Cities, regions, and countries have always faced societal challenges and in our current times, many places are facing mounting issues around inequality, poverty, and increased political polarisation. Whilst no single organisation will ever be able to ‘solve’ any of these problems, equally there won’t be a solution at all without input from a broad spectrum of players. And as the intermediary between government, residents, and prospective visitors or investors, place brand and marketing teams are uniquely placed to affect change.

As Janneke Hendrikx, Global Head of PR at Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions, told us, “instead of promoting the destination, the time has come to manage the destination.”

How are place brand and marketing teams tackling social issues?

The Sustainable Development Goals list seventeen key areas where we need to pool our global efforts to end poverty, protect the planet, and promote peace and prosperity. But how do you identify where you can make the most impact?

According to Ben Lynam, Head of Strategic Communications at The Travel Foundation, “the challenge is not only to identify the levers for creating impact, but also to build the evidence-base for this and use it to attract additional funding and influence.” Getting this right creates a virtuous circle: you invest in social initiatives, which creates positive changes, which then attracts further resources to fuel more social initiatives.

More than that, the best strategies are rooted in your brand. At that point, your actions feel more authentic and become evidence of your narrative. You can affect change, whilst solidifying you reputation – and your actions often have more weight when they align with your brand values.

“When we speak, it is often the voice of the place that comes through,” explained Neil Frauenglass, Chief Marketing Officer at Visit Philadelphia. “This presents an opportunity to tackle social issues by joining conversations that align with our place’s brand – with the destination’s full credentials behind us.”

The question, then, is how are places getting this balance between brand and action right?

Brand Tasmania: Building pride and literacy rates

The team at Brand Tasmania have always been research-driven in their approach, from the establishment of their place brand strategy to the initiatives and campaigns they have launched since. The past five years has seen the team focusing on tactics and strategies that unify their stakeholders around their culture and values – “We don’t make decisions, design services, or launch projects without going back to Tasmanians,” stressed Jess Radford, Director of Place Branding & Operations at Brand Tasmania.

This research and community-centric approach allows the team to create projects that address policy challenges like pride and confidence, literacy, and wellbeing. ‘Little Tasmanian’, for example, is a baby board book that aims to inspire their littlest residents to be proud of their Tasmanian heritage, whilst also providing an avenue to tackle illiteracy within the region. For older children, the Tasmanian Youth Story gave a voice to young Tasmanians aged 18-25 years to support the inclusion of young people in decision-making.

“We call these projects ‘Trojan Horses’’,” Jess explained, “because they carry the brand in a subtle yet powerful way.” However, the success of these projects is grounded in the team’s strong understanding of Tasmania’s story and values. “Even if you have been inspired by policies implemented in other places, it is important to understand the particular context of your own place to give the initiative the best chance of success,” Jess advised.

Essential COSTA RICA: Tackling climate change

Costa Rica is well known both for their biodiversity and for their strong focus on climate-positive actions. As the team launches their new ten-year strategy, this remains a core focus for the country brand.

In particular, Adriana Acosta, the Country Brand Director for Costa Rica, highlighted that “Essential COSTA RICA recognises the importance of new generations in the country’s goal of continuing to be a reference in climate change and sustainability.”

To ensure that their young people are equally engaged in protecting and preserving the environment, the Essential COSTA RICA team have embarked on numerous initiatives specifically designed to engage younger generations. One such example is the team’s alliance with the Ministry of Public Education to develop educational material that can be incorporated into high school science programmes to promote sustainable practices. “These videos, in less than three minutes, present proof points about Costa Rica’s global role in these topics, and the importance of citizen participation in daily activities,” Adriana explained. Activities such as tree planting and protecting nearby rivers are run in tandem with these videos to reinforce the values that are so central to Costa Rica’s nation brand identity.

Toronto Global: Activating the private sector through targeted investment attraction

Daniel Hengeveld, VP of Investment Attraction at Toronto Global, highlighted that one of the primary challenges facing ESG initiatives is to identify and measure relevant targets – but that doing so is central to aligning other stakeholders behind your vision.

