How the Creative Class Co-creates a City's Brand Identity: A Qualitative Study. (May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rodrigues, Clarinda; Schmidt, Holger J.
• Other Names: Navarro Francisco Javier guest-editor.; Corte Valentina Della guest-editor.; Cobanoglu Cihan guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of creating value. Volume 7:Number 1(2021)
• Page Start: 19
• Page End: 43
• Publication Date: 2021-05
• Subjects: Co-creation -- place brand identity -- creative class -- destination branding -- city branding -- qualitative research; Customer services -- Periodicals; Customer relations -- Management -- Periodicals; Consumer satisfaction -- Periodicals; 658.812
• DOI: 10.1177/23949643211010594
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2394-9643

Abstract

Purpose: Place branding is a discipline with high relevance for a city's policymakers and for hospitality and tourism management, and this is even more true in the context of creative cities. This article explores how the creative class contributes to a city's brand identity and, by doing so, delivers valuable advice for marketing representatives of creative cities. Design/methodology/approach: Our study builds on a qualitative study, interviewing 18 members of the creative class in 3 diverse European cities. Our methodology was based on grounded theory: We simultaneously collected and analysed data and created analytic codes and categories. Findings: This article suggests that the creative class is an important enactment stakeholder in the identity formation process of a place, as well as destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and other stakeholders. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the creative class co-creates a city's brand identity by bringing new rhythms and forms of expression to the cityscape. Originality: This article contributes to the fast-growing place brand identity literature by exploring the role of the creative class in the context of cities. It also intends to provide a better understanding of how the creative class co-creates and contributes to their city's brand identity. Since similar studies do not exist, our article fills an important research gap. Research limitations/implications: Our study shares the limitations of qualitative studies, but the resulting conceptual model of brand management in the context of a creative city offers a springboard for future research in this regard. Practical implications: City representatives and tourist managers need to understand what is the value-in-use generated by the creative class in the brand identity process and must be aware that the creative class plays a key role in delivering the brand message.