Sebastian Zenker

My city – my brand: the different roles of residents in place branding

Purpose – This paper deals with the importance of residents within place branding. The aim of this paper is to examine the different roles that residents play in the formation and communication of place brands and explores the implications for place brand management.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on theoretical insights drawn from the combination of the distinct literatures on place branding, general marketing, tourism, human geography, and collaborative governance. To support its arguments, the paper discusses the participation of citizens in governance processes as highlighted in the urban governance literature as well as the debate among marketing scholars over participatory marketing and branding.Findings – The paper arrive at three different roles played by the residents: as an integral part of the place brand through their characteristics and behavior; as ambassadors for their place brand who grant credibility to any communicated message; and as citizens and voters who are vital fo...

How to catch a city? The concept and measurement of place brands

Purpose – The branding of places has gained popularity among city officials in recent years. Unfortunately, place marketers often disregard the complexity of place brands, as do their counterparts in the academic discussion: the focus repeatedly falls on the simple explorative description of certain city brands, rather than a proper conceptualization of a place brand that employs different measurement approaches for the different elements of the brand. Thus, this paper aims to identify those different elements and discuss measurement approaches that could prove useful in place branding.Design/methodology/approach – Following a review of the extant literature on the measurement of brand image in general and place branding in particular, the paper outlines distinct elements, categories and dimensions of a place brand, as well as a number of approaches from place brand image measurement, with example cases of each approach.Findings – Exploring a brand can be divided into three main approaches: in the form of...

Who's your target? The creative class as a target group for place branding

– Today we have to face the challenge of competing in a globalized world for scarce goods, such as residents in general, and in particular for those with talents, the so‐called “creative class”. This class is the driving force for economic growth, so winning the competition for these individuals is one of the main tasks for cities and regions today. However, to face this challenge using place marketing and city branding, we have to understand the needs and preferences of this target group. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues., – In a field study (n=1,258) the basic needs and preferences of the creative class were analyzed. The creative class with the non‐creative class were compared using a univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA)., – Structural differences were found for the ratings of the importance of different needs for the creative class and the non‐creative class. Consequences for creative class theory are discussed., – It may not be possible to generalize the results found in this German sample to a sample with a different cultural background without further intercultural comparisons. Furthermore, the focus was on four basic factors of city evaluation, not on specific needs for single subgroups. Further research questions are identified and discussed., – The creative class as a target group is very popular in place marketing. This paper discusses the needs and preference structure of this target group and the need for a more precise definition of the creative class.

My place is not your place – different place brand knowledge by different target groups

Purpose – Cities increasingly compete with each other for attracting tourists, investors, companies, or residents. Marketers therefore focus on establishing the city as a brand, disregarding that the perception and knowledge of a city differ dramatically between the target audiences. Hence, place branding should emphasize much more the perceptions of the different target groups and develop strategies for advanced place brand management. The aim of this paper is to assess the important discrepancies between the city brand perceptions of different target groups with the help of network analysis.Design/methodology/approach – In two empirical studies, the important discrepancies between the city brand perceptions of different target groups are assessed with the help of network analysis. Study 1 consists of 40 qualitative in‐depth‐interviews and study 2 uses an online qualitative open‐ended‐question survey with 334 participants.Findings – Structural differences for the city brand perceptions of two different t...

Categorical Interoception Perceptual Organization of Sensations From Inside

Adequate perception of bodily sensations is essential to protect health. However, misinterpretation of signals from within the body is common and can be fatal, for example, in asthma or cardiovascular disease. We suggest that placing interoceptive stimuli into interoceptive categories (e.g., the category of symptoms vs. the category of benign sensations) leads to perceptual generalization effects that may underlie misinterpretation. In two studies, we presented stimuli inducing respiratory effort (respiratory loads) either organized into categories or located on a continuous dimension. We found pervasive effects of categorization on magnitude estimations, affective stimulus evaluations, stimulus recognition, and breathing behavior. These findings indicate the need for broadening perspectives on interoception to include basal processes of stimulus organization, in order for interoceptive bias to be understood. The results are relevant to a wide range of interoception-related phenomena, from emotion to symptom perception.

Let them do the work: A participatory place branding approach

Purpose – This paper aims to develop a participatory approach to place branding. In doing so, it offers guidance on how to implement a participatory place branding strategy within place management practice. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on theoretical insights drawn from the combination of distinct literatures on place branding, general marketing and collaborative governance. Findings – The paper highlights the importance of residents in the place branding process and argues that their special functions as ambassadors for the place constitute the most valuable assets in place branding. Thus, a participatory place branding approach involving residents is needed. To implement this approach, three stages are necessary: (stage 1) defining a shared vision for the place including core place elements; (stage 2) implementing a structure for participation; (stage 3) supporting residents in their own place branding projects. Originality/value – The inclusion of residents is often requested in con...

