After twelve months of the branding process, Božo Skoko on behalf of Millenium Promotion, as the project leader, presented proposals for the new visual identity of Karlovac.
As the most prominent elements for the creation of the brand book, Skoko and his associates highlighted the city Star as an urban feature of global significance, four rivers as a natural phenomenon, Karlovačko beer as a recognized brand, the old town of Dubovac as historical heritage, and the HS Produkt weapon factory as an economic brand that also carries a connection to the historical fact that Karlovac was founded as a military fortress. Due to its unique geographical position, Skoko wants to emphasize Karlovac as a ‘city of meetings’ of several regions, three dialects, and many other aspects, for which he proposes the slogan “See you in Karlovac”. The emphasis on creating and promoting the image of Karlovac as the ‘City of the Star’, in the opinion of local opinion-makers, should eventually be sufficient for the inclusion of Karlovac on the UNESCO World Heritage list, but architect Boris Morsan, who has been working for decades on the revitalization of Karlovac’s Star, stated in the discussion that Karlovac, as it is today, and according to the adopted urban plans, does not deserve and cannot even dream of entering the UNESCO list based on at least 15 points.
– Negative branding can arise from the disappointment of tourists who would like to visit our famous Star when they realize that the Star actually does not exist, and its remnants are barely visible even from the air. In the urban planning aspect, many bad things can be corrected, but there still remain the expressway, the fast track, the significantly expanded KIM dairy, and two industrial zones, without whose long-term solution there is no entry into the UNESCO list, said Morsan. Božo Skoko emphasized the importance of creating internal branding and establishing all necessary conditions, from infrastructural, tourist-hospitality, to ecological and cultural, in order to carry out appropriate branding of the city with a real and truthful foundation, rather than reducing branding to cheap promotion and deception of tourists. The open question remains whether Karlovac, thanks to its Polytechnic, can impose itself as a university city in the near future, in which it has already been largely surpassed by its ‘fierce’ competitor Varaždin.
