Breda Brings People Together: From City Marketing to City Making

This article was written for Uncover magazine – From Global to Ground (10th edition). You can read the full magazine here. 

Author: Hildegard Assies is director at Breda Marketing.

That attitude has been part of the city for ages. Time and again, Breda has opened itself up to merchants, soldiers, artists, thinkers, and newcomers. Not as guests on the margins, but as co-builders of the city. The Nassaus did not settle here above the city, but in it. As leaders of a new era and as part of everyday life.

We have never lost that mentality. In 1944, Breda embraced the Polish liberators as if they were their own sons. Not acting from a sense of duty, but driven by feelings. Decades later, NAC players walk onto the pitch with their names on their shirt. And look at the Blind Walls Gallery: starting out as an art project, grown into living municipal archives in which international artists and residents tell the story of Breda together.

Today, that story continues. In residents making their neighbourhood greener. In start-ups working on smart and sustainable solutions. In educational institutions, businesses and social organisations building on talent, technology and entrepreneurship. Breda is green, welcoming  and limitless: a city where technology serves people, where creativity and craftsmanship strengthen each other, and where ambition goes hand in hand with liveability.

Growing with meaning
An important assignment has been given to Breda Marketing: making the story of Breda visible, palpable and divisible. Not as an advertising agency for the city, but as a brand director, connector, driving force, and knowledge partner. Without any direction, growth becomes stacking stones. With meaning, it becomes city making.

Breda continues to grow. From about 190,000 residents today to some 220,000 residents in 2050. That step change will offer opportunities for new houses, employment, amenities, and meeting places. At the same time, the crucial question is put to the city: how do we wish to grow? Growth requires direction, choices and solving existing challenges. Otherwise the city is growing  in volume, but not in meaning.

More than a cosy city
Breda has a strong image as a bon-vivant and welcoming city. Every year, around 1.8 million people visit the city, mainly to shop, eat out or spend a day out. That is valuable, but the picture is too limited for a top 10 city.

Tourism is essential to both the local economy and the quality of life in the city. That is exactly why it requires direction. Without guidance, visitors could lead to crowdedness, monoculture and nuisance. With guidance, the leisure economy contributes to economic development, quality of life and taking pride in the city.

The challenge, therefore, does not lie in more of the same, but in more quality, better spreading and appealing offerings during the whole year. Breda should not become a city for the weekend, but it should be a fully-fledged city seven days a week.

There also lies a challenge for the future. Breda has chances to become more appealing for youngsters, international talents and new target groups. That requires space for night culture, urban culture, creators, culture, sport, nature, heritage, and innovative elements. Leisure is not a matter of secondary importance then, but an engine for urban development.

Potential is not a position yet
Economically speaking, Breda also faces a major challenge. The city has strong education, a growing innovation district and a promising ecosystem around applied technology and creativity. Yet, that potential does not always translate into a clear position within national and international networks. Students are trained here, but still leave the city too often upon completing their studies. Hence, entrepreneurship, innovative power and future earning capacity also disappear.

Breda has a lot in place: robotics, AI, games, creative tech, creators, campuses, incubators, and appealing events. Yet, the story is too fragmented. The challenge is to make one recognisable ecosystem out of separate strengths, connected with the region, Brabant and international networks.

That requires more focus, collaboration and visibility. Education, businesses, (local) authorities, and the city should not only collaborate; they should also make joint choices. Breda should not only facilitate innovation, but make it visible and experiential in areas, at events, in networks, and opportunities for talents.

A strong Breda strengthens the region, Brabant and the Netherlands. As a city acting as a liaison between Randstad, Brabant and Flanders, Breda has the possibility to play a bigger role than it claims today. The challenge is clear: continuing to grow from a city with lots of potential to a city with economic appeal.

The power of attractive places 
The step change offers the opportunity to address existing challenges and make Breda's story palpable. Three areas play a major role in this: 't Zoet, the Breda Innovation District, and the city centre. These are not merely development sites, but places where culture, economy, education, leisure, and social interaction converge – not as separate, standalone functions, but as an urban mix with meaning. They cannot exist without one another. The success of an innovation district, for instance, is strongly dependent on the social infrastructure, and conversely, new amenities and a city centre need quality visitors to remain viable.

It is precisely at that intersection that the role of city marketing lies. Not only once an area is complete, but from the very beginning. By contributing ideas on identity, programming, community building, and experience, area development is getting more meaningful than just houses and square metres.

Breda Innovation District 
The Breda Innovation District is not a classically defined area, but an urban programme in which Breda itself serves as a platform for applied technology and creativity. From the Havenkwartier, 't Zoet, and the station area to educational campuses, Triple O Campus, B'WISE, B'GAME, and the Esports Talent Hub: everywhere, education, businesses, (local) authorities, creators, and residents come together around robotics, AI, games, and creative tech. Events such as Dutch Game Week, TURF, B'Robotics XXL, and BredaPhoto make innovation visible, experiential, and shared.

From city marketing to city making
For Breda Marketing, city marketing has long since ceased to be just a matter of promotion. The days when city marketing revolved primarily around attracting visitors, creating campaigns, and selling the city are behind us. Visibility, hospitality, and appeal naturally remain important. But the challenge has grown broader. Today it is about identity, positioning, liveability, and economic relevance. About the question of what kind of city Breda wants to be, who we want to appeal to, and how residents, entrepreneurs, students, creators, and visitors benefit from that.