Place branding: are we wasting our time? Report of an AMA special session

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a special session entitled “Place branding: Are we wasting our time?”, held at the American Marketing Association’s Summer Marketing Educators’ conference in 2014. Design/methodology/approach – The report details the outcome of an Oxford-style debate with two opposing teams of two persons – one team supporting and one team opposing the motion. The opening speaker of each team had 10 minutes to put their case across, and the closing speaker had 8 minutes. Teams took to the stand alternately, matching up against each other’s arguments. Findings – The outcome of the debate points towards a need for place brands to develop as more inclusive and organic entities, in which case it may be best for place practitioners to avoid creating and imposing a place brand and instead help shape it from the views of stakeholder constituencies. This shifts the notion of place branding towards an activity centred on “curation”. Originality/value – The use of a competitive de...

An Integrative Theoretical Model for Improving Resident-City Identification

Research from social and environmental psychology has shown that identification by residents with a place leads to numerous desirable outcomes like increased commitment and residential satisfaction. Thus, in the competition for residents, cities focus on building a favorable identity of a place to increase identification with the place. However, little is known regarding the predictors of resident-city identification and their link to desirable outcomes. We thus present an interdisciplinary model which outlines determinants and outcomes of identification and which integrates theories from geography, psychology, and organizational science to introduce a new theoretical perspective to the field of urban research. We propose that a strong resident-city identification results from a fit between the city prototype and the residents self-concept. In this relationship, perceived place complexity is a central variable. We develop research propositions and suggest an agenda for testing the model empirically. Finally, we discuss how increasing resident-city identification by using a more complex communication can benefit both the city and its inhabitants.

Questioning a “one size fits all” city brand: Developing a branded house strategy for place brand management

Purpose City branding has gained popularity as governance strategy. However, the academic underpinning is still poor, and city branding needs a more critical conceptualization, as well as more complex management systems. This paper challenges the use of a “one size fits all” city brand, which is still common practice in many places. The paper proposes that city branding involves much more complexity than is commonly thought and outlines a strategy that enables urban policy-makers, marketing researchers and (place) marketers alike to better deal with city branding. Design/methodology/approach The authors integrate insights from literature on place branding, brand architecture and customer-focused marketing. Findings The article argues that place brands (in general and communicated place brands in particular) are by definition very complex, due to their different target groups, diverse place offerings and various associations place customers could have. Thus, an advanced brand management including target group-specific sub-brands is needed. Practical implications The model will be helpful for place brand managers dealing with a diverse target audience, and is likely to improve the target group-specific communication. Originality/value The paper provides an insight into the complexity of city brands and acknowledges that the perception of city brands can differ considerably among different target groups. Additionally, it offers a more comprehensive definition of place brands. This will be helpful for city brand managers and researchers alike in dealing with city brand complexity.

Place Branding in Systems of Place – on the Interrelation of Nations and Supranational Places

The pervasive managerial logic of branding has established a stable foothold in the context of place management. Yet the question of whether places, such as cities, regions and nations, can be effectively managed using marketing techniques remains elusive, as place brands and company brands have been observed to differ in various ways. A key characteristic of this difference is the possibility of a company brand of being created from scratch and having its associations and characteristics carefully tailored to suit the needs of its authors. While the control of a company brand can easily be lost and its meaning relies on a reading of the brand by anyone receiving its message, the control that can be exerted over which meaning is attributed to a company brand appears almost absolute when compared to a place brand. A place is a brand often long before it is formally branded. A place brand – like a city, region or nation brand – is per definition attached to a system of geographical abstractions in quasi-cartographic form in which each city, region or nation is understood in relation and contrast to other geographical entities. For those who seek to alter perceptions about a place, this presents a challenge, since the role of a place in this system of geographical abstractions constitutes a piece of information more vital than any other in defining the place. Our understanding of places cannot be separated from their scale, and any effort at managing the reputation and meaning of a certain place will be interpreted in an unintended way due to interrelations between these abstract representations. For instance, a particular region is likely to be seen as part of a bigger context – for instance, the nation. Most of the time, the nation is in turn also part of a higher-order place (e.g. the European Union or Africa). Using the example of nation branding for Sudan and Slovenia, one can identify supranational places such as “sub-Saharan Africa” or “Eastern Europe”, carrying their own highly salient and often negative meaning in much of the Western world. We explore how association to a system of place is thought to influence the prospects of branding campaigns and introduce and discuss how reassociation can serve as means of mitigation of negative supranational belongingness. In doing so, we discuss also the challenges of interregional branding in this regard, where perceptions of two (or more) different nations interfere.