We're excited to see you there! Here is our social media toolkit to let everyone know you're attending.
Please note: we are always striving to create the best agenda, and so this agenda will be subject to change.
If you have a story to share, or would like to propose a speaker, please contact Clare.
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09:00
Optional morning activities to add to your conference booking!
Places are limited on both options so please do register early.
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CNP Lab: Re-thinking place branding KPIs
[For places only, sorry but no consultants to allow for free discussion]
Join us for a workshop session to focus on how KPIs need to change to offer real value. We’ll be bringing together different conversations, sharing experiences, and developing action points to help you reshape the way you demonstrate your place brand team’s impact.
- How can you measure if your place brand is resonating – within your place and for external audiences?
- If AI is changing decision-making journeys for visitors, talent, and investors, what does this mean for the role of the place brand narrative, where it should be impacting the conversation and how you can demonstrate success?
Add to your conference booking for £155 (Excludes VAT @ 20%)
Speakers will include:
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Culture Mile BID Walking Tour: Smithfield - Where the Past Meets Progress
Join Culture Mile BID for an exclusive exploration of one of London's most remarkable regeneration stories. From medieval markets and Victorian engineering to the transformation of the historic Smithfield Market buildings into the spectacular new home of the London Museum, this guided walk traces the evolution of one of the Square Mile's most iconic places. It reveals how Culture Mile BID is supporting the City of London Corporation, alongside other partners, to champion investment, animate public spaces and unlock the area's extraordinary potential. Join the tour to explore how thoughtful placemaking, adaptive reuse and cultural ambition are creating a destination that is both globally significant and unmistakably London and for an exclusive talk from the London Museum team, offering unique insights into one of Europe's most exciting cultural projects.
Discover why the world's most successful places don't choose between heritage and innovation – they use heritage as the foundation for the future.Add to your conference booking for £55 (Excludes VAT @ 20%)
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12:30
Conference registration for all delegates
Light lunch refreshments will be available
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13:15
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13:30
What the world thinks: a global tour of attitudes to nations, democracy, and the march of technology
Setting the scene for the conference focus on perceptions of place and strategic management of place reputation, hear what the Pew Research Center is learning about global attitudes, including…
- What makes people proud of the country they live in?
- How are geopolitics impacting on perspectives of different nations and geographies?
- What do people think about democratic values and place leadership?
- How do attitudes vary towards the growing impact of AI on the world that we live in?
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13:55
Building a place brand on an emotional foundation
It’s the chicken and egg question for place branding. What comes first – the strategy for the future of your place, or the understanding of what connects people to your place now?
- Why place brand custodians need to understand the emotion of place in order to build the narrative and shape intentional strategies
- In an age where the algorithms profit off negative emotions, owning the positive emotions and connections is key
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14:20
Panel discussion: strategies for tackling dis- and mis-information
The safety, stability, and reputations of nations and cities is under attack from a wave of dis-information and the algorithms that spread it. In this session we’ll be focusing on practical responses.
- How Brand Ukraine is taking the global lead on developing counter-intelligence and proactive strategies
- How London is taking a collaborative, place-led approach to defending and building Brand London
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15:00
Refreshments
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15:30
Ideas, solutions, and inspiring case studies
Choose your expert partner-led session
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16:10
Round table discussions
Join a group of fellow delegates for peer-to-peer discussion moderated by our knowledgeable expert partners. Choose from the following topics:
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Media strategies that put your place on the map for AI-led algorithms and discovery
Given the changing digital landscape and continued impact of AI-led algorithms on how visitors, investors, and talent are learning about places and the opportunities they offer, how should your media strategy respond? In these discussions, we’ll focus on reviewing the balance of paid vs earned media, and discuss where your media spend will have the most impact in the decision-making journey.
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Structural approaches to organisational collaboration and good brand governance
It’s always been important for all the key stakeholder voices in your nation, region, or city to support and amplify your brand narrative for it to be successful – and this consistency of narrative is becoming even more important to ensure that your place is known and that you can manage and influence perceptions of your place. In these discussions we’ll focus on how place brand teams are developing effective organisational structures to ensure a coalition of support.
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Human vs machine: how to be an AI-ready and operationalised organisation
How are place teams taking control of the evolution of AI within their own team structures and initiatives? What are places learning in terms of skills development, applying tools to open up new, effective opportunities and ensuring the right balance between machine and human ownership, oversight, and connection?
