Abstract
There is no doubt that place branding is a powerful and ubiquitous practice deployed around the globe. Parallel to its acceptance and development as a distinct discipline is an understanding that place branding as responsible practice offers the means to achieve widespread economic, social and cultural benefits. Drawing on work around place and identity in cultural geography and cultural studies, this paper engages critically with this vision. Specifically, it challenges the widely-held assumption that the relationship between place branding and place identity is fundamentally reflective, arguing instead that this relationship is inherently generative. This shift in perspective, explored in relation to current responsible place branding practice, is central to the realisation of place branding as a force for good.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
See also the work of Ind.
See Rose (1995) for an analysis of the London Docklands redevelopment in terms of differing senses of place and uneven power relations.
Discussions of essentialism and the production of subjectivity are, of course more complex and nuanced than this brief summary suggests. For a rich discussion of essentialism see, for example, Fuss (1989).
As with essentialism and identity, this implicit definition of discourse, though in wide circulation, does not of course do justice in any sense to the rich and varied work on this. See in particular the work of Michel Foucault and his followers and critics.
See also Gotham (2007) for a list of speculative questions in the service of teasing out the broader social and cultural consequences of branding campaigns.
See Bennett (2007), and also for a potentially seminal discussion of the differences between culture and the social and their relationship to each other.
References
Adler, J. (1989) ‘Travel as performed art’, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 96, pp. 1366–1391.
Anholt, S. (2005a) ‘Brand New Justice’, Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Anholt, S. (2005b) ‘Some important distinctions in place branding’, Place Branding, Vol. 1, pp. 116–121.
Anholt, S. (2006) ‘Is place branding a capitalist tool?’, Place Branding, Vol. 2, pp. 1–4.
Anholt, S. and Gelder, S. V. (2003) ‘Branding for good?’, in Ind, N. (ed.), ‘Beyond Branding’, Kogan Page, London, UK.
Anon. (2007)Call for Papers: Special Issue on the Role of Culture in Branding Places, http://www.palgrave-journals.com/pb/culture_role_cfp.html, accessed Jan 17, 2007.
Bauman, Z. (1995) ‘Searching for a centre that holds’, in Featherstone, M., Lash, S. and Robertson, R. (eds), ‘Gobal Modernities’, Sage, London, UK.
Bennett, T. (2007) ‘The work of culture’, Cultural Sociology, Vol. 1, pp. 31–47.
Bondi, L. (1993) ‘Locating identity politics’, in Keith, M. and Pile, S. (eds), ‘Place and the Politics of Identity’, Routledge, London, UK.
City of Albany ‘City of Albany 3D Corporate Plan 2004–2007’. Accessed 24 April 2007 fromhttp://www.albany.wa.gov.au/your-council, webpage titled ‘Your Council';.
Finucan, K. (2002) ‘What brand are you?’ Planning, Vol. 68, pp. 10–13.
Foley, A. and Fahy, J. (2004) ‘Incongruity between expression and experience: The role of imagery in supporting the positioning of a tourism destination brand’, Brand Management, Vol. 11, pp. 209–217.
Fuss, D. (1989) ‘Essentially Speaking: Feminism, Nature and Difference’, Routledge, New York, NY.
Gnoth, J. (2007) ‘The structure of destination brands: Leveraging values’, Tourism Analysis, Vol. 12, pp. 345–358.
Gnoth, J., Baloglu, S., Ekinci, Y. and Sirakaya-Turk, E. (2007) ‘Introduction: Building destination brands’, Tourism Analysis, Vol. 12, pp. 339–343.
Gotham, K. F. (2007) ‘(Re)Branding the big easy: Tourism rebuilding in post-Katrina new Orleans’, Urban Affairs Review, Vol. 42, pp. 823–850.
Hall, S. (1996) ‘Who needs ‘identity’?’, in Hall, S. and Gay, P. D. (eds), ‘Questions of Cultural Identity’, Sage, London, UK.
