This article attempts to ‘rethink’ place brands after examining in detail how people form them in their minds. The article starts with a very brief account of the place branding literature to provide ...the necessary background and goes on to identify what we see as a shortcoming in current understanding of the place brand: the dominant idea that brands are formed as sums of mental associations. The article attempts to take current understanding of place brands further by going beyond associations and adding a missing element: the interactions between those associations. We propose a rethinking of place brands based on two pillars: first we incorporate more geographical understanding into place branding and, second, we outline a process that allows place elements and placebased associations to combine and form the place brand. The place brand formation process starts when people use place-making elements (materiality, practices, institutions and representations) to form mental associations with the place. These associations are not static but evolve and change over time as they interact with each other on several dimensions. These interactions constitute the way in which the place brand is formed. The argumentation leads to a novel conceptualization of the role of place branding in the above processes. The practical applicability and implications of the proposed rethinking of place brands suggested here are explored in detail through the examination of the branding process followed recently in Bogotá, Colombia, where our approach to place branding has found practical application.
This study investigates the relationships among institutionalized place branding strategy, interfirm trust, and place branding performance. Findings indicate that each of the institutionalized place ...branding strategies (regulatory, normative, and cultural-cognitive) has positive effects on interfirm trust. The relative predictability of these dimensions on interfirm trust also falls into a particular order: Normative is most predictable, followed by cultural-cognitive, then regulatory. Cultural-cognitive strategy can not only directly drive interfirm trust but also negatively moderate the effects of regulatory and normative strategies on interfirm trust. Finally, interfirm trust has a positive effect on place branding performance. These results altogether provide valuable insights into the effect of institutionalized place branding strategies on interfirm trust, which encourages firms to be collaboratively involved in place branding strategies.
A strong positive image is an important asset for all countries around the world. Simple recognition of a name or geographic location is not enough to make a successful brand. People should want to ...visit, live, and preferably work and invest in the country. The research methodology for this article used Simon Anholt’s approach. Anholt is the author of the widely recognized system Nation Brands Index which measures the power and quality of each country’s “brand image” by combining the following six dimensions: Exports, Governance, Culture and Heritage, People, Tourism, and Investment and Immigration. In this article, the authors selected one important dimension, “Investment and Immigration,” using the case of the Astana International Finance Centre (AIFC), which was created to enhance and promote Kazakhstan’s investment image. The expected outcomes of the study include assessing the perception of how the AIFC used digital technologies to build its brand as a part of the country’s image, and discussing the digital context of developing investment attractiveness. It also covers a short literature review on the theoretical and empirical aspects of digital transformation and presents a case study and a questionnaire-based survey to illustrate the impact of digital transformation, and especially the use of digital technologies for the AIFC’s image promotion. The conclusion summarizes the findings of this research and discusses some implications for investment and immigration attractiveness and the image of the AIFC.
Using an economic development context, this study tests a portion of the revised B2B communication effects model, which added source credibility as an antecedent to message processing. This ...exploratory study examines how the perceived credibility of a nation brand influences message persuasiveness under varying levels of argument quality and issue involvement. Applying dimensions of source credibility to place advertising, the research uses an online, between-subjects experiment with a sample of site-selection managers to measure their responses to foreign direct investment seeking advertisements. In nearly all conditions, results suggest source credibility by itself has a stronger influence over message persuasiveness than either argument quality or involvement.
The literature and practice of place promotion, place marketing and place branding lack a common understanding of what these three concepts mean and through what kind of policies they can be ...implemented. Although scholars have provided several theoretical frameworks and definitions, both scholars and practitioners (advisors, civil servants, public and private stakeholders, and politicians) often use them synonymously. This paper argues that recent developments in both theory and practice – with respect to place promotion, place marketing and place branding – provide an opportunity to address this conceptual confusion. In the academic debate, a common understanding is slowly emerging and in practice, a more integral approach is gaining ground. To contribute to these advances, we present the outline of a framework to help distinguish between place promotion, place marketing and place branding, along with a discussion on why we believe these differences (should) matter to practitioners.
