Perceived images and vocations of local territorial systems: implications for place branding strategies

Abstract

Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:198285 [] For AuthorsIf you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -This paper aims to assess the extent to which the perceived images and personalities of places mirror their prevalent production orientations, or "vocations". It also investigates the factors that shape the expectations and desires of residents, tourists, local firms and export markets, as well as these users' overall place experience. Design/methodology/approach -In all, 600 questionnaires containing both closed-ended and open-ended questions were administered in four local territorial systems (LTSs) of a Southern Italian province. Data were analyzed by using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Findings -Results showed that place image mirrors the respective productive orientation for only one of the examined LTSs. Meanwhile, for all four LTSs, place image was congruent with place personality. Research limitations/implications -The generalizability of the results is limited, as the research focused on LTSs located in a specific geographical area. Practical implications -The paper provides suggestions regarding the formulation of marketing policies aimed at improving the willingness of residents, tourists, local firms and export markets to use the products/services/resources of the studied LTSs. Communication and branding strategies that leverage the personality traits of the examined LTSs are also illustrated in the paper. Originality/value -By examining the coherence among place image, personality, and prevalent vocation, this research addresses a neglected area of investigation. This study is one of the few that provides empirical evidence of misperceptions of the actual production orientation of places.

The evolution of brand management thinking over the last 25 years as recorded in the Journal of Product and Brand Management

“…As a reflection of brands being considered a tactical tool that facilitated selling products, a lot of the early research on brand management examines the role of the management team in the development of brand meaning and the management of the brand (Boatwright et al, 2009), the performance of the brand through the performance of its management team (Wood and Tandon, 1994) and the team supporting the brand (Panigyrakis and Veloutsou, 1999), whereas limited research focuses on the internal brand management processes (Dunes and Pras, 2013). Currently, however, as a reflection of brands being strategic assets that generate value for multiple actors, it is widely acknowledged that other stakeholders such as consumers (Cova and Paranque, 2016;Kaufmann et al, 2016), employees working in various positions and not direct members of the brand management team (Indounas and Arvaniti, 2015;Judson et al, 2006;Kaufmann et al, 2016) and other brands associated with the focal brand (Papadimitriou et al, 2008;Thomas, 2014Thomas, , 2015 -among many others stakeholders who might see the brand differently from one another (Pino et al, 2015) -co-create a brand. What these stakeholders say, believe and express impacts the market's perception and evaluation of a brand; even expressions that some might feel have limited relevance such as the political views of managers (Leak et al, 2015).…”

“…Currently, almost everything is brandedproducts, services, places, people, animals, events, organizations, ideas, etc. Research has responded accordingly examining countries, regions and cities as brands (Rojas-Méndez, 2013), tourist destination brands (Balmer and Chen, 2016;Pino et al, 2015;Rojas-Méndez et al, 2015), places to invest as brands (Papadopoulos et al, 2016), places to work as brands (Pino et al, 2015), places to live in as brands (Hakala et al, 2015;Kemp et al, 2012;Pino et al, 2015), the contribution of the place of origin to a brand (Brodie and Benson-Rea, 2016;Lu and Xu, 2015;Yousaf and Li, 2015) and the influence of the place of production on brand evaluation (Ar and Kara, 2014).…”

New challenges in brand management

“…What the press and the media report about the brand and all the publicity produced by what is perceived as reliable sources are not unnoticed when consumers evaluate brands (Gendel-Guterman and Levy, 2017). The various stakeholders may see the brand differently from one another (Pino et al, 2015). Other brands and events associated with the brands are also influencing the brand meaning, with various activities ranging from co-branding (Ho et al, 2017) to placing brands in games (Vashisht and Pillai, 2017).…”

“…For example, place brand is formed from inputs of the country and local authorities as well as all the actions of the people involved in the service of the place, from the taxi drivers to street cleaners. A place brand can be seen as a tourist destination brand (Pino et al, 2015;Rojas-Méndez et al, 2015;Balmer and Chen, 2016;), a place to invest (Papadopoulos et al, 2016), a place to work (Pino et al, 2015) or a place to live (Kemp et al, 2012;Hakala et al, 2015;Pino et al, 2015). Brands can be used to support the selling of the brand, but employers also have to use their brands that attract employees (Sivertzen et al, 2013).…”

Assessing the strategic needs of local territorial systems (LTSs)

“…residents, local firms, tourists and export markets) have about that place. Indeed, a lack of objectivity in place positioning may generate a “brand-satisfaction gap” (Govers and Go, 2009; Pino et al , 2015), that is, a mismatch between users’ actual experience of places and their expectations, which may be fatal to the image strategy of a place (Anholt, 2010). Consequently, the previous literature has highlighted the “need to align place branding with place-specific qualities through tailor-made and context-sensitive initiatives” (Oliveira, 2016b, p. 185) to effectively respond to users’ specialized needs and desires (Maheshwari et al , 2011).…”