Meaningful measurement for transformative place branding

The days of chasing growth for growth’s sake are increasingly behind us; place brand and place marketing organisations are challenging themselves to deliver quality, not quantity. More and more commonly, we see place leadership teams prioritising socially conscious strategies that aim to build stronger, more resilient futures for our communities.However, as organisations evolve their purpose, they are also challenging external perceptions of their work.“People like labels; they want to put things in boxes,” shared Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism. “But there is no box, and there is no label. We once called ourselves a Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO), but that definition limited us to a narrow set of roles. Now we see ourselves as a DXO, where the ‘X’ stands for transformation, for refusing to be confined, and for embracing constant reinvention.”As purpose and objectives change, the metrics you use to demonstrate your impact to stakeholders and to advocate for the value of your work might also need to adapt. After all, if you’re looking to demonstrate a broader societal or economic impact, then quantitative metrics such as heads in beds, visitor spend, or the number of businesses attracted no longer reflect the full spectrum of your work.So then, what does measurement look like in this new age of more purposeful place branding? We challenged our City Nation Place Global speakers to share their insights on how you can deliver meaningful measurements that demonstrate the true impact of your place brand strategy.Embracing meaning and purpose within city and nation brand strategiesStockholm and Canada’s place brand and marketing teams are both shifting to understand how wellbeing connects to broader economic development.In partnership with the Center for Wellbeing, Welfare, and Happiness at the Stockholm School of Economics, key stakeholders from across Stockholm are embarking on a new mission to understand, measure, and promote wellbeing – and what that means for the city’s future.A happy city is a healthy city, and is a city that you want to visit, relocate to, and invest in. But the challenge is being able to quantify this so that strategies can be assessed by how they deliver in this area. One area the initiative seeks to understand is the impact of events on overall wellbeing. A new research project aims to assess how ice hockey tournaments can promote happiness, social connection, and overall life satisfaction, so that this information can be used to guide future decisions. By integrating wellbeing into the decision-making process, Stockholm aims to embed wellbeing as a core pillar of the city brand.Wellbeing is also a priority for Destination Canada, who are transitioning their definition of brand equity from a marketing KPI to a long-term strategic asset for the nation.“This means moving beyond traditional campaign metrics to understand how brands drive real economic outcomes such as visitor spending, job creation, and GDP, while strengthening community wellbeing,” explained Sarah Volberg, Executive Director, Global Growth Marketing & Brand Intelligence at Destination Canada.To achieve this, the team have developed a brand intelligence platform that connects the nation brand health to key outcomes. They’re also working to align their city and regional DMO partners under a shared measurement framework to ensure that every place is contributing to these overarching outcomes.“We see brand equity not simply as a marketing measure, but as a public good,” continued Sarah, “best evaluated by the prosperity and wellbeing it delivers to the communities we serve.”Traditional metrics are dead. Long live purposeful measurement. A shift in purpose demands a shift in key performance indicators. As Marc Meeuwis, Director of Citymarketing Tilburg, put it to us, “place branding is not a campaign – it’s a long-term investment in identity, trust, and relevance. If we want to track the real impact of our work, we need to start by aligning our metrics with our values.”The question is – where do you start?1. Define what you want to achieve.Place branding is a long-term investment in the identity and reputation of your place, and your metrics for success should reflect this. For Marc Meeuwis, meaningful metrics start with a meaningful purpose. “Define what transformation looks like for your place – then measure what matters to that transformation,” he advised. 2. Be honest about what you can control.Place reputation is hugely complex, and it’s influenced by a number of factors that are outside of your control. “More than ever, geopolitical events can deliver victories and losses that have nothing to do with the work we actually do, as place leaders,” explained Todd Babiak, CEO of Brand Gold Coast. “We have to resist the temptation to celebrate, or mourn, events that have nothing to do with the work we do.”Having identified your purpose and what you want to achieve, you need to clearly define your business model and what levers you can actually pull. “Once we determine that, we can set and deliver metrics with and for our partners in business, government, and the community,” Todd continued.3. It's more than bringing people in – it’s about understanding why they stay or leave.Maria Hardenberger Sverka, Marketing Director for Copenhagen Capacity, shared that “metrics should prioritise belonging, wellbeing, and opportunity, because the human side of place-making is what turns statistics into stories.”The best strategies measure both attraction and retention to understand what is compelling about your place, and where your brand promise is failing. Maria also stressed that long-term engagement and brand recognisability should also be key metrics, as they’re vital to ensuring that stakeholders can recognise the value of your work. 4. Get qualitative.In Tilburg, Marc Meeuwis believes that place leaders should prioritise qualitative insights from within the community: “These tell you whether your narrative is perceived in the right way. Are people recognising themselves in the brand? Are they contributing to it? Are they proud to be part of it?”On paper, quantitative research always looks easier, but don’t underestimate how vital qualitative insights are – particularly around the softer outcomes such as quality of life or citizen pride.

Meaningful measurement for transformative place branding

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