This conceptual article reconsiders the formation of destination and place brands. It proposes that brands initiate people’s meaning making over the place directly involving them in the branding ...process. Using a combination of process-based approaches to brands and places, the article substantiates the argument that the place brand’s quintessence lies in the constant alterations it causes to the meaning of the place as stakeholders interact, thereby keeping the brand active and in constant formation. The distinction between conceived, perceived, and lived dimensions of a place brand is used to conceptualize the brand as open-ended, allowing for different interpretations to occur and different meanings to develop. This makes the brand rather elusive. The article accounts for the implications of the elusiveness of place brands for place brand management and proposes the ATLAS wheel of place brand management as a tool to follow and influence the place brand in its on-going formation.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to focus on the role of stakeholders in the creation, development and ultimately ownership of place brands. The paper contributes towards laying the foundations ...of a participatory view of place branding. It establishes an urgent need to rethink place branding towards a more participation-oriented practice. This is based on the centrality of stakeholders in the creation, development and ownership of place brands. The role of stakeholders goes well beyond that of customers/consumers as they are citizens who legitimize place brands and heavily influence their meaning. Design/methodology/approach - The paper highlights a turn towards stakeholder-oriented place branding in recent literature. This is contrasted to a critical evaluation of place branding practice where stakeholders are paid "lip service" regarding their participation, rather than being given opportunities to get more fully involved in the development of their place brand. Findings - An emerging discussion is identified on the significance of stakeholders. This is integrated with additional arguments for stakeholders' participation found in the political nature of place branding, in the concept of "participatory branding" and in the changes that on-line communication has brought about. Practical implications - The participatory approach introduced here re-evaluates the role of both stakeholders and place brand managers. It also implies a significant change in the perceived role of analysis within the place branding process. A re-direction of branding budgets is also suggested. Originality/value - The paper provides a clear description of the role of stakeholders in place branding. It brings together for the first time in an integrated manner several arguments for stakeholders' participation. These lead to the conclusion that effective place brands are rooted in the involvement of stakeholders and substantiate the call made here for participatory place branding.
This article investigates the role of local stakeholders in the development and implementation of the place branding strategy of the northern Catalan region Empordà. Stakeholder-oriented and ...participatory approaches towards both place branding and spatial planning provide the theoretical background. The research involved an initial SWOT Analysis, fifteen thematic focus groups and nineteen semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders, as well as a paper-based and on-line questionnaire that opened the process of the brand's conceptualization to all residents. The article discusses the development of the brand, the revision of the storytelling for the territory and the proposal for the logo and slogan 'Empordà, tocat pels déus' Empordà, Touched by the Gods. On the one hand, the case study demonstrates the value of participatory place branding processes showing that local communities become brand advocates when they are involved throughout the development of a place brand. On the other hand, it highlights the challenges to participatory planning and governance within place brand management, especially when strategic thinking turns into a short-term public-policy approach. The article argues for a more participatory governance of the place brand and reinforces that stakeholder engagement is essential in establishing stronger links between place branding and spatial planning.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A city's brand is increasingly considered an important asset for urban development and an effective tool for cities to distinguish themselves and improve their positioning. The introduction of ...corporate-level marketing concepts and, especially, corporate branding has significantly contributed towards the development of a city branding theory. In practice, however, there is an evident confusion of a wide branding strategy with one of its components, namely the design of a new logo and slogan or, at best, the development of a promotional campaign. This paper first describes the rise of city branding and the reasons of its popularity and, after a short review of the basic elements of corporate branding, it goes on to identify essential similarities between these two forms of branding. It finally detects the need to adapt any branding tools to the needs of cities and addresses the necessity of a comprehensive city brand management framework.
A Special Issue in Cities about city branding is bound to remain a reference point for the discipline for many years to come. It is perhaps also worth it to use it as an opportunity to look back. ...Reading the papers that form this Special Issue gives us the chance to think about the progress achieved in place branding in the last few decades. This commentary offers a personal reading of each paper included in the Special Issue and an overall evaluation (necessarily subjective) of what they achieve collectively. In doing so, I attempt to find some evidence in the Special Issue that might demonstrate advancement as a field and make some conclusions that might help us take the discipline into its next levels of development.
