Be it the gorgeous, year-round sunny weather, world renowned icons (such as the Sydney Fish Market or Luna Park Sydney), or the vibrant and diverse culture the city has become known for – Sydney has a lot to love about it.

The City of Sydney knows this and goes to great lengths to carefully manage the brand of Sydney and establish a position for the city that encapsulates all the things we’ve come to love about it.

But how can businesses and individuals benefit from Sydney’s inherent good name?

Using brand Sydney

One way innovative businesses have tapped into consumers’ love for all things Sydney has been to align their businesses with the city.

This can be as simple as using the term ‘Sydney’ in your business name. Some of the Sydney’s greatest brands have the city’s name in their trademark, enabling them to trade off the established goodwill of brand Sydney for their business.

Examples of this include the Sydney Opera House, Cafe Sydney or Taste of Sydney festival.

One icon of the city which has successfully used this technique to its advantage is the Sydney Boulevard Hotel.

Sydney Boulevard Hotel 

The Sydney Boulevard Hotel has long been regarded as one of the city’s most iconic hotels, with a history spanning back more than five decades.

The opening of The Sydney Boulevard in 1973 was hailed a milestone in history as it was the first major 5-star hotel in Sydney. Boasting a guest list of high profile celebrities, sports stars and politicians such Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, Sammy Davis Junior, Grace Jones, The Village People, Muhammed Ali, John McEnroe, Phil Collins and former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. The Sydney Boulevard was the centre of the social life of Sydney with high demand for its restaurants and its nightclub, Williams with waiting lists on weekdays.

Suan Lee Tan, Director of Sales and Marketing at the Sydney Boulevard Hotel said positioning the hotel as a locally iconic brand was an important element in their business strategy.

“The Sydney Boulevard Hotel is one of the city’s pioneer hotels,” Ms Tan said. “Having the word Sydney in our name is a powerful marketing tool. It helps our guests have a certain degree of intimacy with our brand, even before they have visited.”

In 2005, the hotel changed names to Bayview Boulevard Sydney and in 2012 the Hotel changed back to The Sydney Boulevard Hotel, returning to the iconic Sydney identity.

“It was clear that the original branding was much more meaningful to our customers. It demonstrated how important it is to promote our geographic location within Sydney city. Event planners and guests often search for hotels based on their location, and our brand says it all.

“We have the privilege that when someone is looking for a hotel in Sydney, our brand is highly recognisable and often displayed high in search results, simply because of our name,” Ms Tan said.     

Obviously, it’s not always possible to use a city name in your trademark. But there is another way to achieve this result without changing your brand name. 

.sydney domain names 

As the Sydney Boulevard Hotel demonstrates, aligning your brand with the city of Sydney can be an effective way to further promote your business.

The introduction of .sydney domain names now allows brands a new and innovative way to demonstrate their patriotism for Sydney.

With a .sydney domain name, businesses have the opportunity to tailor web addresses to be geographically relevant to their target audience. This level of customisation has never before been available.

Just imagine if fast food chain Dominos wanted to make it easier for their Sydney-based customers to find their restaurants and learn more about the menu. They could create a landing page on their website entirely devoted to Sydney content and host it on the domain name www.dominos.sydney which could tell Sydney-based customers everything they need to know about their Sydney stores.

For the first time, marketers can now associate their products and brands with a web address that speaks directly to their customers and the city in which they live.

As we saw with the Sydney Boulevard Hotel, creating a long-lasting association with your city can be an incredibly powerful marketing tool.

In an era of data-driven digital marketing, .sydney domain names will offer marketers an innovative approach to online engagement.

Where will your brand live online?

This article was sourced with the permission of ARI Registry Services from the Iconic Sydney website at www.iconic.sydney/media-release/how-to-use-brand-sydney-to-your-benefit/