and be entertained after work hours for business tourists in Lyon. As the second most economically influential city after Paris, Lyon is also a great destination from which to travel to other European destinations. Ideally located 2hrs from Paris, Lyon is perceived as a dynamic city that is less stressful than the capital city and more accessible when it comes to organising business meetings, cultural tours or even shopping trips!
Our foreign friends naturally remember all of the key tourist attractions (Fourvière, Parc de la Tête d’Or, Vieux Lyon…) but they also retain the atmosphere of the city, which has the reputation of being “romantic” and a great place to live.
Biovision Life Sciences Forum 2011 attracts Nobel Laureates, Health Ministers and industry experts
Thierry de Lumley, who directs life sciences efforts at the Lyon Area Economic Development Agency, offers his thoughts on the successful event:
Last month we were excited to welcome some of the world’s most innovative life sciences companies and leading scientists to Lyon, for the BioVision Life Sciences Forum at the Palais des Congrès convention center.
Almost 3,000 delegates from 60 countries joined us for some lively debate on the way in which life sciences influence society in areas such as health, nutrition and the environment. We host this event every year in Lyon, and each time I come away inspired by what I’ve seen and heard.
The calibre of the speakers is truly impressive – Nobel Laureates Ada Yonath and Jean-Marie Lehn, Chinese Health Minister Zhu Chen and leading scientist Dr Leroy Hood were just some of those who shared their vision for the future. The forum also drew over a hundred students from the Rhône-Alpes region, inspiring the next generation who gathered to listen, learn and join in the conversation. They blogged about the sessions in which experts debated a variety of topics such as access to medicines for developing countries, synthetic biology, brain functioning, solutions to “cure” ageing, and the precautionary principle.
Opening Plenary Z.Chen M.Kazatchkine – Biovision 2011/03/27 © Vincent Dargent
Plus it’s great to see some of the trends we’ve watched develop over the past couple of years becoming a reality. For example, personalised medicine has now reached the point where diagnostics and drugs can be effectively tailored to the patient. At BioVision, we were able to reveal the creation of a Technology Research Institute (IRT) project for personalised treatment of infectious diseases, with a half billion Euro investment from the French government.
Opening Plenary H.Nowotny – Biovision 2011/03/27 © Vincent Dargent
Of course Lyon has long established itself as a hub for life sciences. Hundreds of companies have based themselves here so they can draw on resources such as Lyonbiopôle, and we have a reputation as one of the best places in Europe for biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. We’ll be building on our expertise with the launch of the European Institute for Systems Biology in Lyon, which will bring together biologists, pharmacists, physicians, engineers and mathematicians to tackle disease and other medical problems.
BVNxt Lounge – Biovision 2011/03/27 © Vincent Dargent
Our success stories include a young company called CTI-Lyon, a cell therapy research institute led by the dynamic Colin McGuckin, which has pioneered developments such as helping children who were deprived of oxygen at birth using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. Developments like this are shaping the future, and we look forward to supporting many more innovative young companies here in Lyon.
70 international exhibitors, 5000 visitors and more than a hundred robots to the first InnoRobo Robotic Summit in Lyon
Last week we welcomed 70 international exhibitors, 5000 visitors and more than a hundred robots to the first InnoRobo Robotic Summit here in Lyon.
The event was an opportunity for designers to showcase the applications of their 21st Century creations, discuss the challenges facing the industry and the vast potential for robotic technologies to transform our lives. Designs on display ranged from robots that had saved lives by entering warzones to deactivate bombs, through to home assistance robots that vacuum without the need for human intervention! Other impressive robots were capable of swimming, climbing stairs and even playing football! For robot fanatics the event was certainly a key date in the calendar but the practical applications of these futuristic innovations should be enough to enthuse even the greatest of technophobes among us.
The event was a first for Europe, and ONLYLYON hopes that it will help to put Lyon on the map as a centre for research and development within this exciting field, which has a global market estimated to be worth $85 billion by 2018. With over 80 partners worldwide, ROBOTIS CO. made a notable impact at the event, exhibit lots of products needed to design and create robots from primary schools level through to highly sophisticated precision robots, suitable for advanced research labs.
