As controversy continues to rage in the United States over Nike’s Colin Kaepernick ad campaign, it turns the spotlight on the “values” of the brand.  Brands have always been about more than the logo or slogan: brand managers have always focused on brand values to create customer loyalty.  But in recent years companies have had to think more carefully about how the statements of CEOs around political issues will impact on customer perceptions, or on whether their communication strategies can add to their brand values by making statements about societal values.  So what about place brands?

We caught up with Caio Esteves, CEO at Places for us, to explore his thoughts on place branding, destination marketing and investment promotion campaigns.

We caught up with Colin Ferguson, President & CEO at Travel Manitoba to discuss some of the key areas affecting place branding.

Following several fantastic place branding campaigns, we caught up with our judge Guðrið Højgaard,  Director of Tourism - CEO at Visit Faroe Islands

We caught up with Natasha Grand, Director at INSTID (Institute for Identity) to discuss how place branding strategies have evolved over recent years.

In the lead up to the City Nation Place Awards 2018, we asked our judges to outline what they believe is essential to a good place branding strategy. Their insights should be invaluable to anyone involved in place branding and, throughout their responses, there were key ideas that continued to resurface: community engagement, authenticity, creativity and demonstrable results.

We caught up with Brad Dean, CEO of Discover Puerto Rico, to discuss his own experience of place branding.

Home is a reflection of who we are, at our best, and who we hope to be. There is always a deep, meaningful reason why we choose to live where we live. We want to express our pride in an authentic way, celebrate what makes us unique, and reinforce it in the way we plan and build together. What gets in the way of powerful place-branding?

Investment promotion agencies and economic development teams are increasingly adept at attracting international companies and growing their locations. We see sector specific segmentation and an understanding that “liveability” and the values behind your place brand are as important as tax incentives. However, relatively few locations have developed the policies, processes and mindsets necessary to help the businesses they have worked so hard to attract actually thrive. This blog discusses the basic principles of Aftercare, and, with a couple of examples, shows the value Aftercare can deliver.

We caught up with Adriana Campelo, Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Salvador to discover how place branding intersects with resilience.

We caught up with Kristina Plavšak Krajnc, Director at the Republic of Slovenia Government Communication Office to discuss how collaboration is the key to successful place branding.

We spoke with Mitch Whitten and asked him to share his thoughts on the challenges faced by those working in place branding and marketing.

Bloom Consulting unveiled the Asia edition of the Digital City Index-Asia at CNP Asia Pacific 2018. Here are a few sneak peeks at their findings.

That’s right, it sounds counter intuitive. As economic and tourism developers or promoters, we are always trying to outdo our competitors with more, bigger, better (more restaurants, more tourist attractions, the largest population of college educated workers). Or perhaps, some places go the opposite direction with less, lower, simpler (low taxes, few regulations, simpler lifestyle).

How can a collective negativism affect a neighbourhood, city, region or nation’s ability to transform its economic fortunes? What does it take to unlock that negativism?  Read this perspective on how to understand the psychology of your place and engage stakeholders in a more positive and effective outlook.