Copenhagen has propelled itself to the forefront of place brand thinking by going open-source.

This is a very contemporary and 'future-proof' idea that looks sustainable in a crowd-sourced and crowd-funded sense. A nested set of identities (the people) make up an interdependent meta-identity (the place) defined in an open invitation to the rest of the world.

It might be argued that the concept is a contrivance; that open has been read into Copenhagen but I'd prefer to think that the concept is as innate as the execution and creative pitch response suggests.

The brandline seems to over-egg the idea. The open button in the brandmark as well as the open-led brandline erodes the single idea. I'd prefer to see 'open' more subtly and indirectly manifested in the other brand identity elements. To this end the open buttons is a genius mass marketing device – a low cost and high value experience is delivered distinctively. Bravo.

As a highly brand-literate citizen of Copenhagen I'd be proud of this very savvy marketing approach. By open-soucing content to define Copenhagen this city deserves to thrive.