Co-creation in place branding is used as an umbrella term for the complex brand meaning emerging through stakeholders’ participation in place activities, their contribution, collaborations and ...interchange of ideas and resources. Co-creation is often an aspiration for places to create and promote their brands collectively. In this context, storytelling—an old technique used in corporate marketing to instigate brand stakeholders’ participation—serves as a method which facilitates place brand co-creation through shared place stories. With the rise of online interactions, the chances of place stakeholders’ participation in brand meaning creation increase, and place stories are effective in allowing diverse place meanings to emerge from various stakeholders. However, when storytelling emerges as a marketing tactic, mostly from a top-down campaign, the stories are not always accepted by all place stakeholders, and they create contrasting brand meanings. The paper aims to investigate the benefits and risks of participation in “Many Voices One Town” (2018), a top-down campaign from Luton, UK, which used storytelling to instigate place brand co-creation. The campaign was created by the Luton Council with an external advertising agency. The campaign attempted to tackle the town’s segregation issues and foster community cohesion through the promotion of seven selected Lutonians’ stories about their diverse and multicultural experiences of living in Luton. The study employs a qualitative methodology to analyse the MVOT case study. Interviews with the council and participants in the campaign and netnographic data from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were used to gain an insight into residents’ participation in a top-down approach and examine the outcomes of co-creation. Residents’ participation in such a campaign shows numerous benefits but also risks for the place brand. The findings show that participation can sometimes intensify disputes about the town if people’s needs are not properly addressed. The study highlights the importance of open communication between all parties involved in the process, bringing into focus the need for careful coordination of top-down initiatives in line with stakeholders’ needs. It also demonstrates the ‘power of the people’ in the sense that stakeholder engagement with the shared stories led to negative outcomes that were not predicted by the Council.
Purpose
Although place branding is increasingly popular in research as well as in local, regional and national political agendas, the theoretical foundations of the place branding discipline are ...still underdeveloped. By embracing the stream of identity-based studies, this paper aims to attempt to demonstrate that place brands can be usefully approached through an emphasis of their cultural traits and the practical connection between culture, identity and image.
Design/methodology/approach
In constructing its theoretical arguments, the paper challenges the place branding model propounded by Kavaratzis and Hatch (2013), and uses practices as units of analysis. The paper conducts a brief review of the principal tenets of practice theory(IES) and uses structuration theory as a theoretical device to demonstrate how this theory can provide a (still lacking) theoretical anchorage for the place branding process.
Findings
The usefulness of structuration theory for understanding the place branding process is analysed at both the strategic and tactical levels by means of two illustrative examples. Structuration theory proves to be a solid theory which links the constitutive elements of the place branding process, i.e. culture, identity and image, and to inspire further theoretical elaborations and empirical efforts grounded on this theory.
Originality/value
This is the first paper which uses practice theory(ies) in general and structuration theory in particular to explain the place branding process. The theoretical arguments advanced provide valuable guidance for further theoretical elaborations and empirical applications.
The dynamics of place brands Kavaratzis, Mihalis; Hatch, Mary Jo
Marketing theory,
03/2013, Letnik:
13, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This article introduces a novel approach towards place branding theory, adopting a view based on the relationship between the place brand and place identity. The article first evaluates the dominant ...conceptualization of identity within place branding. It is argued that better understanding of the relationship between place identity and place brands might advance the theory of place branding. In its current state, place branding practice and, to a great extent, place branding literature adopt a rather static view on place identity as something that can easily be articulated and communicated for the purposes of branding the place. This approach is limited as it does not reveal the full complexity of place identity and limits the role and potential of place branding. The article, drawing on a combination of the literatures on place identity and organisational identity, proposes a more dynamic view of place identity that considers identity a constant dialogue between the internal and the external. The role of branding within the identity dialogue is then clarified leading to an appreciation of the full dynamics of place brands. The true nature of place branding is revealed as one of interaction and dialogue between stakeholders.
Is ‘City Branding’ Worth Re‐Visiting? Kavaratzis, Mihalis
Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie,
February 2020, 2020-02-00, 20200201, Letnik:
111, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This commentary attempts to briefly but critically discuss some of the potential factors that have made the 2005 article 'City Branding: An effective assertion of identity or a transitory marketing ...trick?' a well‐known and extensively cited article in the field of place branding. It includes an account of the major sources of inspiration and the main intentions of the article, as well as a necessarily personal reflection on its shortcomings.
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