Place branding

Place branding (including place marketing and place promotion) is a new umbrella term encompassing nation branding, region branding and city branding. Place branding is the process of image communication to a target market. It is invariably related to the notion that places compete with other places for people, resources, and business; the global competition of cities is estimated to host 2.7 million small cities/towns, 3,000 large cities, and 455 metropolises Place branding can be defined as the process employed by public administrations to intend to create place brands, networks of associations in the target groups’ minds “based on the visual, verbal, and behavioural expression of a place, which is embodied through the aims, communication, values, and the general culture of the place’s stakeholders and the overall place design” (Zenker & Braun, 2010). It therefore aims to affect the perceptions of a place and position it favourably in the minds of the target groups. Place branding can even be considered as a “governance strategy for projecting images and managing perceptions about places” (Braun, Eshuis, & Klijn, 2014, p. 64). Place branding thus suggests that places, cities, regions or countries could be considered as brands, as long as perceived so. In this regard, many public administrations are implementing place branding strategies.

The concept has been explored by different thinkers such as Wally Olins, Robert Govers, José Filipe Torres, Simon Anholt,Philip Kotler,Gold and Ward,Avraham and Ketter Seppo Rainisto,Nikolaj Stagis and others.

One of the tenets of place branding posits that the struggle for attention and preference is not limited to commercial goods and services; it applies equally to geo-political entities. Countries and cities compete for tourist income, business, and often tax bases; even within cities, there is a fierce competition between city centers vs. neighborhoods, big box retailers vs. main streets, shopping malls vs. traditional downtowns. Proponents of place branding argue that this heightened competitive environment makes it important for places, no matter their size or composition, to clearly differentiate themselves and to convey why they are relevant and valued options.

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