Online Place Branding

Through an interdisciplinary approach combining the concepts, methods and tools in language and discourse studies and insights from marketing and tourism research, this book examines the online place branding of Hong Kong, one of the most visited cities and well-known spots in the world. The book compares how the place brand is officially constructed and conveyed by the institutional bodies, as realised on the Brand Hong Kong website online, with how the place brand is publicly experienced and perceived by individuals around the world, as realised on the TripAdvisor Hong Kong travel forum online. The book also includes comparative analysis between Singapore and Hong Kong to provide better understanding of online place branding and findings from the comparative study identify interesting similarities and differences between the official portrayal of the place brand of Hong Kong and its public perception in the digital realm, as well as between Hong Kong and Singapore in online place branding. The book also offers evidence-based suggestions on how we can bridge the gap between the online representation and perception of a place brand and how to enhance online place branding in general.

By taking corporate marketing concepts and applying it to countries, “nation branding” is a way for these regions to enhance their reputations and project a desired image for international recognition. New modes of publicity and marketing geared towards geographic location fall into this category, leading nation branding to have vast benefits for the economics and societies of countries. New marketing strategies have emerged and are being adopted to consequently brand countries with this purpose of economic growth. By studying these emerging strategies and methods, nations can best develop a desired brand and reputation to foster growth and prosperity. The Handbook of Research on Future Policies and Strategies for Nation Branding discusses how exactly nation branding works to benefit the function and mission of these nations along with showing how nation branding can be used as a strategic asset for the redesign of economic, political, and social characteristics of a country. The chapters outline the given situation of nations and the nature and implications of the brand that is required, measure branding inference, and propose future steps for nation branding. This book is a critical reference source for brand managers, tourism professionals, marketers, advertisers, government officials, travel agencies, academicians, researchers, and students working in the fields of international relations, economics, social sciences, business studies, marketing, and entrepreneurship.

Place branding as a field of research is still in a state of infancy. This book seeks to address this, offering a theory of place branding based on the tourist experience, keeping in mind the roles of stakeholders, both public and private organisations and DMOs in managing the place brand. Place Branding: Connecting Tourist Experiences to Places seeks to build a customer-based view of place branding through focusing on the individual as a tourist who travels to undertake a memorable experience. The place is the key creator of this experience, which begins well before the travel-to and ends well after the travel-back. Individuals choose the places where to go, collect information on them, ask for advice and suggestions from fellow travellers, give feedback when they come back and talk a lot about their experience, spreading word-of-mouth. The book enables readers to understand how the tourist experience can be managed as a brand. Readers are exposed to a variety of problems, methodological approaches, and geographical areas, which allows them to adapt frames to different contexts and situations. This book is recommended reading for students and scholars of business, marketing, tourism, urban studies and public diplomacy, as well as practitioners, business consultants and people working in public administration and politics.

This book integrates new thinking on the image, marketing, and branding of places at all levels, from town squares to cities and countries, and of the products and peoples associated with them, thereby bridging the ‘country’ and ‘place’ silos in place-related research and practice. Insightful contributions from top scholars reflect fresh theorizing and provide a critical appraisal of conventional wisdom by juxtaposing intriguing contexts, questioning commonplace practices, and challenging methodologies and theoretical assumptions.

The widespread international interest in the Nordic region and the mobility of Nordic brand imaginaries call for more research into the global relevance of Nordic place-branding practices. This book offers a timely attempt to unpack the specificity of the Nordic in regard to place branding by gathering different transdisciplinary accounts written by researchers in marketing, tourism, geography, communication, sociology and political science.

Focussing specifically on city branding this is an invaluable text as city branding becomes increasingly important across the world and has a direct impact on public and private sector practice

The topic of place branding is moving from infancy to adolescence. Many cities, and nations have already established their place brand and this well documented new book brings the fundamentals of place branding together in an academic format but is at the same time useful for practice.

This professional guidebook highlights brand development and management for cities, regions, countries, and destinations. It presents a unique collection of expert interviews, combined with latest research insights and thoughts on the most relevant topics and trends linked to the reputation, brand development and management of cities, regions, countries and destinations. This is a book which offers inspiring personal stories and reflections, and at the same time serves as essential know how guide for busy place managers, marketers and developers who care about the reputation and well-being of their community.