Branding a city

As many of you know, April and I are writing a proposal for a UW Study Tour for 2009 to South Africa. While I was doing some research online, I came across this 2006 article on how Johannesburg has sought advice from Rudy Giuliani & leadership guru Michael Porter (a name you should all recognize) to internally brand their city in order to reduce crime for the upcoming 2010 World Cup. Jo'burg was named one of the most dangerous cities in the 1990s and wanted the former New York mayor to help them clean up the streets. I don't think the stats are in on the crime rates, but something must be working because Jo'burg was recently named the international media hub for the event (see article here).

I think that branding is an interesting phenomenon, but I had never thought of it for an entire country! Although it makes sense that branding begins within...think Microsoft printed coffee cups at company coffee stations.

How does your company "brand from within"?