The Elusive Destination Brand and the ATLAS Wheel of Place Brand Management

Abstract

This conceptual article reconsiders the formation of destination and place brands. It proposes that brands initiate people’s meaning making over the place directly involving them in the branding process. Using a combination of process-based approaches to brands and places, the article substantiates the argument that the place brand’s quintessence lies in the constant alterations it causes to the meaning of the place as stakeholders interact, thereby keeping the brand active and in constant formation. The distinction between conceived, perceived, and lived dimensions of a place brand is used to conceptualize the brand as open-ended, allowing for different interpretations to occur and different meanings to develop. This makes the brand rather elusive. The article accounts for the implications of the elusiveness of place brands for place brand management and proposes the ATLAS wheel of place brand management as a tool to follow and influence the place brand in its on-going formation.

Sustainability in Overtouristified Cities? A Social Media Insight into Italian Branding Responses to Covid-19 Crisis

“…The specific challenge for overtouristified cities concerns the transition to more sustainable development, an opportunity, however, that cannot be taken for granted. Branding can provide a lens of observation for this potential turn by investigating the phases of the brand formation through circuits of communication, involvement, and action [44].…”

“…Social media boosted change in the way to communicate the destination [63]. Brand meaning elaborations and negotiations are triggered by media and, nowadays, social media play the strongest role in affecting destination brands, further amplifying the social and cultural nature of the brand formation process [44]. Social media is also used to build and develop brand engagement [66] that contributes to the destination brand image formation [40,67].…”

“…From an analytical perspective, brand formation and the brand notion are dissonant in these two alternative views. On one side, the selection of brand elements composing the brand identity is the core of the process [43], managed by key stakeholders in charge (e.g., destination management organization (DMO) and local authorities) which may adopt a more or less intense participative approach in the path of elements selections and elicitation [43][44][45]. Often through the design of a visual identity [41] and a communication plan, a brand promise is delivered into the market, as a defined and consistent message, in an attempt to impact the brand image [46][47][48].…”

“…Destination branding literature has developed insight into the brand associations, converging on the identification of functional and affective components of the brand [44]. Interactions and influence between these two components were empirically tested, suggesting the need to consider them together in the projection of a destination brand proposition [53].…”

“…Overtourism may be perceived, especially by the industry's stakeholders, as a "problem of the past", that is overshadowed by the "problems of the present". Thus, the discontinuation of the "old" brand propositions [44] could end up being a temporary experiment with no durable effects. The emerging traits of sustainable city brands may vanish along with the revamping of inbound flows and the bouncing back of the tourist economy.…”