As controversy continues to rage in the United States over Nike’s Colin Kaepernick ad campaign, it turns the spotlight on the “values” of the brand.  Brands have always been about more than the logo or slogan: brand managers have always focused on brand values to create customer loyalty.  But in recent years companies have had to think more carefully about how the statements of CEOs around political issues will impact on customer perceptions, or on whether their communication strategies can add to their brand values by making statements about societal values.  So what about place brands?

Citizens’ perceptions and international perceptions of a city, region or nation have always been created from a range of influences – personal experience, recommendations of friends, social media influencers, advertising campaigns, and of course news coverage.  And it’s the news coverage that can put the values of your government policy at the forefront of people’s minds when considering where to invest, live, or travel.  In our recent interview with Adriana Campelo, Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Salvador, she highlighted this shift, stating that a “place brand is not a logo, but an asset that includes your place’s values, reputation, experiences” as well as situating a destination amongst political and global debate. In his interview Brad Dean, CEO at Discover Puerto Rico, perhaps has a more measured view of the importance of values, suggesting that values are arguably not the most important aspect of a place brand strategy.  However, he also agrees that they “can, and will, directly influence the place brand, either positively or negatively.” 

Do societal and governmental values become more impactful on your place brand when they create mostly negative perceptions?  Do they have a greater impact on tourism, or on talent attraction and retention, or on private sector investment?  We are looking forward to the debate at City Nation Place Global in London in November – our pre-conference Think Tank led by Simon Anholt and Robert Govers will examine how strategic thinking in place branding needs to incorporate a consideration around values.  Adriana Campelo and Laura Citron, CEO of London & Partners, will be considering values, place brand strategy and the impact on economic resilience.

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