Place branding has been used to influence ideas concerning communities and districts, especially in regeneration programmes. This article approaches branding as a new governance strategy for managing perceptions. Considering the popular criticism that branding is a form of spin that prevents the public from gaining a proper understanding of their government’s policies, this article focuses on the democratic legitimacy of branding in urban governance. The branding of two urban communities in the Netherlands is examined empirically in terms of input legitimacy, throughput legitimacy and output legitimacy. The research shows how the democratic legitimacy of branding varies in the two cases. In one case, branding largely excluded citizens, whereas in the other case there was limited citizen participation. The article indicates that, although branding can potentially be a participatory process in which the feelings and emotions of citizens are included, this potential is not always fully realised in practice.
The assumption in the governance literature is that stakeholder involvement enhances the chances of success of governance processes. Place branding has a strong governance character in that it involves many different actors and the government is one of the parties in the branding process. This article draws on survey data acquired from professionals involved in city marketing and branding in The Netherlands to analyse whether stakeholder involvement leads to a clearer brand concept and increased effectiveness of city brands in terms of attracting target groups. The analysis shows that involving stakeholders does make a difference and has positive effects on the clarity of the brand concept.
Place marketing is increasingly used by local governments to enhance the image of cities and achieve policy goals related to economic and spatial development. Place marketing has become part of local and regional governance processes. Critics have argued that place marketing is often applied in top-down ways that exclude citizens. Drawing on survey data this article empirically confirms this critique. But the article shows with a case study that citizen involvement in place branding can be used to enhance the quality of the brand and include citizens' emotions in governance processes.
Points for practitionersThe influence of citizens on place marketing is generally low. Nonetheless, when citizens are given influence the effects of place marketing on spatial plans and other policies increases, according to respondents of this study. Place branding can be carried out interactively with citizens, and then be applied to include citizens' emotions in governance processes. This may be used to enrich and locally embed governance processes, and prevent citizens' protest.
Erik Braun is senior researcher and lecturer in urban economics and city marketing at the Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam. He published his doctoral dissertation on city marketing in 2008. His research interests include the application of marketing and branding concepts by cities and regions, place brand management, place brand perceptions, and the governance of place marketing as well as a broad range of urban economic issues.
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