Were you lucky enough to come along to the event? Let us know what you thought by commenting on the post below.
Bruno Bonnell, who has been one of the pioneers within the industry, commented:
“Lyon is a natural hub for robotics because for 70 miles around Lyon we have a concentration of all the expertise needed – computing, design, materials, research and engineering and so on. There is great potential in the Lyon region to lead the sector. InnoRobo is taking place to give robotics a voice, Europe needs more clusters and this is the way of beginning a first step towards developing a strong cluster here”.
Some of the many stands at the event exhibiting humanoid androids, educational robots for children, home assistance machines and precise, industrial robotic arms.
The robot that vacuums your carpet, leaving you free to put your feet up!c
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Meet DARwIn OP!
Designed by ROBOTIS along with several leading universities and partners; DARwIn OP is a miniature-humanoid-robot platform with advanced computational power, sophisticated sensors and dynamic motion ability.
11 DARwIn Ops will be made available to education institutes having been fabricated by ROBOTIS and developed via a collaboration.
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Could ‘Puppy’ the robot be man’s new best friend?
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Airport impressions
Every month, find an article by our ONLYLYON Ambassador and Lyon blogger Eric Dupin, who will give us his accounts and impressions on local-area marketing. To begin, here is his account of airports as “ambassadors” of their city!
People often say that you rarely get a second chance to make a good first impression. This holds true as well for places you visit for the first time, and that you discover first through their… airport.
Las Vegas and Berlin are two radically different cities. On one side, tinsel and glitter, and on the other side, history, art and a certain form of disciplined thinking. But these two metropolises have one thing in common: their airports.
I am not referring to the architecture or design of their infrastructure, but to their relatively antiquated look. Or, in any case, the gap between the size and economic and “cultural” scope (the quotation marks are for Vegas) of the two cities, their modernness, and the obsolescence and provincial feel of their respective airports.
McCarran Airport Las Vegas
Surprises on the runway
Travelers arriving in Berlin or Las Vegas for the first time have a big surprise in store for them. McCarran Airport in Las Vegas for example, located practically in the center of town, within easy reach of the famous Strip and of the main casino hotels, is as small and quiet as the city it serves is huge, hectic and flamboyant. The feeling is about the same when you arrive at Tegel Airport in Berlin, whose old-fashioned ambiance contrasts sharply with the vitality of this magnificent and enchanting city.
The reasons for these discrepancies can be found in the history and development of the two cities. Both airports were built and inaugurated during the same period, after World War II (and the reconstruction for Berlin), between 1942 and 1948. The incredible economic expansion of Las Vegas saw the traffic of its airport multiplied by forty-five in half a century, going from one million travelers in 1960 to nearly forty-five million in 2008, which ranks MacCarran as the fifteenth busiest airport in the world.
Tegel Airport, also located close to the city center (eight kilometers away) benefited from the reunification, and then the transfer of the German government from Bonn to Berlin. However, it is not in the ranking of the thirty busiest airports in the world in terms of passenger traffic. The airport in Frankfurt represents German airports with dignity, occupying eleventh place in the world’s busiest airports by passenger traffic 2010.
They share another point in common: obsolete, and seeing their traffic continue to grow, both airports are set to undergo profound transformations in the coming years. McCarran is going to be completely renovated and considerably enlarged as part of the McCarran 2020 project, which will make the site more like the city it serves. As for Tegel, it is living its last moments, because it will simply be closed in 2011 or 2012, leaving behind Berlin’s other airport, Schönefeld, which will be renamed Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport.
Tegel Airport Berlin
Ambassadors in reinforced concrete
Beyond the numbers and the historical context, it is amazing to what extent the airport is a city’s or country’s first ambassador. It’s when travelers disembark from an airplane that they get their first impression of a place, a culture, a civilization; even if – thanks to globalization – most places end up looking alike. However, as everyone knows, the first impression is often the one that conditions and shapes opinions in the long term.
