Place Brand Communities: From Terminal to Instrumental Values

Purpose—This study aims to understand the values around which stakeholders of a place brand within a community can align. Design/methodology/approach—A content analysis of websites provided a description of region brands. In-depth interview data from representatives of two communal region brands provide a foundation for investigating the attitudes and behaviors of 20 place brand managers depending on their value orientation. Findings—Two categories of communal region brands are found, of which one reflects terminal values whereas the other is based on instrumental values. Instrumental values appear more efficient for promoting the place through stakeholders than terminal values. Research implications/limitations—This exploratory research highlights some particularities of place brand communities and adds instrumental value to the classic terminal value identified within commercial brand communities. Practical implications—Place brand managers gain insights into the values around which they can align stakeholders of their brand. Originality/Value—Brand community literature focuses mostly on specialty or convenience product-oriented communities. By investigating a place as a different type of ‘product', this study demonstrates that place brands draw on communal arguments to function like master brands. Furthermore, terminal values can be replaced by more instrumental values in the context of place branding, because agreement on broad terminal values by individual members of the community is unlikely to be achieved whereas specific instrumental values can serve their individual interests.