Soft Power

Soft power is the persuasive approach to international relations, typically involving the use of economic or cultural influence. But what does that mean for cities, nations, and places? If you can leverage your soft power effectively in your place marketing and place branding strategy, you can create far greater impact and leverage your reputation to meet your goals. Here, we’ve collated a wealth of resources to help you with your journey.


This Soft Power Topic Zone is sponsored by

Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand evaluation and strategy consultancy. We help place brands measure their marketing activities and develop successful strategies. Headquartered in the City of London, we are present in 25 countries worldwide.

We have published the Brand Finance Nation Brands study into the strength and value of the world’s top nation brands for 20 years. In 2020, we launched the Global Soft Power Index – the world’s most comprehensive research study on perceptions of nation brands, surveying opinions of 150,000+ respondents in 100+ markets and ranking all 193 member states of the United Nations. Our Brand Finance City Index – published for the first time in 2023 will be extended in the coming years to cover more city brands in regional rankings across all continents.

The Global Soft Power Summit is returning on February 28-29th, 2024. Learn more here.


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Konrad Jagodzinski Place Branding Director Brand Finance Bio

Strategic applications of place brand measurement

Brand Finance's Konrad Jagodzinski and Artur Bryzghalov joined three place brand leaders at City Nation Place Global to share practical examples of how place brand measurement can inform your strategy and improve results.
Listen in to learn from Carla Urbano Donayre, Promperu, David Downs, New Zealand Story Group, and Enver Duminy, Cape Town Tourism, as they share their practical experience on how analysing perceptions data can help you identify strategic priorities, develop a licensing programme, and communicate the added value of your work to key stakeholders.

label_outline DataPlace BrandingReputationSoft Power

More from Soft Power

In The Spotlight

The role of nation branding in fostering peace and unity

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moldova saw thousands of Ukrainian refugees fleeing across their border. As a former Soviet republic, the country was facing a communication crisis. Invest Moldova's Irina Tolstousov explains how they launched the 'Moldova for Peace' campaign and what this means for their citizen engagement and soft power one year on.

label_outline Citizen EngagementCrisis ManagementPlace BrandingSoft Power
Trends & Ideas

Can nation brand perceptions predict performance?

As the world becomes increasingly connected, soft power is an important tool that nations can leverage to achieve economic success. Brand Finance's Place Branding Director Konrad Jagodzinski explores the link between nation brand perceptions and performance and shares some ideas on how you can leverage your soft power to grow your economy.

label_outline Economic Development Place BrandingReputationSoft PowerTourism