Place Branding

Place Branding

Place branding matters today because in a single global marketplace of instant global communications and increasingly widespread democracy, the opinions of populations count as much as the opinions of elites mattered in the past.

Why Brand Places?

As a consequence of expanding globalization, the need for place branding is more important than ever. It attracts investment, tourism, and is a valuable tool to create a reputable name for a specific place. Having a positive and powerful place brand is necessary to compete with other nations, states, regions and cities.

Types of Brand Places

Nation Brands: Nation Brands studies six verticals to determine the overall brand power of a specific country. Those six verticals include tourism, people, culture, investment/immigration, exports, and governance (http://www.nationbrandindex.com/).

Regional Brands: Similar to Nation Brands, Regional Brands studies how others think about specific regions' tourism, people, culture, investment/immigration, exports, and governance.

State Brands: State brands are vital in attracting investment opportunities and tourism through the allocation of a nation brands overall brand.

City Brands: City brands are important in attracting investment opportunities, tourism and creating a reputable name. Depending on the size of the city, city brands must be studied at both the local and international levels.

City Branding

Good branding can assist in making cities desirable, just as bad branding can assist in making cities undesirable. While some cities have prospered over the years, others have suffered. In what way does the city brand make a difference? A city must have good qualities in order to brand itself successfully, but a myriad of factors are involved.

If a city is to be considered a brand, it must start with a brand's most important characteristics; its fundamental properties. This means that a good city must have the following:

Offer attractive employment.

Not be unduly expensive in relation to wages.

Provide good and affordable housing.

Have reasonable public transportation.

Have good schools and recreational/cultural attractions.

Have a reasonable climate.

The way that brands work for a city is how these qualities are projected: by wordof- mouth, public relations, and in some cases, advertising. These attributes must be based on something substantial. The city must be "live-able". There must be an attraction to individuals.

Competition for residents has increased substantially among cities. This is in part because of globalization and technology. Society now has the choice of living in one place and working in another because of the Internet, laptops, home offices, and wireless connections. Living in one place but working for an employer in another state, city, or country is no longer an idea but a reality. Living in one particular city if you want to succeed in a certain industry still exists, but is starting to erode. People now have the option of being able to do business anywhere in the world and can decide what is best location wise to provide them with the most benefits. Cities are also giving way to foreign manufacturing and can no longer bank on their traditional industries as a means to keep them alive. To combat this, they need to brand themselves as good places to live, where a diverse range of technology, industry, retail, and other attractions can thrive. For many cities, this could be their last opportunity to keep current residents and attract new ones.

Cities are competing for people's lifestyles, and in order