Meet the Experts

Looking for the right consultant or agency to help you develop and implement your place brand and/or marketing strategy? We're delighted to make some introductions...

Adara

https://adara.com/

Adara helps brands and destinations win in the digital economy by providing the data and measurement tools they need to boost engagement and drive growth. Our privacy-first approach to data means brands and destinations around the world trust Adara for forward-thinking and meaningful insights.

Data management / Digital / Advertising / Marketing
Contact
Leroy Bridges

Alphabet

https://www.alphabetcreative.com/

Alphabet® is a 24-person tourism branding and marketing agency based in Ottawa, Canada operating since 2000.  Alphabet® has a history of partnering with clients and other consultancy teams, pushing the boundaries of how brand positioning and marketing strategy contribute to a destination’s economic vitality. We have established our reputation by being focused on results through creative thinking combined with research, analytics and consumer insight.  Our brand development approach is built for today’s digital and social media environments – understanding how brands today are consumed and shared, creating concepts that include design and messaging platforms to create a timeless brand strategy.

Research / Strategy / Advertising / Design / Marketing
Contact
Cathy Kirkpatrick, Tourism Marketing

Amadeus

https://www.amadeus-hospitality.com/destination-management/

Travel broadens horizons, creates connections and builds economies. Travel powers progress. And Amadeus powers travel. 

We build the critical solutions that help airlines and airports, hotels and railways, search engines, travel agencies, tour operations and improve the travel experience, billions of times a year, all over the world. 

Amadeus harnesses in-depth travel data analytics from the millions of journeys we process every year (10s of billions of searches; 1,000+ airline schedules; 1+ billion annual air booking).  Amadeus for Destinations combines these insights with a broad range of marketing channels to help you reach highly-targeted audiences, make your marketing spend more effective and drive visitor growth in your region.

Data management / Digital / Research / Advertising / Marketing / Media / Social Media / Storytelling
Contact
Daniel Moravanszky

BBC

https://bbcnews.bbcstudios.com/

BBC Studios is responsible for the global, commercial operations of BBC News.

As the world’s most trusted international news broadcaster, accurate, impartial news is available via the 24 hour news channel - BBC World News - and BBC.com, along with a broad range of insightful and in-depth features across BBC Sport, BBC Worklife, BBC Culture, BBC Future, BBC Reel and BBC Travel.

As a commercial arm of the BBC, we work with brands to create partnerships which connect them with our curious and globally-minded audience through bespoke branded content, sponsorship and advertising opportunities.

Advertising / Media / Storytelling
Contact
Samantha Adams

Bloom Consulting

https://www.bloom-consulting.com/

Bloom Consulting is a company 100% specialized in Nation and Place Branding headquartered in Madrid, with offices in London, Lisbon and Sao Paulo.  The specialisation in Country Branding makes Bloom Consulting one of the most advanced and globally renowned companies in the sector with more than 70 projects implemented across 5 continents.

Bloom Consulting publishes its own Country Brand Ranking, with the aim of analyzing the Brand performance of 180 Countries and the Digital Country Index and Digital City Index which measure the digital identity of Nations and Places

Nation Brand Builders, Bloom Consulting Latest book, available on Amazon

Data management / Digital / Reputation Management / Research / Strategy / Marketing / Place Making
Contact
Jose Filipe Torres, CEO

Brand Finance

https://brandfinance.com/

Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand evaluation and strategy consultancy. We help place brands measure their marketing activities and develop successful strategies. Headquartered in the City of London, we are present in 25 countries worldwide.

We have published the Brand Finance Nation Brands study into the strength and value of the world’s top nation brands for 20 years. In 2020, we launched the Global Soft Power Index – the world’s most comprehensive research study on perceptions of nation brands, surveying opinions of 150,000+ respondents in 100+ markets and ranking all 193 member states of the United Nations. Our Brand Finance City Index – published for the first time in 2023 will be extended in the coming years to cover more city brands in regional rankings across all continents.

Data management / Reputation Management / Research / Strategy
Contact
Konrad Jagodzinski, Place Branding Director

Brandkit

https://www.brandkit.io/

Brandkit® is a leading brand management platform built for Destination Marketing, Place Branding Organisations, and Economic Development Agencies.


Our platform combines digital asset management, media centre, CMS, customisable Brand Portal, File Transfer, Content Distribution, and Stakeholder Collaboration tools that enable brands and their marketing teams to find, manage, curate, share and deploy images, video, brand assets, brand guidelines, infographics, pdfs, design files, press releases, blog posts, story ideas, links to earned media, and more, at scale, all in one unified content library.


Brandkit® is headquartered in New Zealand and works with a number of DMO’s, Place Brands, Economic Development Agencies, and other businesses globally. Including Tourism New Zealand, VisitScotland, Brand Estonia, and Brand Tasmania.

Digital / Strategy / Design / Marketing / Social Media / Storytelling
Contact
David Vaassen, Founder & CEO

Brash

https://brash.agency/

Brash is a strategic led brand consultancy, specialising in real estate, placemaking and destinations. With presence in the UK, Middle East and central Europe, the consultancy brings global expertise and unique industry insights, delivered in a personal and bespoke manner. 

Brash is brave and disruptive, always on a mission to identify the bigger opportunity, unlock the brand’s full potential, create positive impact, and deliver tangible business value. With vision and true insights, we develop compelling brand propositions. Through world class design, content, and technology we bring brands to life.

Research / Strategy / Design / Marketing / Storytelling
Contact
Guillaume Froome Cocken

C Studios

https://www.c-studios.com/

C Studios delivers digital marketing services for economic development organizations across investment attraction, trade promotion and talent attraction. With expertise from working with hundreds of cities, regions and countries, we guide our clients through their demand and lead generation challenges with confidence and clarity. C Studios is a joint venture between two best-in-class-agencies: OCO Global, a technology enabled advisory firm focused on trade, investment and economic development, and DCI, marketing specialists in economic development, talent attraction and tourism. Together, we combine more than 80 years of combined agency history and 250 experts from around the world. We’re a global team solving global challenges.

Digital / Strategy / Advertising / Marketing / Media / Social Media
Contact
Steve Duncan

Civic Brand

https://www.civicbrand.com/

CivicBrand is an agency with over a decade of experience in research, branding, consulting, design, and marketing. We’re a team of strategists, creatives and storytellers with a passion for helping communities tell their story.  We work directly with cities, economic development, and DMOs including convention & visitors bureaus (CVBs), chambers of commerce and business associations to develop and implement branding, engagement and destination marketing strategies. We focus on public engagement at the core of place branding and implementing strategies that cut across residents, visitors and business.

Strategy / Design / Marketing / Citizen Engagement
Contact
Ryan Short, CEO

Creos

https://www.creos.io/en/

Creos offers expert consulting and project management services for designing, planning and developing technology and art in public spaces, with the goal of transforming these areas into lively, attractive spaces that combine creativity and efficiency.

A world-leading agency for touring interactive installations, Creos transforms public spaces into must-see destinations worldwide that enrich the lives of citizens and tourists alike. Creos offers a diverse portfolio of interactive installations tailored to venues, offering visitors a unique and memorable sensory and interactive experience.

Strategy / Design / Place Making
Contact
Alexandre Lemieux

CrowdRiff

https://crowdriff.com/

CrowdRiff is a visual marketing platform purpose-built for the travel and tourism industry. The platform combines content discovery, digital asset management and content delivery tools that enable marketers to source and share top performing visuals with their respective audiences, at scale. CrowdRiff currently works with over 800 leading travel and tourism brands globally, including Destination BC and the Netherland Board of Tourism and Conventions.

Design / Marketing
Contact
Hannah Grant, Director Demand, Generation and Growth

Development Counsellors International

https://aboutdci.com/

Known as the “Leader in Marketing Places” since 1960, Development Counsellors International (DCI) is an international marketing and communications agency specializing in tourism, economic development and talent attraction.

A full-service creative agency, DCI offers research, destination marketing strategy, place branding, public relations, websites, lead generation, digital advertising, creative services, travel trade and business events marketing.

 

Our team of in-house creative place makers designs high-impact marketing campaigns that will help attract more visitors, business and talent to your destination.

