9. Reaching a ‘Critical Mass’: Analysis of Interregional Place Branding Amongst Communities in Ontario, Canada

Place branding is now a major policy tool of communities attempting to enhance the economic and fiscal health of their communities. It is considered vital within the current global economic climate characterized by an intense inter-territorial competition for mobile talent, business, and investment. In recent years, however, cooperative approach to local and regional development has been suggested as a prudent way to ensure competitiveness and attain relevancy. Cooperative approach allows individual communities reach a critical mass of population, resources, and political infrastructure. The analysis in this chapter attempts to fill a gap in place branding literature by examining whether there are clusters of communities that currently have the potential to cooperate in their branding efforts. This research uses spatial autocorrelation of place brands amongst the communities of Ontario, Canada, to identify potential groups of neighbouring communities with similar brand agenda and compares them to existing collaborative efforts. The results of this analysis show that Ontario has the potential for at least eleven clusters in a variety of economic sectors, different from the existing cooperative efforts that exist. The identification of these clusters, therefore, provides a template for future place branding policy development within the province, allowing the participating communities an opportunity to remain relevant against increasing global competition.