My job requires me to travel outside of France frequently, and discovering a city through its airport has become one of my favorite rituals.
So I could add my personal score, according to criteria that are probably subjective, but which often reflect those of other travelers with whom I discuss this topic. For example, the airport in Seoul is absolutely impressive for its modern look and cleanliness, and the one in Sao Paulo contrasts in its concrete and almost “Germanic” rigidity with the idea most people have of Brazil. In the end though, this serious approach is consistent with the vastness of the Brazilian economic capital, where you realize that you are not in a city of samba, but of business.
In Europe, I especially appreciate the rapid, practical and cheap link that takes you from the airport in Madrid to the center of town in twenty minutes… for two euros.
If a city wants to be more inviting and enhance its image, it should start by taking a look at its airport.
A look back at the two days of discussions in Valencia, Spain, on brand management and the attractiveness of cities
For the past two months, I have been in charge of the web marketing strategy of the onlylyon.org and aderly.com websites, as well as of the social networks that we have set up to promote and heighten the visibility of our beautiful city of Lyon, through ONLYLYON. On a regular basis, the ONLYLYON team and I will be posting articles on the ONLYLYON strategy, feedback about our travels, our latest favorites, etc. So it was to represent the ONLYLYON team that I went to Eurocities in mid-September for two days of discussions about brand management and the attractiveness of cities, in Valencia, Spain (which was quite pleasant, if I may say so myself!).
Eurocities is a European network that groups together about 100 cities with over 250,000 inhabitants. The network brings these cities together in order to work, reflect, promote and cooperate on all the issues surrounding economic development, mobility, local area marketing, culture, the environment and more. This network provides opportunities for encounters and exchanges between cities, regarding good practices associated with these topics.
But now let’s get back to the two days of discussions. First of all, the city presentations were very interesting and relevant, regarding local area marketing strategies set up to develop cities and change their images, of course, but also to help them weather a difficult economic period. No, local area marketing is not just about communications – it’s also a real tool for the economic development and vitality of a local area! For many of the attending cities, local marketing has revealed new possibilities for their economic development, and brought about a genuine renewal that involved the city and all its residents. These two days of discussions on the attractiveness of cities also focused attention on the importance of the past in building a city of the future and highlighting its riches. Should we focus more on our history and our roots and draw out the essence, to find what will make our city more attractive? The answer is yes.
Let’s take the example of Genoa in Italy which is especially interesting. The transformation undertaken by the city to emerge from the industrial crisis of the 80’s perfectly illustrates this ability to look to the past to find the strengths of the present. The city reoriented itself towards the sea and the harbor, which was completely redesigned by Renzo Piano. Genoa rediscovered and drew attention back to its historic center and its famous ancestors (Christopher Columbus and Paganini). It also developed tourism, making it a leading sector and thereby enabling the city to experience an economic revival (which still keeps it going today).
The city got a second wind and a new logo to illustrate it (redone by Renzo Piano as well) with a new baseline: Genoa, Urban Lab. The city presents itself this way because it is now in motion and undergoing change with its new, totally remodeled harbor and the arrival of high-tech companies, etc. And famous figures such as Christopher Columbus reminded the city that it had adventurous, pioneering and enterprising ancestors. As a result, the city has become daring, turning to development in innovative business sectors to further its own economic development. In this strategy of local marketing, utmost importance has been given to the citizens, so as to make them part of this new transformation of the city. Even though it is difficult at times in the beginning, it is crucial to make people part of the process of promoting and enhancing cities, because they are the city’s best ambassadors.
Valencia was another real surprise due to its size and quality and the rapid development of this city on the Mediterranean coast. It is characterized by a rich past and recent development, illustrated by very modern and design-oriented urban planning, as shown by the city of arts and sciences.Valencia, with the slogan “incredible but true” is chock full of advantages that make it a great city to discover! My favorite way of discovering it is through a film promoting Valencia in the form of a movie trailer worthy of the biggest Hollywood productions! Watch the English version.