Hankinson, G. (2004) ‘The brand images of tourism destinations: A study of the saliency of organic images’, The Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol. 13, pp. 6–14.
Harvey, D. (1989) ‘The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change’, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, UK.
Harvey, D. (1993) ‘From space to place and back again: Reflections on the condition of postmodernity’, in Bird, J. (ed.), ‘Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change’, Routledge, London, UK.
Harvey, D. (2006) ‘Spaces of Global Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographical Development’, Verso, London, UK.
Hatch, M. J. and Rubin, J. (2006) ‘The hermeneutics of branding’, Brand Management, Vol. 14, pp. 40–59.
Ind, N. (2003) ‘Preface’, in Ind, N. (ed.), ‘Beyond Branding’, Kogan Page, London, UK.
Jameson, F. (1991) ‘Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism’, Verso, London, UK.
Kavaratzis, M. (2005) ‘Place branding: A review of trends and conceptual models’, The Marketing Review, Vol. 5, pp. 329–342.
Kerr, G. (2006) ‘From destination brand to location brand’, Brand Management, Vol. 13, pp. 276–283.
Kerr, G. and Johnson, S. (2005) ‘A review of a brand management strategy for a small town — lessons learnt!’, Place Branding, Vol. 1, pp. 373–387.
Kotler, P. and Gertner, D. (2002) ‘Country as brand, product, and beyond: A place marketing and brand management perspective’, Brand Management, Vol. 9, pp. 249–261.
Kubacki, K. and Skinner, H. (2006) ‘Poland: exploring the relationship between national brand and national culture’, Brand Management, Vol. 13, pp. 284–299.
Lanfant, M. -F. (1995) ‘International tourism, internationalization and the challenge to identity’, in Al, L. E. (ed.), ‘International Tourism: Identity and Change’, Sage, London, UK.
MacCannell, D. (1976) ‘The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class’, Schocken, New York, NY.
Massey, D. (1993a) ‘A global sense of place’, in Mcguigan, A. G. A. J. (ed.), ‘Studying Culture: An Introductory Reader’, Edward Arnold, London, UK.
Massey, D. (1993b) ‘Power-geometry and a progressive sense of place’, in Bird, J. (ed.), ‘Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change’, Routledge, London, UK.
McGuigan, J. (1999) ‘Modernity and Postmodern Culture’, Open University Press, Buckingham, England.
Morley, D. (2001) ‘Belongings: Place, space and identity in a mediated world’, European Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 4, pp. 425–448.
Nelson, S. (2005) ‘Book review of Beyond Branding’, Brand Management, Vol. 13, pp. 86–92.
O’Sullivan, T., Hartley, J., Saunders, D., Montgomery, M. and Fiske, J. (1994) ‘Key Concepts in Communication and Cultural Studies’, Routledge, London, UK.
Olins, W. (2002) ‘Branding the nation: The historical context’, Brand Management, Vol. 9, pp. 241–248.
Papadopoulos, N. and Heslop, L. (2002) ‘Country equity and country branding: Problems and prospects’, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 9, pp. 294–314.
Rose, G. (1995) ‘Place and identity: A sense of place’, in Massey, D. and Jess, P. (eds), ‘A Place in the World? Places, Cultures and Globalization’, Oxford University Press, New York, NY.
Urry, J. (1995) ‘Consuming Places’, Routledge, London, UK.
Yeoman, I., Durie, A., McMahon-Beattie, U. and Palmer, A. (2005) ‘Capturing the essence of a brand from its history: The case of Scottish Tourism Marketing’, Brand Management, Vol. 13, pp. 134–147.
Acknowledgements
I thank the referees for their insightful comments and for suggesting valuable additional references.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mayes, R. A place in the sun: The politics of place, identity and branding. Place Brand Public Dipl 4, 124–135 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2008.1
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2008.1