How can we build attractive communities where people want to live, work, visit and invest? And what does it take to engage your community in creating a vibrant place?

The eight countries in the Nordics might look similar, but they’re pretty different in terms of size, nature, export markets and finally, nation branding. Still, they have a few crucial things in common. Find out how 'Nordic Talks,' a joint branding initiative, worked to enhance the Nordic Commonality and share their core values.

What sells newspapers and subscriptions can be hugely damaging to the respective nation, or city, often blowing concerns vastly out of proportion and creating long-lasting reputational impacts that take months or even years to overcome. So how can places retake control of the narrative to tell a new story?

Getting stakeholders to understand your vision can be a challenge at the best of times. Sweden’s solution to engaging stakeholders in your sustainability strategy? Storytelling. Per Grankvist, Chief Storyteller for the government-funded initiative, Viable Cities, explained to us how they’re pioneering a new approach to driving more sustainable change and how a local-centric approach is key to successfully changing behaviour.

How did Brand Tasmania create a unifying cultural expression to rally the local residents and stakeholders behind their place brand vision? Read this case study from our 2021 winners of the Place Brand of the Year Award here to discover how they wowed our judges.

Last week – and for the first time in two years – we were able to welcome delegates to London for CNP Global & UK. The two days were packed with learnings from around the world; here are just a few of our key takeaways from across the conferences...

As Charles Landry - the renowned pioneer of the “creative cities” concept - notes, “the stories we tell ourselves are a big part of how we become us.” At a most basic level, Landry asserts, places can say “yes” or “no.” In other words, is this locale open to change and possibility or not?

Promoting a place is a hugely complex task, and collaborating with the other local players creates much firmer foundation for your place brand strategy. But what do you need to do to ensure that you’re collaborating effectively?

Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo was facing an unusual challenge in early 2020 – how to create and launch a place brand during a global pandemic. We reached out to Andrea Haley, Director of Brand and Corporate Services for Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo Economic Development & Tourism, to understand how they turned lockdown into an opportunity to build community support for the place brand strategy.

What can we learn from New York City, the cultural melting pot of the world? Nancy Mammana, Chief Marketing Officer for NYC & Company joined us to share how they’re giving a platform to marginalised voices and ensuring that the recovery is equitable.

We talked last week about the importance of having reputational resilience as a place brand or marketing organisation, but of course, this is only one facet of the solution. You have to be able to secure the future of your own organisation to be able to continue delivering on your place brand and place marketing success.

Understanding how we can build on community goodwill will be critical for authentic and resilient recovery. Power to Change, an independent trust that supports community businesses in England, shares lessons from some of England’s most innovative community leaders to understand how places around the world can work more effectively with their community as we rebuild.