Last week, Medellín, Colombia was voted Best City of 2012 in terms of innovation, besting the two other finalists, Tel Aviv and New York City. The beautiful city of Medellín deserves to be recognized for the drastic advancements it’s made since the brutal Escobar reign centered around cocaine. However, and I hate to say this, the city deserves an award less marketing and branding-influenced than this one, presented by Citi (which has rebranded itself by nixing that evil sounding “bank” part of its name) and the marketing services department of WSJ. Magazine (the streamlined and safe to assume market-serviced, period-and-all moniker of the magazine). Thank you, WSJ. Magazine Marketing Services Department for making that perfectly clear. In the magazine’s defense, it consulted the non-profit research and education organization Urban Land Institute to produce a list of the top 200 cities up for the distinction, leaving social media voting – that age-old bastion of objectivity – to narrow it down through stages from 25 to three finalists, then the winner.
I watched the short clip, “City of the Year Overview”, on the official announcement web page (video provided here because that link leads to what is essentially one big ad by Citi) in an effort to come to a more well-rounded understanding of why Medellín was selected the victor, only to feel a part of my soul wither and cry at the hands of dated company-sponsored video techniques and stock footage set to dub-step lite audio.
The video mentions worthwhile criteria like economy and investment, environment and land use, tech and research, transportation, and education, but the big takeaway of the clip was, “Donald Trump approved this social media pissing pageant.” If you have time to kill, do watch the video for a laugh. Actually, no, don’t. Instead, watch the clip of Aníbal Gaviria, the Mayor of Medellín, explaining what the award means to his city via Skype. As low-budget and unscripted as it is compared to the aforementioned drivel, Gaviria says a lot for the merit of the people of Medellín, who should be the focus of this announcement.
I’m convinced the selection was motivated by Citi and WSJ. Magazine’s stake in the rapidly developing country of Colombia, a country ready and willing to embrace the ultra-capitalist example of the U.S., a trait that opens the door for banks and the like to be the manipulative Cheney to their naïve Bush. The banking connection is easy to make. As for WSJ., its latest issue has a feature article on the city. What perfect, definitely coincidental timing, you guys!
I have no doubts that the people of Colombia voiced their support for their cultural capital through the social media hijinks voting stage to prove their renowned zealous pride to the world.
The saving grace of the charade, in the words of Mayor Aníbal Gaviria, “is that it allowed Medellín to show facets of its society in the field of innovation that otherwise could have gone unnoticed.” And it’s true: while Western society fails to even recognize the correct spelling of the country’s name (see the It’s Colombia, Not Columbia social media campaign), Colombianos are making moves to change their world backed by passion and ambition that can’t be found in the couch cushions of America.
The Urban Land Institute, that redeeming third of the sponsoring trifecta, has delineated the exceptional qualities that ranked Medellín above the rest, and they bear repeating. The city utilizes a welcome diversity of public transport, from Metro cable cars and air gondolas to hillside escalators, for which the city was recognized in 2012 with the Sustainable Transportation Award by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. Partnerships between the private and public sectors are formed to promote intelligent design and engineering for the city as funds and efforts are allocated by the people through successful participatory budgeting. By focusing projects for libraries, parks, and schools on disadvantaged communities, not only has Medellín promoted social equity, but it has seen an astounding 80 percent decrease in the homicide rate over the past 20 years.
For sure, there remains work to be done in Medellín, but this complete turnaround in image warrants praise, support, and replication. These banks and their marketing departments could take a cue or two.
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