Unima-IAPA International Seminar and Annual Conference 2015 Better City, Better Local Competitiveness? City Branding and Marketing Toward Economic Development (Case Study: Binjai City, North Sumatera, Indonesia) 1 Septiana Dwiputrianti School of Public Administration, National Institute of Public Administration, Indonesia Tel: +62-81200-00295 E-mail: tiana.dwi@gmail.com Nila Kesuma Saragih Public Servant of Binjai City Local Government, North Sumatera, Indonesia. 11 This paper was presented and selected as one of the best paper (4 th best) at the Unima-IAPA International Seminar and Annual Conference (UNISAC) 2015, Universitas Negeri Menado 27-29 September 2015, Abstract This article discusses the possibility of sustainability development through process of enhancing the image of Binjai City. The city itself is presented as an agent of change for the better as providing an environment conducive to the nurture and promotion for investors. The Binjai City promotes the selling point of prescribed set of normative values harmonize interact society for improving local competitiveness. This paper have two main purposes as follows: (1) to obtain expectations of the community as a basis for positioning City Branding at Binjai; (2) to get an idea of Branding Binjai City in accordance with the characteristics of the market town of Binjai City in support of local competitiveness. Using descriptive qualitative approach, unique dataset collections is modelled. The analysis finds support for City Brand contributes positive local competitiveness of the city region able to attract investors, tourists, or residents for visiting Binjai. This study illustrates investors’ friendly of Binjai City with strategic investment, beautiful and unique environment, a mix of city and village with a safe and comfortable atmospheres. There are some slogans for Binjau City, namely: "Beautiful Binjai, Beautiful Moment"; "Beautiful Binjai, Be Healthy", or "Delicious Rambutan, only in Binjai". Category: Public Policy and Economics Studies Keywords: City Branding, Local Competitiveness, Binjai City, Economic Development I. INTRODUCTION City Brand externally able to arouse the curiosity to know more about the region and raise awareness internally to achieve the goals to be achieved. The ability of interaction and cooperation with external parties is expected. City brand helps investors to determine the potential of a region. Binjai, located in North Sumatra province, very close to the capital city of North Sumatra province, Medan. Only ± 22 km from Medan (± 30 minutes away), even the outer limit Binjai with the outer limit of Medan city is only ± 8 Km. This can be illustrated in Figure 1, as follows: