Co-branding public place brands: towards an alternative approach to place branding. Issue 4 (November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lucarelli, Andrea
• Is Part Of: Place branding and public diplomacy. Volume 14:Issue 4(2018)
• Page Start: 260
• Page End: 271
• Publication Date: 2018-11
• Subjects: Place brands -- Co-branding -- Public -- Framework; Place marketing -- Periodicals; Public relations -- Periodicals; Economic development -- Periodicals; 338.9
• DOI: 10.1057/s41254-017-0085-3
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-8040

Abstract

Abstract Contrary to the traditional understanding of place branding inspired by product, service and corporation branding, the present paper adopts place branding interdisciplinary literature in order to develop a conceptual framework that focuses on the constituting features of place brands as a form of public brands. The paper suggests the way place brands are constituted is via a co-branded complex and dynamic process in a constant state of change shaped by the interaction of several public brands in particular time-space frames. The co-branded process allows researchers and practitioners to better understand the conditions under which place brands and place brand efforts are emerging. Despite that, the type of co-branded process described in the paper also points out that the process does not necessarily create a linear positive add-on value for all parts involved. Rather, the co-branded process here is fragmented and based on spatial, political and real meaning contexts. The framework is illustrated empirically from material retrieved from a study of a regional branding process. The article concludes with a note on the political dimension of applying a co-branding lens on the public sphere.