The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) is creating a new city brand that captivates the values of Seoul to maximize and market its charms both domestically and internationally as a global leader.

Through the new city brand development, Seoul hopes to attract international tourists as well as foreign direct investments by marketing its metropolitan image and actively utilizing the new brand to raise its urban competitiveness, which has been in decline for the past decade.

The current “I·SEOUL·U” brand has been criticized for lacking the essential element of intuitiveness to convey meaning due to its vagueness and awkward English phrasing that both Korean and non-Korean speakers find difficult to understand. After conducting a survey on both domestic and foreign residents, the city decided to revamp its brand to enhance public awareness.

The new city brand development will be carried out in four stages under the principle of embodying the unique characteristics and identity of Seoul, and the city plans to make its final selection by the end of the year.

The four stages are (1) identification through public opinion, including Korean and non-Korean nationals, on Seoul’s characteristics, functions, values, and inclination;link (2) creation through branding by experts; (3) decision through final selection; and (4) promotion of Seoul’s values through refinements and brand marketing.

1. Identification (Aug.–Sep.): As the first stage of branding Seoul’s identity and charms, the city will create a festival atmosphere for both domestic and international participants to come together and share opinions on the core values of Seoul through sample surveys via online and offline channels.

2. Creation (Sep.–Oct.): As the second stage, the city will form an expert advisory group to sort out the main core values of Seoul from the first stage and extract keywords to develop the first drafts of branding (3 to 5 designs).

3. Decision (Nov.–Dec.): As the third stage, the city will study the results of preferences from online and offline sampling as well as public voting for the first design candidate (draft) targeting domestic and international participants from major cities.

4. Promotion (Dec.–): As the fourth and final stage, the city will announce its final decision at the opening ceremony of the Seoul Global City Competitiveness Forum in December to domestic and international experts of urban competitiveness.

Seoul will continue to make refinements in 2023 to ultimately use for Seoul’s city brand marketing on the global stage.