Place marketing and citizen participation: branding as strategy to address the emotional dimension of policy making?

Abstract

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.

Place Branding and Citizen Involvement: Participatory Approach to Building and Managing City Brands

“…With regards to the public management perspective, there is a growing body of literature that calls for seeing place branding as one of the public policies (Eshuis et al, 2014;Eshuis and Edwards, 2013;Hereźniak and Anders-Morawska, 2015). Within this realm, place branding is seen as a governance strategy in which the public administration engages in relationships with residents to foster citizenship, community participation, and social capital (Anders-Morawska and Rudolf, 2015: 36).…”

Angażowanie interesariuszy w proces brandingu miasta – teoria versus praktyka

“…Coraz częściej opracowują one i wdrażają strategie marketingowe ukierunkowane na kreowanie rozpoznawalnego wizerunku danego obszaru, co w konsekwencji ma doprowadzić do pozyskiwania inwestorów, turystów oraz miesz kańców (por. Eshuis, Klijn, Braun 2014). Mar keting miasta obejmuje skoordynowane wyko rzystanie narzędzi marketingowych wspieranych filozofią ukierunkowania na klienta, w celu tworzenia, dostarczenia oraz wymiany miejskiej oferty, która posiada wartość dla interesariuszy miasta (Braun 2008, s. 43).…”

Strategic design to foster City-Citizen Interactions

“…While there is some literature available on the role of citizens in place branding, in practice, most attempts to invoke citizen participation are limited to destination branding. Citizens are observed as mere recipients of brand communication, where the 'place actors' -city governments, marketers and businesses -send promotional messages to target them (Eshuis et al, 2014). Allan and Hanna (2015) emphasise the need for a paradigm shift from the communication dominant approach, which is merely an exchange of information, to an interactive approach where actions impact all involved.…”