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17:05
Strengthening national and regional profile through a collaboration of unique urban identities: the South Holland Alliance
Hear how Delft, Leiden, Rotterdam, and The Hague have joined forces with the Province of South Holland and the national New Dutch movement to strengthen international perceptions…
- Why a network approach was chosen vs a new regional place brand
- Creating a shared story that builds on each city’s story
- Sharing data, insights, and marketing assets – delivering practical advantages through place-to-place collaboration
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17:30
Close of day one, followed by our official Welcome Reception for all delegates, details to be announced.
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09:00
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09:10
Building an international profile through city and region collaboration: Liverpool
How can a city and a region build a combined narrative to build global reputation?
- Defining joint objectives
- Building a place narrative that reflects both the city’s character and the diverse regional strengths
- Initiating the Global Liverpool Partnership to bring together stakeholders, create ambassadors, and support the strategy in practical ways
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09:35
Panel discussion: strategies for tracking place brand perception
In this discussion, we will focus beyond the rankings – which have a clear value and contribution to make but are not accessible to every nation, region, or city.
- Why is perception tracking important?
- How should it impact on strategy?
- What are we learning about the frequency, depth, and focus of brand tracking research?
- What are the pros and cons of AI-led tools for social listening and perception tracking?
Panellists will include…
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10:15
Building connections between internal and external perceptions: How Marca Chile is building a firmer foundation for an authentic nation brand
- Why and how Marca Chile is working to understand civic pride
- Understanding the “what” and crucially the “why” of the drivers of civic pride
- Learnings from five years of the Chilean National Pride study
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10:40
Refreshments
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11:10
Ideas, solutions, and inspiring case studies
Choose your expert partner-led sessions
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13:05
Lunch
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14:05
From "You may not know us" to global attention: the Vilnius Pink Soup story
Discover how the Go Vilnius team transformed an authentic local tradition into an internationally recognised place-branding platform.
- From "You May Not Know Us" to celebrating local identity: how embracing cultural confidence helped shift global perceptions of Vilnius
- Learn how one cultural phenomenon became a strategic tool to achieve multiple place-branding objectives:
- Strengthening civic pride
- Changing international perceptions
- Generating global media attention
- Attracting visitors
- Supporting investment, talent and business events attraction
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14:30
How the nation brand is driving international attention by empowering regional brands: Embratur and the development of the Amazonia place brand
- Why and how Brazil’s national tourism board has developed a strategic decentralisation strategy
- Balancing the nation brand with regional and destination brands
- Developing the Amazonia place brand – managing the challenge of working with 9 regions
- Ensuring the regions’ voices co-lead the creative and development process
- More than a tourism marketing brand – developing the identity as a product of origin brand
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14:50
How Thailand’s Creative Economy Agency is developing and activating city brands as creative assets for the nation
- Working with local creators, businesses and communities to map out and brand cities as distinct creative assets
- Building a narrative that drives local pride, attracts targeted investment, and stimulates more sustainable tourism
- Activating festivals as scalable economic infrastructure, and as catalysts to activate and revitalise neighbourhoods to deliver a more sustainable socioeconomic footprint
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15:10
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15:25
Refreshment
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15:45
Ensuring your place brand lives: strategies for moving to place brand as an operating system
Understanding what you need to have in place to ensure that your place brand becomes the real north star for policy, for collaboration, and for community.
Panellists will include…
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16:25
Closing keynote
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16:45
The City Nation Place Awards
Our celebration of the very best in place branding and place marketing – announcing the winners of this year’s Awards
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17:15
Close of conference, followed by farewell drinks
Confirm cancellation
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Fabienne Bernet is a B2B marketer with 15 years of experience, including 9 years in foreign direct investment (FDI). Currently, she heads digital marketing initiatives at Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE), the official Swiss organization for export and investment promotion. She develops paid media concepts and helps advance digital approaches for investment promotion, including emerging tactics like GEO and AI discoverability, with a clear focus on making impact more measurable and visible. Guided by the Swiss values of quality and innovation, Fabienne is passionate about strengthening Switzerland’s reputation beyond chocolate and mountains, positioning it as a stable, highly innovative, and easy-to-do-business location where companies can grow for the long term. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management.
Clare is the Founder and Director of City Nation Place, the global forum for the people and stories behind places.
City Nation Place creates connections and shares best practice between country brands, regional brands, and city brands around the world through articles, interviews, surveys, benchmarking reports, awards, the advisory group network, and conferences.
