Report: Houston a Top Brand Among U.S. Cities

(Source: Internet)

HOUSTON  – A new report shows that Houston has one of the strongest brands in the U.S., a factor that may help the Bayou City expand its reach as a convention and leisure destination.

Houston ranked No. 7 overall in the report based on six key factors: place, product programming, people, prosperity and promotion. The 2016 U.S. Place Equity Index was released by Resonance Consultancy.

Prosperity refers to statistics such as employment and income. People speaks to the diversity of community and educational attainment. Programming refers to arts, culture and entertainment options while product is the city’s key institutions, attractions and infrastructure. Finally, promotion is the quantity of articles and recommendations surrounding the city, including social media. Houston ranked in the top 10 in three of those areas.

“The brand of a city is determined not by the managers of the brand, but by the visitors, residents and businesses that consume – and increasingly review – its constantly changing places, spaces and events, and use its infrastructure,” says Chris Fair, president of Resonance Consultancy. He says while statistical measures are available for a number of these areas, the group turned to ratings on social media channels such as TripAdvisor and Yelp to help evaluate the relative quality of things like the culinary scene or parks of a given city.

The top 10 cities in the report were New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Boston, Houston, Miami, Washington, D.C. and Seattle, in that order. In terms of other Texas cities, Dallas ranked 15th, Austin ranked 23rd and San Antonio ranked 29th.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to see how high Houston’s brand ranks,” says Mike Waterman, president of Visit Houston. “I think these findings speak to the rapid evolution of Houston as a destination—a place people increasingly recognize as a hotspot for food, culture, the arts and much more.”