Digital / Reputation Management / Research / Strategy / Advertising / Design / Marketing / Media / PR / Social Media / Storytelling / Citizen Engagement / Place Making
Contact
Dariel Y. Curren

DNCO

https://dnco.com

DNCO is a studio of experts in place and culture. Based in London and New York, they are unified by a rallying belief: design has the power to shape the world we need next. They work with cultural leaders, governments, developers and businesses to create award-winning place strategies and brands, with clients including the City of San Francisco, the Mayor of London, and great cultural institutions including the V&A and National Galleries of Scotland.

Digital / Research / Strategy / Advertising / Design / Marketing / Social Media / Storytelling / Place Making
Contact
Joy Nazzari, Founding Director

Epsilon

https://www.epsilon.com/emea

Epsilon is a people-based marketing platform and sits at the heart of Publicis Groupe. By combining Epsilon’s data and technology capabilities with the Groupe’s media and creative firepower, we provide a truly differentiated offering to the market.

Epsilon offers a full-service data centric digital media platform (display, mobile, video/CTV, social) which enables brands to replace ineffective retargeting budgets with full funnel customer targeting using AI to deliver 1:1 personalisation. In addition, the solution leads the market by focusing on incremental measurement to make a genuine difference to client revenues.

Epsilon is also the only loyalty provider in the industry to be named a leader in both Loyalty Technology and Loyalty Services by Forrester. Epsilon’s comprehensive loyalty offering helps brands to create lasting connections with customers through personalized interactions at every step of their journey.

Data management / Digital / Research / Strategy / Advertising / Marketing / Media
Contact
Toby Morris

Hunden Partners

https://www.hunden.com

Mr. Hunden and his Chicago-based firm offer extensive experience in the economics of placemaking, primarily via transformative real estate projects. He has provided economic development, market and financial feasibility, impact, developer selection and planning expertise for more than 800 projects and studies over the past 25+ years, totaling more than $6 billion in developed real estate. The firm completes approximately 60 assignments per year with its 12-person professional staff. Hunden’s background in economic, real estate and tourism development combine to make him a unique resource for communities looking to develop their destinations and projects in a viable, transformative and sustainable way. Some compelling projects include the Chicago Riverwalk and Navy Pier, Distrito T-Mobile in San Juan, a mega mixed-use destination in the Middle East (in pre-development), and Lansdowne Park in Ottawa, ON.

Research / Strategy
Contact
Rob Hunden, CEO

Hunter

https://hunter-design.co.uk/

Some people call it fireworks, or butterflies, or gravity. It’s that intangible force that keeps your audiences coming back. We call it chemistry. 

At Hunter, we believe in the art as well as the science of great branding. Ever since we started over 30 years ago, we’ve been perfecting our formulas to create brands and places that powerfully connect with their audiences.

We are a branding agency, and the ultimate alchemists in great place-branding and placemaking.

Research / Strategy / Advertising / Design / Marketing / Storytelling / Place Making
Contact
Crispin Reed

INSTID

https://instid.org/

Institute for Identity (INSTID) is a specialised agency that helps places define their brand positioning nationally and internationally. Through qualitative research, we highlight strengths of a place through its people’s values and way of life rather than physical assets. As a result, places can project a razor-sharp image based on their genuine personality, whilst giving their residents a renewed sense of community and belonging.

Our work applies to visitor and investment attraction, talent and student attraction, as well as governance in general. We give cities and regions confidence in their own voice and a competitive edge on the crowded global market.

Reputation Management / Research / Strategy / Advertising / Design / Marketing / Storytelling
Contact
Dr Natasha Grand Norman

IPSOS

https://reputation.ipsos.com/

Ipsos is an independent market research company delivering insightful expertise that helps clients better understand their market, develop more effective product, marketing, and communications strategies, and understand the world around them. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has grown into a worldwide research group with a strong presence in over 90 markets, and conducting research in over 120. Annually, Ipsos releases the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index, the only comprehensive global nation brand survey. The Anholt Ipsos Nation Brands Index (NBI) helps governments, organizations and businesses understand, measure and ultimately build a strong national image and reputation.

Data management / Digital / Reputation Management / Research / Strategy
Contact
Jason McGrath

Joy Riot Agency

https://www.joyriotagency.com/

We create pleasant interruptions.

To us, the term “joy riot” is more than a clever juxtaposition of words. It’s the pure essence of what marketing should be: something that gets your attention and drives action.