That is why our role is shifting from telling to delivering. From creating campaigns about Breda, to helping shape the places, programmes, and partnerships where Breda can be experienced directly. Because a strong city brand does not emerge on paper or in a slogan. It emerges in the city itself, together with its residents: in neighbourhoods that work, in events that move people, in entrepreneurs who make a difference, in residents who get involved, and in places where the story of Breda becomes palpable. Breda brings people together.

City marketing has thus grown into a strategic instrument for urban development. Breda Marketing increasingly takes on the role of brand director, connector, driver, and knowledge partner. We contribute data, trends, and insights, identify opportunities, and bring parties together around a shared story. We focus on themes that are decisive for the future of Breda: talent retention, placemaking, resident engagement, international positioning, the leisure economy, and the quality of life in the city and its neighbourhoods. Naturally, we continue to support all of this with communication.

We do not develop everything ourselves – nor is that our role. Our strength lies in reinforcing what already exists and connecting what can make each other greater. We help partners communicate the story of Breda more sharply, and we ensure that initiatives do not exist in isolation but add up to a recognisable movement. In this way, city marketing is not a layer of communication applied afterwards, but a means of giving direction, coherence and meaning to the development of the city.

This is the shift from city marketing to city making. As a natural next step. City marketing gives direction to the story of Breda; city making ensures that this story becomes visible, palpable and experiential in area development, programming, partnerships, and communities. Not just telling the world what Breda is, but helping Breda become it.

That is precisely why we see area development as one of the most powerful forms of city marketing. Places like 't Zoet, the Breda Innovation District and the city centre will soon tell more about Breda than any campaign ever could. When these areas are developed in a way that is green, welcoming, creative, international and distinctive, they make the Breda brand tangible. The city's story is then not turning into a promise, but an experience.

Breda Marketing does not construct buildings itself or lay down streets. But we do help to give meaning to new places. We connect parties, safeguard the broader city narrative, activate creators and entrepreneurs, and ensure that area development not only works physically but also comes to life socially, economically and culturally. In this way, Breda is not only becoming  more visible, but above all, more experiential. And so Breda is not simply growing larger – it is growing stronger as Breda.

Delivering on what Breda promises
The direction is clear: Breda is developing as a City in the park, a City of encounters and a City of solutions. This positioning calls for places, programmes, experiences and stories in which that promise becomes palpable. Green, welcoming and limitless must not remain mere words, but become recognisable in the way people use, discover and shape the city together.

The challenge lies, on the one hand, in showcasing the stories that already carry the city's narrative forward. On the other hand, it lies in strengthening initiatives that already embody the story of Breda. Explore Breda, Breda Mix, events, routes, creators, entrepreneurs, and residents together do not form a promotional layer placed over the city, but an infrastructure that helps people experience Breda in a different and richer way.

Explore Breda brings stories, routes and places together, making room for both the familiar and the unexpected sides of Breda. Not only the city's icons are given a platform, but especially its hidden gems, emerging creators, green routes, waterways, culture and neighbourhood initiatives. In this way, the city is presented not as a destination, but as a network of experiences in which encounter, creativity and authenticity take centre stage.

With Breda Mix visitors and residents gain greater control over their own experience of the city. Personal routes, favourite places and shared tips ensure that Breda is not reduced to a single standard route, but can be discovered time and again. This strengthens local businesses, encourages a wider spread of visitors and invites longer stays – but above all, it makes visible just how many different layers the city has. 

Events also play an important role as temporary accelerators of urban positioning. They are not just moments of attention, but places where talent, technology, creativity, audiences, and partners come together. They make the innovative and creative strength of Breda experiential  and connect it to the city itself. Breda Marketing works closely with events to make both their content and their communication stronger together, and to align them with our brand narrative.

In this way, visibility does not emerge as the end product of marketing, but as the result of meaningful collaboration. Breda Marketing helps to strengthen, connect and give direction to that movement. By bringing together stories, places, programmes, and partnerships, we ensure that the promise of Breda is not merely told, but truly experienced.

Partnership with backbone
Breda's step change will only be successful if parties are able to find one another. Collaboration is not a precondition, but the very core of the city's development. 

Breda Marketing connects businesses, education, cultural institutions, (local) authorities, residents, and regional partners around a shared story. This happens on a local level, for example, during the annual Dag van de Stadmakers (City Makers Day), but also on a regional, national and international level through partners such as REWIN, Landstad Baronie, Brabant Partners, Brabant Branding, and NBTC.

Our role is shifting from ‘taking care of’ to ‘making sure that.’ Making sure that partners find one another; that stories are given coherence; that area developments contribute to the city's brand; and that residents become proud co-storytellers.

Strong partnerships go beyond visibility alone. They emerge when organisations, brands and communities build together towards social value and urban development.

Ambition and movement
The years ahead call for focus, courage and execution. Breda has everything it takes to grow from a strong regional player into a city with national and international influence. 

The step change makes that challenge all the more urgent. The story of Breda must not only resonate in campaigns, but become visible in places, programmes, collaborations, and choices that truly matter.

Manifestations, theme years, innovative events, and other moonshots can serve as accelerators of a broader movement. Now more than ever, the promise ‘Breda brings it together’ must become visible in everything the city builds, organises and makes experiential. 

Breda Marketing plays both a strategic and an executive role in this. As advisor, connector and driving force, we safeguard coherence and distinctiveness, bridge leisure and economy, make  policy a lived experience, and give places meaning. In this way, we make sure Breda does not simply grow, but develops from its own identity as a city.

The following pages highlight a range of projects and developments that show how diverse partners across the city are working together on Breda's most important challenges. Together, they are shaping a sustainable, creative and innovative future for the city.

More information
See bredamarketing.nl

Photography
• Robert Aarts
• Breda Marketing