Clare’s interest in the complex area of place branding was sparked whilst working on a series of Nation Branding Masterclass events, led by Simon Anholt, one of the first thought-leaders to speak about and promote the concept of place branding. Having listened to Simon address audiences in Accra, Delhi, Dubai, London and Singapore on how policy, governance, and symbolic actions need to combine with branding and marketing to create a competitive identity and drive economic growth, she continued to follow the growth in this sector.
Clare launched the first City Nation Place Global conference in London in 2015. CityNationPlace.com has been steadily building followers and in 2017, the first City Nation Place Americas conference was launched and 2019 saw the first City Nation Place UK, specifically for towns, cities and regions across the UK. In 2025, the first Australasia conference was held in Sydney, and one-off events have been held in Singapore and Costa Rica.
Richard Wike is Director of Global Attitudes Research at Pew Research Center in Washington, DC. He manages the Center’s international survey research and writes about public opinion around the world on a variety of topics, such as democracy, international cooperation, technology, and attitudes toward the United States and China.
He is an author of numerous Pew Research Center reports and has written for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, The Financial Times, The Guardian, Nikkei Asia, Politico, Journal of Democracy, Journal of Politics and other publications. Wike has been interviewed by a variety of U.S. and non-U.S. news organizations.
Prior to joining Pew Research, Wike was a Senior Associate for international and corporate clients at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. Wike got his start in public opinion research with Schapiro Research Group, an Atlanta-based polling firm. He received his PhD in Political Science from Emory University.
Todd Babiak is the co-founder of Story Engine, a consultancy based in Vancouver that uses narrative to solve business problems and build brands. In 2011, one of his clients, the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation, changed his life because he fell in love with place-branding. Many clients later, his strategy work for Tasmania turned into a job, which led to another job, possibly the best job in the world: CEO of Brand Gold Coast.
Maria is a strategic communication and nation branding expert.
With over ten years of professional experience in both public and international sectors, Maria has expertise in global PR and communications, public administration, and nation branding. Maria has managed international projects and communication activities for Vice-Prime-Minister’s Office on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
As a Strategic Communications Advisor to the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Maria provides policy advice on public diplomacy and country promotion. Over the last three years, she has set up an official digital ecosystem of Ukraine Ukraine.ua that has reached unprecedented global audiences of 700 mln, developed the Public Diplomacy Strategy of Ukraine, and launched a range of successful country promotion campaigns.
Currently, as the Head of BRAND UKRAINE, Maria is responsible for Ukraine’s brand development.
Maria holds a Master in International Relations from Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University, Ukraine, and Master in Communication for Development from Malmo University, Sweden.
Rose Wangen-Jones is the Managing Director, Marketing & Destinations at London & Partners, the official promotional agency for London. Working with the Mayor of London and a network of partners, she promotes London as a leading world city in which to study, invest, work, and visit. Previously, she was the CEO of The Writer, a global brand language consultancy. Before joining The Writer, she was Global Business Director at WPP, responsible for the communications and marketing of one of the group’s largest global accounts. She has spent most of her career in the private sector, leading the development of marketing communications for top national and multi-national brands in the US, Latin America and Europe. Rose holds a BA in Economics and an MBA (Marketing).
Kim Heinen works as Manager Media Relations & Public Affairs at Rotterdam Partners. She has played a key role in international city marketing and putting the city of Rotterdam on the map in a positive way for more than 15 years.
Her approach is characterized by authenticity. She strongly believes that a city does not have to please everyone. It is precisely by embracing the raw, unique, and sometimes idiosyncratic sides of Rotterdam that she creates a credible and compelling city narrative.
Marco Esser (1971) is director of The Hague & Partners. He was responsible for the merger of The Hague Marketing Bureau, The Hague Convention Bureau, and The Hague Business Agency into one foundation. The aim of The Hague & Partners is to increase welfare and the wellbeing of the citizens. They do this via marketing & acquisition, aimed at inhabitants, visitors, congress organizers, and foreign businesses and organizations. Marco Esser was (and is) member of Supervisory Boards in tourism, sports, culture, and welfare. Before he became the director of The Hague & Partners, Marco was political advisor, spokesperson and campaign manager of the Dutch Labor Party. Marco lives in the city center of The Hague with his wife and two kids.
Clare is the Founder and Director of City Nation Place, the global forum for the people and stories behind places.