“Unlike economic metrics, which are often straight forward, social outcomes can be complex, fluid, and difficult to quantify due to lack of consistent data,” Daniel shared. “In some case, focusing on specific activities rather than exclusively on outcomes, offers a practical way to overcome these challenges.”

Shifting your focus to attracting companies that align with your ESG goals – rather than being driven solely by metrics like job creation and economic growth – can foster sustainable development. For example, Toronto Global recently collaborated with the Toyota Mobility Foundation to bring their first Mobility Unlimited Hub to Toronto. “The Hub is dedicated to addressing local mobility challenges and providing a pathway to enable a more sustainable and self-reliant experience for people living with disabilities – a project where the long-term social benefits outweigh the immediate economic returns,” Daniel continued.

The team at Toronto Global also work with their private sector beyond the initial investment, offering training to equip like-minded partners with the skills and knowledge needed to tackle ESG goals in their own work. In doing so, the team are able to amplify their impact across sectors and communities and foster a more inclusive and sustainable ecosystem.

Visit Philadelphia: Challenging discrimination

The American Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia – a legacy that the team at Visit Philadelphia have built on to celebrate diversity and to challenge discriminatory actions.

Visit Philadelphia’s Neil Frauenglass described the city as both the birthplace of American democracy, but also the birthplace of ideals that challenge discrimination.  “This truth provides a meaningful reason for Visit Philadelphia to celebrate every history and heritage month and allows us to tackle controversial societal issues (book bans, discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, and misconceptions about Hispanic and Latino identity) in a way that is authentic, because they are innately tied to the history and ethos of our place,” Neil continued.

By leaning into values that are integral to their community, Visit Philadelphia is able to share their values, tackle discriminatory actions, and reinforce their reputation as a city who will welcome you with open arms.

Six learnings from international best practice

While these case studies represent a spectrum of places, each tackling a unique challenge, there are number of learnings to be had.

• Work with your community, not for your community. When you’re developing a strategy or project to address a societal challenge, you have to work with your residents to develop a response that will work for your place. Your residents and businesses need to buy into the change you’re trying to affect.
• Manage, don’t market. As NBTC’s Janneke Hendrikx told us, tourism and investment attraction are powerful tools that can contribute to societal solutions that serve the public. But you have to be intentional with your strategy and ask what you want to deliver for your community beyond more heads-in-beds and the next big investment deal.
• Make sure your strategy is authentically rooted in your place and your community. There are seventeen sustainable development goals. While these are all vitally important to the welfare of our people and planet, start by identifying which challenges are most immediately relevant to your community.
• Partner with government and private sector to expand your reach. No one can do this alone. When you’ve identified the areas you want to focus on, forge partnerships with others who can help your deliver against those ambitions.
• Identify meaningful targets to measure your progress. Tracking social progress is far more nebulous than your typical econometrics – what does quality of life really mean for your place? How can you prove you’ve reduced hate speech? However, you need to have a north star to guide your strategy and to align stakeholders behind your vision. Where you can’t prove direct impact, back up your analysis by looking at outputs alongside outcomes.
• Training is vital. Offer support and resources to bring others along with you on the journey. If everyone makes tiny improvements in their own life, it makes a massive difference on a macro-level. Everyone has blind spots, and providing training opens conversations and challenges people to reconsider their own biases.

As an industry – as a species – we have a lot of work to do. We’re still at the early stages of understanding that we can and should do more than serve our own immediate self-interest. But it’s an inspiration to watch the rapid development of this conversation across the place branding community, and we look forward to hearing how organisations are leveraging their brand platform to bring about change and respond to some of the most complex social problems our communities face at City Nation Place Global this November 6-7^th.

City Nation Place Global is returning to London! Join us this November 6-7^th, where Adriana Acosta, Essential COSTA RICA, Neil Frauenglass, Visit Philadelphia, Janneke Hendrikx, NBTC, Daniel Hengeveld, Toronto Global, Ben Lynam, The Travel Foundation, & Jess Radford, Brand Tasmania, will be joining our line-up of international place leaders to share their insight. Learn more here.