The Eurocities meeting also included the example of Gent in Belgium, which launched a local area marketing strategy a few years ago to promote its advantages and enhance the attractiveness of the city compared with Bruges, a very well known neighboring city. Gent also focused heavily on its heritage and the richness of the past to make the city a tourist destination. This city also wants to get the citizens and companies talking about Gent when they travel.
There is no ready-made recipe to succeed in promoting a city effectively. A customized solution has to be found for each city, by delving into its past and its roots to find its advantages, and especially what makes it special, in order to discover renewal, development and growth.
Everyone at the Eurocities forum fell for the city of Karlstad in Sweden, which has an atypical positioning, but appealed to the audience. The city has not changed its logo in 20 years. It’s a logo that was drawn by children. Karlstad sees itself as the city of the sun, and everything revolves around this symbol (quality of life, sun, well being): in a way, it’s northern Europe’s little ray of sunshine!
The ONLYLYON blog is back
Summer vacation is already a distant memory, so it was about time we brought the ONLYLYON blog back to front and center. This summer, ONLYLYON took some well deserved time off from the blogosphere, but didn’t get much rest!
We continued to monitor the local area marketing news (and the next issue will be dedicated to a look at everything we saw), we met our counterparts at the Eurocities meeting in Spain and at the CNER regional convention in Saumur (more about that soon, as well), appreciated Lyon’s summer and post-summer events (Nuits de Fourvière, Lyon September of Photography, Tout le Monde Dehors, the beginning of the Dance Biennial, and more) and especially, we were able to appreciate the wonderful achievement of our colleagues at the ONLYLYON Tourisme et Congrès, thanks to whom the ONLYLYON logo was displayed all summer long on Bellecour Square, right in the center of Lyon.
We were also pleased to see that the ONLYLYON widget is flourishing on Lyon-based blogs. This widget, presented here by Eric Dupin of the Presse Citron blog, enables our Lyon-based bloggers/ambassadors to promote the city through ONLYLYON news. And we are very grateful to them for this!
As for the ONLYLYON Ambassadors, we have just celebrated the 5,000th one, and are looking forward to getting our 3,000th fan on Facebook.
So is ONLYLYON a done deal? Not at all, because in local area marketing, everything is just waiting to be written, invented and experienced! There’s work left to be done!
Photo : www.b-rob.com
[Branding] Eurocities launches a working group on City Branding and Attractiveness in Lyon
![eurocities lyon [Branding] Eurocities launches a working group on City Branding and Attractiveness in Lyon](http://ilsontchoisilyon.com/blog_version_francaise/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/eurocities-lyon.jpg "[Branding] Eurocities launches a working group on City Branding and Attractiveness in Lyon")
Yesterday, Lyon hosted a meeting of representatives from 38 European cities, convened by EUROCITIES, the network of major European cities. The purpose of this meeting was to launch a working group that is to focus on Brand Management and Attractiveness in the major cities of Europe.
The participants addressed topics such as urban marketing, the creation of a brand for a city (such as the ONLYLYON brand), economic governance models and the difficulty of changing the image of a city. Around the table were representatives from cities such as Manchester, Tampere, Lublin, Katowice, Nantes and Gothenburg.
This working group will be followed by other groups of the same kind throughout 2010. Read more about it +
Why Lyon? #1, Didier Bourgeot, CEO Akuter Technologies
Why did we choose Lyon to setup Akuter Technologies’ European offices?
“First of all, the way we have been welcomed and supported by the ADERLY team has been tremendous. We have compared Lyon against other opportunities and finally made our decision on a series of facts such as having the world at our fingertips because of the excellent high speed Internet coverage and to be at a mere couple of smooth hours from the very heart of Paris. So we can benefit from the outstanding environmental and cultural richness of the region and enjoy a quality of life reconciling personal and professional efficiency. Lyon’s very dynamic and resourceful local market provides us with new customers and software engineering talents.”
=> Do you agree with these arguments? Do you want to add your own “Lyon story” to this blog? Please contact us or answer in the comments’ section!