We specialize in connecting destinations with their audiences by cutting through the clutter and connecting on an emotional level. We do this through branding, marketing, and websites.

Our work isn’t defined by one particular category or region. The one thing our clients have in common? They’re unafraid to start a joy riot.

Digital / Research / Strategy / Advertising / Design / Marketing / Media / Social Media / Storytelling / Place Making
Contact
Jessica McCarthy

KINESSO UK&I

https://kinesso.com/

KINESSO is the technology-driven digital performance marketing agency that sits at the heart of IPG Mediabrands.

Fuelled by a deep understanding of consumer behaviour, we offer an end-to-end engine of planning and optimisation while delivering on data-driven strategies for social platforms, actionable growth in e-commerce, and creating curated marketplaces specific to each client.

We elevate performance marketing by creating a better flow between brands, consumers and communities – producing best in class experience, media and content for our roster of brands across all verticals.

Data management / Digital / Research / Strategy / Advertising / Design / Marketing / Media / PR / Social Media / Storytelling
Contact
Emma Jeffers

Miconex

https://mi-cnx.com/

Miconex works with over 200 business communities to retain spend in their local area, providing essential support for local businesses of all types and sizes. With the Town & City Gift Card program, local and loyal shopping becomes not only easy for customers, but desirable, contributing to the evolution of high streets and downtowns around the world.

Miconex’s technology is backed by an experienced implementation team, with full technical program setup, materials and support. Our industry leading client success program will connect you with other programs, sharing best practice and helping you to quickly grow your gift card sales and deliver local spend. When you’re ready to introduce your own gift card program, we’re here to support you every step of the way.

Digital / Research / Strategy / Advertising / Marketing / PR / Citizen Engagement / Place Making
Contact
Ria Beeson

Miles Partnership

https://www.milespartnership.com/

Miles is a strategic marketing consultancy focused exclusively on travel and tourism. Miles works with more than 130 destinations and hospitality businesses to create forward-thinking print and digital content marketing solutions.

Digital / Research / Strategy / Advertising / Design / Marketing / Media / Social Media / Storytelling
Contact
Chris Adams, Director, Research and Online Marketing

MMGY Global

https://www.mmgyglobal.com

MMGY Global is the world’s leading integrated global  marketing firm specializing in the travel, hospitality and entertainment  industries. With eight operating brands across the world, the award-winning  organization maintains a global communications practice in all marketing  channels, serving many of the world’s premier travel and tourism brands. As a  company dedicated to the global travel industry, MMGY Global strives to create  a connected, inclusive and peaceful world by promoting travel as a cultural bridge  of understanding.

Data management / Digital / Reputation Management / Research / Strategy / Advertising / Design / Marketing / Media / PR / Social Media / Storytelling / Citizen Engagement / Place Making
Contact
Whit Bones

Reputation Lab

https://www.corporatereputationlab.com/

Reputation Lab is a firm specialised in the management of corporate reputation and other intangible assets of companies, organisations and countries. Its partners are pioneers in reputation analysis and management. Reputation Lab helps companies and institutions to create sustainable competitive advantages through the integrated management of two of their main assets: brand and reputation. Reputation Lab has adapted the most advanced methodology for measuring and managing the reputation of companies to the reputation of countries (RepCore® Nations).

Reputation Management / Research / Strategy
Contact
Fernando Prado

Resonance Consultancy

http://resonanceco.com/

As leading advisors in economic development, tourism and real estate for more than a decade, Resonance combines business strategy and marketing creativity to help shape the future of countries, cities and regions around the world.

Our team has advised destinations, communities and governments in 20 states and more than 70 countries. We provide leading public and private sector organizations with consumer research, strategic planning, marketing strategy, place branding and economic development strategy to help places realize their full potential.

Research / Strategy / Marketing
Contact
Jeremie Feinblatt

Simpleview

https://www.simpleviewinc.com/

Simpleview is the worldwide leading provider of CRM, CMS, website design, digital marketing, revenue generation, and mobile technologies for destination marketing organisations (DMOs). The company employs 325+ staff and works with 900+ travel, tourism and convention marketing customers on six continents, from towns of less than 30,000 to world capitals, including Los Angeles, New York and 14 more of the top 20 U.S. meetings destinations, Dubai, East Sweden, Guadalajara, Melbourne, Prague, Reykjavik, South Africa and the countries of Malaysia, Norway and Scotland. 