•A classification of place promotion, place marketing, and place branding respectively as instruments for urban policy;•A conceptual reframing, highlighting and incorporating the differences between these three instruments;•Insights into how the current conceptual confusion causes asymmetries in both theory and practice.
The paper examines the participation of student media in inclusive place branding. Today, the territory is no longer viewed as a specific product, but as the place of interaction between different ...parties (authorities, businesses, residents, etc.). Inclusive place branding considers residents not just as brand ambassadors, but also as brand co-creators. This branding practice is consistent with increasing complexity of the city communication. Media and the variety of symbolic systems do not only construct the reality of the city, but also transmit socio-cultural experiences to the urban community. Not only various institutions (including official media), but also ordinary people participate in the symbolic exchange in the contemporary digital environment. The article presents the results of the study of 53 regular media projects created by students in 25 universities in 15 Russian cities. A content analysis of publications according to the degree of connection to the life of the territory (hyperlocal, local, regional, national themes) has shown that student media had already been involved in inclusive place branding practices.
Medical tourism is an estimated $100 billion dollar industry. Despite the increasing number of people, companies and countries involved in medical tourism, we know very little about the key drivers ...and how countries are perceived as medical tourism destinations. The purpose of this paper is to present the Medical Tourism Index, a new type of country-based performance measure to assess the attractiveness of a country as a medical tourist destination. We followed a rigorous multi-steps scale development procedure by using four empirical studies based on 4995 respondents. The MTI is a multidimensional construct with 4 dimensions (country, tourism, medical costs, medical facility and services) with 34 underlying items. Our results show the MTI allows to measure meaningful differences between countries, not only on an aggregated level but also on each sub-indexes. It provides a useful tool for the various stakeholders to measure and manage their medical tourism destination brand.
•The MTI is a new type of country-based performance measure to assess the attractiveness of a country.•The MTI is multi-dimensional construct with 4 dimensions and 34 underlying items.•The MTI allows to measure meaningful differences between countries.•The MTI is a useful tool for various stakeholders to measure and manage their medical tourism brand.
Purpose
Although the place stakeholders play a key role in participatory place branding, surprisingly little interest has been shown in the people involved in participatory place branding ...initiatives. The purpose of this study is to explore place stakeholders’ perceptions of the meaning and scope of place branding.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on two cases of participatory place branding, and the research design is inspired by participatory action research. The empirical material comprises observations, qualitative questionnaires and interviews.
Findings
This study identifies and describes four paradoxes in place stakeholders’ perceptions of the meaning and scope of place branding, embracing the target group (internal vs external), the objective (explore vs exploit), the stakeholders’ role (active vs passive) and the main value of place branding initiatives (process vs outcome). Furthermore, in this study, the place stakeholders’ paradoxical perceptions of place branding meant that, during the participatory processes, the authors encountered and needed to manage various opinions and behaviours, for example, “critics”, “innovators” and “relators”.
Originality/value
This paper contributes with a new perspective on participatory place branding. By capturing place stakeholders’ perceptions and understanding of place branding, this paper develops our knowledge and understanding of the starting point of participatory processes.
The purpose of the research project was to evaluate the status of place branding as a scientific discipline and to check whether this concept has been concretised during exploration and articulation. ...An additional objective was to check the theoretical status of place brands.
The study used an approach based on the analysis of 'place brand' models developed in the literature since models are central to the scientific procedure. These models were then confronted with the empirical observations of the authors using the Flexible Pattern Matching (FPM) method.
A consulting and practical approach is noticeable, especially in the ever-new 'process models' (how to create and manage 'place brand'); moreover, these models are scientifically insignificant and practically unworkable. Descriptive models (what a 'place/territorial brand' is) do not reveal signs of concretisation. There is undoubtedly a phenomenon of 'forcing' empirical data.
Based on the analyses done, it can be concluded that none of the examined models meets the requirements of lawlike generalisations. In the practice of place branding, carried out by territorial units, the only common element is the usage of the name and logo of the place. It can also be argued that the basic concept of 'place brand' is poorly defined. The research method used (FTM) has not been applied in the analysis of place brands so far; however, the examination done in this article proves its usefulness.
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