On 8^th November 2017, the day before the main City Nation Place agenda, the City Nation Place Think Tank convened for the third year.

This year the theme of the Think Tank was “The difference between place branding and place marketing”. The Think Tank was organised in association with the International Place Branding Association, guided by esteemed academics and place branding experts Robert Govers and Martin Boisen and was sponsored by The New York Times.

Learn about Butler County's Award entry for Best Citizen Engagement

How can tourism marketing work more effectively within an aligned strategy? Read the full interview with Paul Sloan, CEO of Tahiti Tourisme

The New York Times is hosting the pre-conference Think Tank session at this year’s City Nation Place Global conference where our delegates will be considering the differences between place branding, and place marketing. We caught up with Nahim Mehenni, Director for Place Branding at The New York Times and Raquel Bubar, Director, T Brand Studio International to discuss the media owner’s interest in place branding and place marketing. Find out what The NEW YORK TIMES team has learned from working with clients in the tourism and investment promotion sector and discover tips on how place brands can get the most out of a relationship with a media company…

We caught up with Jessica Wardle, Managing Partner at M&C Saatchi. We’re keen to understand what changes she's witnessing across the FDI sector and in the promotion of investment opportunities by cities, nations and regions.

Our team of place and destination branding consultants recently prepared a strategic advice note for a seminar in Dublin for the Irish government and key stakeholders to explore refreshing the country’s national brand of Eire, the Republic of Ireland.

Inga Hlín Pálsdóttir, Director, Visit Iceland & Creative Industries at Promote Iceland, shared her place branding expertise with us.

Petra Theman of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Finland shared her tips for successful place branding

What causes some place brand strategies to fall short of some, or all, of their objectives. There’s been little analysis of what can go awry, how to remedy a failing initiative, or avoid the most common pitfalls altogether.

At a  time of political turbulence in many places around the world, how do you work effectively with politicians and the politics of organisations

Richard Florida argues for investing in people and in places to avert the urban crisis caused by growing inequality which threatens cities’ very existence. We agree.

Although the services provided by the meetings industry often go unnoticed, they are a catalyst for economic growth. They have the power to influence how a city is shaped, including who lives there, who works there and who visits year-to-year. What’s more, conferences can determine what other industries flock to the region and ultimately whether long-term investment opportunities will succeed or fail.

Richard Florida’s book, The New Urban Crisis, explores the forces of inequality that are fraying the fibres of places from Seattle to South Beach, with urban real estate being gobbled up by the global wealthy while children of long-time locals are unable to get into the market. This is a new blueprint for cities who are victims of their own success, and just as pertinent as Rise of the Creative Class was more than a decade ago.

The election of Donald Trump has wide-ranging implications for America’s big cities and their place in the nation and the global economy. A new book by city expert Richard Florida, The New Urban Crisis, explores the forces that propelled Trump to the presidency, and offers plenty of analysis about what’s in store for large urban centers around the globe.