Data management / Digital / Research / Strategy / Design / Marketing / Social Media / Storytelling
Contact
Kevin Bate, Senior Director of Business Development

Sojern

https://www.sojern.com/

Sojern is a leading digital marketing platform built for travel marketers. Powered by artificial intelligence and traveller intent data, Sojern provides multichannel marketing solutions to drive direct demand. More than 10,000 hotels, attractions, tourism boards, and travel marketers rely on Sojern annually to engage and convert travellers around the world.

Our mission is to support smart and sustainable tourism growth for our customers. We help destinations all over the world attract the travellers they want through multichannel campaigns, co-op marketing programs, and partnerships that deliver the right messaging at the right time to attract the right travellers.

Data management / Digital / Research / Advertising / Design / Marketing / Media
Contact
Antony Powell, Tourism Sales Director

The Travel Foundation

https://www.thetravelfoundation.org.uk/

The Travel Foundation is a global charity with technical expertise in understanding and managing the impacts of tourism in destinations, for the benefit of communities and the environment. The charity works across the public and private sector, encouraging collaboration in placemaking to manage the burdens of tourism on communities (see www.invisibleburden.org) and future risks to the visitor economy, and to maximise opportunities for sustainable product innovation and local SME supply chain development. Their headquarters are based in the UK and are active across the globe.

Data management / Research / Strategy / Citizen Engagement / Place Making

thinkingplace

https://www.thinkingplace.co.uk

thinkingplace is the UK’s leading place marketing and place branding specialist, it’s all we do and all we have done for the last 17 years. We help places stand out, get thought about, to develop and grow, compete and be chosen.

We work with places and destinations that want to be more successful; whether nation, region, city, town, development or neighbourhood, and enable this by working with them to create a place strategy that makes their place the ‘hero’.

We’re proud to have worked with places such as Staffordshire, Surrey, Hampshire, Torbay, Hemel Hempstead, Wakefield, Lowestoft, Reading, Eccles and Gloucester.

Reputation Management / Research / Strategy / Design / Marketing / Social Media / Storytelling / Citizen Engagement / Place Making
Contact
John Till

Toposophy

https://www.toposophy.com/

For more than a decade, TOPOSOPHY has been a leading place making and marketing agency, with a global reputation for rigour, professionalism and forward thinking. TOPOSOPHY’s integrated services span across four main areas: research and intelligence; strategy and consulting, marketing and branding, and creative platforms and events. We are committed to supporting our clients and partners to transform places sustainably, creating an environment where inhabitants and visitors can thrive.

Looking for some quality place-based inspiration? Discover Common Ground by TOPOSOPHY - our new podcast series that takes a look at the future of our cities and the people redefining it.

Data management / Digital / Research / Strategy / Design / Marketing / Media / PR / Social Media
Contact
Manolis Psarros, CEO & Founder

Trove

https://www.trovetourism.com/

Trove is a digital strategy and marketing agency for tourism boards, tourism authorities and tour operators. Our focus is on tourism development through the development of "troves" which are treasures or gems in a destination that have major potential for rapid visitor growth. We bring innovation to tourism organisations - from sentiment analysis, to data-driven market segmentation, to branding & influencer strategy, to smart social media campaigns and predictive data analytics. Our goal is to help destinations create better digital branding, marketing, and analytics programs and “stand out.”

Data management / Digital / Research / Strategy / Marketing / Media / Social Media / Storytelling
Contact
Danny Cohanpour

Zartico

https://www.zartico.com

Zartico’s mission is to provide the clearest perspective of the visitor economy. As the world’s first Destination Operating System, Zartico combines science, technology and domain expertise to positively impact the tourism and visitor economy. By harnessing the power of proprietary data streams, Zartico answers the “why”. With over fifty years of destination and travel experience, Zartico is uniquely positioned to lead the transformation from global destination marketing to global destination leadership.

Data management / Storytelling
Contact
Ted Sullivan

Interested in our Partnership opportunities? Please email Liz@citynationplace.com for more information.