City Nation Place creates connections and shares best practice between country brands, regional brands, and city brands around the world through articles, interviews, surveys, benchmarking reports, awards, the advisory group network, and conferences.
Clare’s interest in the complex area of place branding was sparked whilst working on a series of Nation Branding Masterclass events, led by Simon Anholt, one of the first thought-leaders to speak about and promote the concept of place branding. Having listened to Simon address audiences in Accra, Delhi, Dubai, London and Singapore on how policy, governance, and symbolic actions need to combine with branding and marketing to create a competitive identity and drive economic growth, she continued to follow the growth in this sector.
Clare launched the first City Nation Place Global conference in London in 2015. CityNationPlace.com has been steadily building followers and in 2017, the first City Nation Place Americas conference was launched and 2019 saw the first City Nation Place UK, specifically for towns, cities and regions across the UK. In 2025, the first Australasia conference was held in Sydney, and one-off events have been held in Singapore and Costa Rica.
David Gilbert serves as President and CEO of Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, an organization dedicated to making Greater Cleveland the nation’s foremost destination for amateur sporting events and activities, and Destination Cleveland, the region’s destination marketing and management organization. He re-established the Sports Commission in 2000 and assumed his role with Destination Cleveland in 2011. From April 2015 through December 2017, David also served as the president and CEO of the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee for the Republican National Convention.
Greater Cleveland Sports Commission is responsible for attracting, creating, managing, and enhancing significant sporting and competitive events. Since 2000, the organization has attracted over 200 events including the NFL Draft, MLB All-Star Game, NBA All-Star Weekend and NCAA Women’s Final Four in addition to the upcoming 2024 Pan-American Maters Games. These events have contributed more than $820 million in local economic impact.
At Destination Cleveland, Gilbert is responsible for carrying out the organization’s mission to drive economic impact and stimulate community vitality by positioning and promoting Cleveland as an exciting, vibrant destination. Under his leadership, visitation and economic impact increased dramatically for nine consecutive years (2011-2019) before the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic. During that time, annual visitation grew at a pace greater than the U.S. visitation growth rate.
Gilbert serves as vice president on the board of the International Children’s Games, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and sits of the boards of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland and the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board of the Department of Commerce. He was named by Crain’s Cleveland Business as one of Cleveland’s “30 influencers of the past 30 years,” Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and in 2016, he received the SME Cleveland Business Executive of the Year Award.
Gilbert has a Bachelor of Arts degree in marketing from The Ohio State University and an MBA from Cleveland State University.
My background is in political science and integrated communication.
I have more than 15 years experience in communication working within different areas - public and digital diplomacy, stratcom, government affairs, media relations, PR, country branding.
Together with my team in 2019 we have launched a new brand strategy and platform - Lithuania Co-Create.
As Embratur’s Business Development Manager for Europe, Lilas Nascimento drives strategic growth across 9 priority markets on the continent, specialising in unlocking high-value opportunities and connecting European business networks, investors, and partners to Brazil’s dynamic commercial and tourism ecosystem. Having successfully led Embratur’s UK office for 5 years, she has developed solid market intelligence and established deep ties with key British stakeholders. Today, Lilas bridges her local and continental expertise with the innovative national management team, celebrated for breaking the global growth record for international tourist arrivals in 2025. Operating under the strategic framework of the Plano Brasis (2025-2028), her work focuses on market expansion, multi-regional brand governance, and strategic decentralisation — offering practical benchmarks on how national organisations navigate global competitiveness, balance macro-destination brands with local micro-identities, and transform complex assets, such as the multi-state Amazon brand, into powerful, authentic travel products for discerning travellers.
As Embratur’s Business Development Manager for Europe, Lilas Nascimento drives strategic growth across 9 priority markets on the continent, specialising in unlocking high-value opportunities and connecting European business networks, investors, and partners to Brazil’s dynamic commercial and tourism ecosystem. Having successfully led Embratur’s UK office for 5 years, she has developed solid market intelligence and established deep ties with key British stakeholders. Today, Lilas bridges her local and continental expertise with the innovative national management team, celebrated for breaking the global growth record for international tourist arrivals in 2025. Operating under the strategic framework of the Plano Brasis (2025-2028), her work focuses on market expansion, multi-regional brand governance, and strategic decentralisation — offering practical benchmarks on how national organisations navigate global competitiveness, balance macro-destination brands with local micro-identities, and transform complex assets, such as the multi-state Amazon brand, into powerful, authentic travel products for discerning travellers.