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For further information please contact senior brand strategist Svante Lindeburg, The mayor of Denmark’s second largest city Århus argues that the Danish letter “Å” is a hindrance in international communication and wants the city’s name to return to its original spelling “Aarhus”.
"No", argues senior brand strategist Svante Lindeburg. "That would be to misread the dynamics of globalisation. We have been through a period where products, names and cities - in the name of internationalisation - have become more and more alike. Now we’re seeing that globalisation and localisation (a rediscovering of the local) actually go perfectly hand in hand. In many ways the local is a powerful identity element that can be played with to reinforce your brand."
“By changing the spelling to Aarhus, the city would loose some of its unique character and Scandinavian flavour. South of Århus is the German city of Aachen and to the north lays Denmark’s fourth largest city Aalborg. In that context “Å” stands out allowing Århus to communicate that here is a city, where we are not afraid to do things our own way and always add that little extra – symbolized in the circle over the A“, says Svante.
The debate was broadcast on TV2. Watch the entire debate between Svante Lindeburg from Kontrapunkt, Kristian Würtz (Social democrat) and Niels Brøchner (Conservative) both members of the municipality of Århus and Jan Bayer Smidt-Sørensen managing director of VisitAarhus here
