This paper explores (1) the interrelationship between the commercial performance of markets and town and city centres, (2) the positive and negative spill-over effects between them and (3) the ...implications for the understanding of the place brand and its management. It employs a network and place branding perspective and applies a multi-method case study approach utilising surveys and semi-structured interviews with stall-, store- and city centre managers in two European cities. Results reveal strong relationships between the commercial performance of the markets and the performance of the city centres. Findings confirm bi-directional positive spill-over effects between markets and city centres. Further, they reveal negative spill-over effects related to infrastructural deficiencies of the city centres and negative by-products of the increased footfall generated by the markets. This research provides insights into the role of markets as key features of urban place products and their potential in augmenting an urban place brand.
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•The commercial performance of a market and the city centre are strongly interrelated.•Positive and negative spill-over effects exist between markets and city centres.•This research shows:-The role of markets as key features of urban place products and-Their potential in augmenting an urban place 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.
A new trend in destination marketing has been emerging for several years. Instead of many small events, locations rely on one brand-strengthening Signature Event that draws attention to the ...destination through its uniqueness. Because pilgrimage is arguably the oldest form of mass tourism, places of pilgrimage may have invented such Signature Events to attract devout travellers. If so, signature events at pilgrimage sites are valuable research objects for investigating their success factors. Not only are they the prototypes in which the DNA of Signature Events can be studied, but in many cases, they also had centuries to optimise their experience. Using the example of the most visited Catholic pilgrimage sites in Germany, this research examines whether there are signature events, what common structures they have, and what can be derived from these findings for destination marketing.
Rural revitalization is an important way of addressing sustainability. In recent years, the problems of dual urban-rural structures and rural ‘hollowing-out’ have become prominent. Driven by the ...strategic planning of rural revitalization, different development modes have emerged in China. However, more research is needed on their actual performance and wider impact on rural revitalization. Through the case of Xiamei in China with in-depth interviews, fieldwork, and participatory observation, this paper explores how tea tourism could revitalize an ancient village. It shows that sense of place, key leadership, and the participation of local talent have shaped its local culture and industrial characteristics. The spatial types of the old-new mixture, including'a workshop behind the house’ and ‘a shop in front of the house’, play a crucial role in the development mode. The media and Internet marketing have a far-reaching impact on the tea-culture economy and tourism. The cultural landscape-oriented rural revitalization promotes Xiamei as a society with improvements to local value, identity, and livelihoods.
•Rural revitalization is key to the rural changes leading to a sustainable future.•Xiamei's tangible and intangible cultural tea landscape builds a sense of place.•The importance of support by local clans.•Key local leaders shape Xiamei's bottom-up rural revitalization.•Modern media market old-new spatial types to demonstrate small-scale development.
Place branding strategies contribute to policy decisions that shape a city. Little research, however, investigates how place marketers influence the decision-making of those higher up in the value ...chain. Drawing upon Bourdieu's theory of cultural intermediation, we identify where these professionals exhibit influence in a city branding endeavour and what impact they have on policy decisions. We report results of semi-structured interviews with senior place marketers at 13 cities around the world and find that policy decisions are influenced in unofficial, hidden and non-systemic ways, including identifying and working with key stakeholders behind the scenes, playing politics, and applying a promotional lens to policy endeavours. We discuss these findings and their implications on theory and practice.
•Place marketers influence promotional decisions unofficially and non-systemically.•They must negotiate their position of legitimacy, persuasion and influence.•They work closely, consistently and behind the scenes with key senior stakeholders.•They must be vigilant in their construction of legitimacy.•Succeeding in influencing upstream could positively impact the city in the long term.
Major sporting events bring a range of social, economic, and reputational benefits for hosting nations and serve as a vehicle to showcase the nation brand. Social media engagement during sport events ...provides opportunities for community members to cocreate, curate and communicate their nation brand’s attributes. While research in nation branding and community engagement has examined the ways place-based communities contribute to nation branding, little is known about how and in what ways virtual communities contribute to their nation brand. This study addresses this gap by examining the virtual brand community (VBC) surrounding the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Using social network analysis and content analysis, the findings suggest that VBC contributions is dependent on the composition, participation, and cultivation of conversations focusing on the personality traits of a nation brand. Theoretically, the outcomes from this study advance understanding of leveraging the properties of VBCs in making contribution to the production and maintenance of an authentic nation brand, that values community perspectives facilitated through community engagement. For public relations, it extends the current research in digital social-level engagement in virtual settings and outlines future research in participatory approaches to nation branding. The growing use of major sporting events in supporting nation branding goals, particularly in Asian and African continents, suggests the outcome of this study has implications at regional and international levels to guide public relations managers in major events to facilitate sustainable VBCs for authentic place branding outcomes.
•Digital social-level engagement facilitates authentic nation branding through VBCs.•VBCs require authentic and diverse community composition, prticipation and contribution.•Community-led nation branding reflects active community and brand organization engagement.•Cocreation of value-based content builds shared place and nation brand identity.
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.
•Borders represent semiotic resources for cross-border place branding.•Two meaning-making strategies are distinguished within a conceptual framework.•Border assets can be valorized for the branding ...of a cross-border place.•Borders can also be invisibilized to legitimize a seamless cross-border place.•The more the border is militarized, the more selective the image of the region.
This paper explores the ways in which borders are likely to be used as a semiotic resource in cross-border place branding. We develop a conceptual framework, distinguishing two meaning-making strategies: one that seeks to valorize borders as assets for cross-border place branding and another that relies on their invisibilization in order to promote, implicitly, the legitimacy of a seamless cross-border regional imaginary. For each meaning-making strategy, specific border discourses are identified. Based on a social semiotics approach, we analyze the case of Cali Baja, a place branding initiative that seeks to promote a bi-national mega-region straddling the US-Mexico border between San Diego and Tijuana. Despite the militarization of the border and the highly visible physical wall that divides Cali Baja, a selective branding discourse framed around favorable border images and representations is brought to the fore. It is therefore at the cost of the partial (in)visibilization of the border that the mega-region can be given value and promoted on the international scene, but it is also the discrepancy with the identity of the bi-national region that precipitated the failure of this place branding initiative.
In this article we examine how the online rental housing market reflects the desirability of different neighbourhoods in St. Louis, MO, a metropolitan area with long-standing high levels of ...Black–White residential segregation. Using a large digital corpus of advertisements for rental housing, we first show that adverts in neighbourhoods with more Black residents are less likely to list a neighbourhood name than adverts for available housing units in neighbourhoods with more White residents. Advertisements for housing in neighbourhoods with more Black residents are also more likely to list a different, higher-income neighbourhood name than the one in which they are located. Next, using a survey of St. Louis residents, we find that neighbourhoods with more Black residents are perceived as less desirable by both White and Black St. Louisans. We then employ a pair of survey experiments and find that interest in renting a particular housing unit changes if the advert does not list a neighbourhood name or uses a different neighbourhood name than one commonly associated with its location. Altogether, our findings reveal that postings in online housing markets reflect and reproduce existing racial-spatial patterns and may contribute to the avoidance/stigmatisation of certain neighbourhoods.
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