Promoting tourism by attracting the interest of people to the local culture,
particularly through consuming experiences of cultural products, is a
current trend in urban competitiveness. Cultural products are popular
instruments representing local culture. They translate messages, narrate
memories and historical events, and establish an emotional connection with
people. The present paper explores the possibility of using cultural products
as a city marketing strategy for the former Tainan State Magistrate
Residence, which can be integrated with other cultural zones to represent
Tainan City. The Tainan City government registered it as a city-level
historical heritage site and completed its restoration and reuse plan in 2000.
However, no practical marketing strategy has been formulated to promote
the site and to raise cultural awareness among both locals and tourists. The
present study adopts an empirical case generated from an outing course: a
one-day cultural learning tour involving 61 student participants in the
former Tainan State Magistrate Residence. Many rich identifiable cultural
features were derived from the experience of the participants, which were
transformed into unique and irreplaceable cultural product ideations. The
findings of the case study provide a clear understanding of the dynamic
relationship among cultural products, city heritage, and city marketing,
which strengthens the potential of cultural storytelling through the design of
cultural products for city image promotion and urban regeneration. They
provide practical designers, urban planners, and policy makers a view of
the importance of cultural communication media through products.
DRS 2012 Bangkok
