Orchestrating the Innovation Process of Place Branding

Within a networked world, locations, including nations, regions, cities, towns, increasingly apply place branding to compete with each other to win business from the world’s major corporations, investors, residents and tourists. But the dynamics of the network factor imply that, to remain competitive, place branding practice needs to apply innovative governance, for the attainment of balanced relationships among the various enterprises and organizations on the one hand, and consumers as equally important participants on the other. To achieve a competitive advantage, place branding can learn much from the networked world of corporations. Researchers (for example, Trueman et al. 2004; Kavaratzis 2004; Rainisto 2003) have pointed out significant similarities between place branding and corporate branding. Some descriptions of corporate branding have features close to those of place branding; for example, Knox and Bickerton (2003, p. 1013) state: “a corporate brand is the visual, verbal and behavioural expression of an organisation’s unique business model”. Strategic and relational elements are often building blocks for corporate brand building and success. Similarly, these are essential elements for collectively generating a unique set of associations, or place branding, in the public mind (Aaker 1996). Thus the approach practiced in corporate branding can, to some extent, also be replicated for place branding, even though there are large differences such as in terms of complexity, the involvement of many different stakeholders, limited management control, and the heterogeneity and experiential nature of the “product”. Similarly, innovative approaches used in enterprise building or renewal can also be extended to place branding.