A Wharton professor predicts what city Amazon will choose for their new headquarters
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Business Insider's Sara Silverstein spoke with Wharton marketing professor David Reibstein at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Following is a transcript of the video.
Silverstein: And would you say that Amazon's contest for where they should open up their second headquarters is the most brilliant marketing strategy in the past 10 years?
Reibstein: Well it's sort of it's interesting, because I've been looking at the brand of a nation, and the next evolution is trying to think about the brand of cities. And what a great move by Amazon saying, "submit your application; we'll, sort of, evaluate you." And everybody is sort of putting forward, "move to my city." And they're trying to sort of indicate the brand of that city and why it's valuable. But what a wonderful move by Amazon, because they're able to evaluate all these cities and, sort of, have a bidding war going on between the cities. And so some of that happens normally, sort of, behind the scenes. This has been a very public thing.
Silverstein: And don't you think they're getting more out of it because they're doing it this way, and they're doing it in a very public way?
Reibstein: They're definitely getting more out of it both in terms of the city's negotiations, and how much they're sort of upping the ante. And where does that come from? That comes basically from, you know - "I'm going to give you tax abatements," for example, "I'm going to make some prime property available to you because there's economic value to the city." And interestingly, as Amazon moves to whatever city, it's going to build the brand of that city, too.
Silverstein: And I know you think that they should choose Philly - your city.
Reibstein: Absolutely.
Silverstein: Where do you think they'll end up?
Reibstein: If I was going to be betting - and if I were a betting man and I am - I'm leaning towards Austin. I think Austin would be a place that I could see them moving to. And they want to be near some - a university and by the way, that's why they should move to Philadelphia, is to be close to some of the universities there. But my number one bet is on Austin.