This article considers the concept of ‘place’ in the context of place marketing. Following a discussion of the disciplinary antecedents of place marketing/branding, the article evaluates the concept of the ‘place product’, with specific reference to the construction of place narratives. In particular, contrasts are drawn between notions of materiality and realm of meaning as devices for conceptualising places as products to be commodified and marketed. This is illustrated using as a case study, a place marketing initiative in the city of Manchester in the north west of England. The implications of this are analysed in terms of three questions, relating to (1) what is being marketed, (2) who is implementing the place marketing activity and (3) how places are represented as a consequence. The article concludes by arguing that the place product should be regarded as a dynamic concept, composed as much from changing and competing narratives in and over time, as it is from its tangible and material elements.
AgnewJ. A. (1987) Place and Politics: The Geographical Mediation of State and Society. Boston, MA: Allen & Unwin.
2.
AitkenR.CampeloA. (2011) ‘The 4Rs of Place Branding’, Journal of Marketing Management27(9–10): 913–3.
3.
AshworthG. (1993) ‘Marketing of Places: What are we Doing?’, in AveG.CorsicoF. (eds) Urban Marketing in Europe, pp. 643–9. Turin, Italy: Torino Incontra.
4.
AshworthG.VoogdH. (1990) Selling the City. London, UK: Belhaven.
5.
AvrahamE.KetterE. (2007) Media Strategies for Managing Place in Crisis: Improving the Image of Cities, Countries and Tourist Destinations. Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann.
6.
BalakrishnanM. S. (2009) ‘Strategic Branding of Destinations: A Framework’, European Journal of Marketing43(5/6): 611–29.
7.
BarichH.KotlerP. (1991) ‘A Framework for Marketing Image Management’, Sloan Management Review94: 94–104.
8.
BarkeM.HarropK. (1994) ‘Selling the Industrial Town: Identity, Image and Illusion’, in GoldJ. R.WardS. V. (eds) Place Promotion: The Use of Publicity and Marketing to Sell Towns and Regions, pp. 93–114. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
9.
BoisenM.TerlouwK.van GorpB. (2011) ‘The Selective Nature of Place Branding and the Layering of Spatial Identities’, Journal of Place Management and Development4(2): 135–47.
10.
BoyleM. (1997) ‘Civic Boosterism and the Politics of Local Economic Development: ‘Institutional Positions’ and ‘Strategic Orientations’ in the Consumption of Hallmark Events’, Environment and Planning A29: 1975–97.
11.
BraunE.ZenkerS. (2012) ‘I am the city - Thus I own the Brand! The problem of ownership in place branding’, paper presented at Special Session on Rethinking Place Marketing: The Necessity of Marketing to Citizens, European Marketing Academy Conference, Lisbon, May.
12.
BraunE.KavaratzisM.ZenkerS. (2010) ‘My City - My Brand: The Role of Residents in Place Branding’, paper presented at the 50th European Regional Science Association Congress, Joenkoeping, Sweden
13.
BurgessJ. (1982) ‘Selling Places: Environmental Images for the Executive’, Regional Studies, 16(1): 1–17.
14.
CaseyE, (1996) ‘How to get From Space to Place in a Fairly Short Stretch of Time’, in FeldS.BasoK. (eds) Senses of Place, pp. 14–51. Santa Fe, New Mexico: School of American Research (cited in Cresswell, 2004)
15.
CleggS. R.KornbergerM. (2010) ‘An Organizational Perspective on Space and Place Branding’, in GoF. M.GoversR. (eds) International Place branding Yearbook 2001: Place Branding in the New Age of Innovation, pp. 3–11. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
16.
ColombC.KalandidesA. (2010) ‘The be Berlin’ Campaign: Old Wine in New Bottles or Innovative Form of Participatory Place Branding?’, in AshworthG.KavaratzisM. (eds) Towards Effective Place Brand Management: Branding European Cities and Regions pp. 173–90. Cheltenham/Northampton, UK: Edward Elgar.
17.
CorsicoF. (1993) ‘Urban Marketing, a Tool for Cities and Business Enterprises, a Condition for Property Development, a Challenge for Urban Planning’, in AveG.CorsicoF. (eds) Urban Marketing in Europe, pp. 75–88. Turin, Italy: Torino Incontra.
18.
CovaB.DalliD. (2009) ‘Working Consumers: The Next Step in Marketing Theory?’, Marketing Theory9(3): 315–39.
19.
CresswellT. (2004) Place: A Short Introduction. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.
20.
CresswellT.HoskinsG. (2008) ‘Place, Persistence, and Practice: Evaluating Historical Significance at Angel Island, San Francisco, and Maxwell Street, Chicago’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers98(2): 392–413.
21.
de CerteauM. (1984), The Practice of Everyday Life (trans. S. Rendall). Berkeley/Los Angeles/ London: University of California Press.
EisenschitzA. (2010) ‘Place Marketing as Politics: The Limits of Neoliberalism’, in GoF. M.GoversF. (eds) International Place Branding Yearbook 2001: Place Branding in the New Age of Innovation, pp. 21–30. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
24.
FlorekM. (2011) ‘No Place Like Home: Perspectives on Place Attachment and Impacts on City Management’, Journal of Town and City Management1(4): 346–54.
25.
FloridaR. (2002) The Rise of the Creative Class…and How it’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. New York, NY: Basic Books.
26.
FloridaR. (2005) Cities and the Creative Class. New York and London: Routledge.
27.
GertnerD. (2011a) ‘A (tentative) Meta-Analysis of the ‘Place Marketing’ and ‘Place Branding’ Literature’, Journal of Brand Management19: 112–31.
28.
GertnerD. (2011b) ‘Unfolding and Configuring two Decades of Research and Publications on Place Marketing and Place Branding’, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy7(2): 91–106.
HankinsonG. (2004) ‘Relational Network Brands: Towards a Conceptual Model of Place Brands’, Journal of Vacation Marketing10(2): 109–21.
31.
HankinsonG.(2010) ‘Place Branding Research: A Cross-Disciplinary Agenda and the Views of Practitioners’, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy6(4): 300–15.
32.
HannaS.RowleyJ. (2008) ‘An Analysis of Terminology use in Place Branding’, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy4(1): 61–75.
33.
HannaS.RowleyJ. (2010) ‘Towards a Strategic Place Brand-Management Model’, Journal of Marketing Management27(5–6): 458–76.
34.
HarveyD.(1987) ‘Flexible Accumulation Through Urbanisation: Reflections on Postmodernism in the American City’, Antipode19(3): 260–86.
35.
HayR. (1998) ‘Sense of Place in Developmental Context’, Journal of Environmental Psychology18(1): 2–29.
36.
HendersonG. (2009) ‘Place’, in GregoryD.JohnstonR.PrattG.WattsM. J.WhatmoreS. (eds) The Dictionary of Human Geography (5th ed, pp. 539–41). Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
37.
HernandezB.HidalgoM. C.Salazar-LaplaceM. E.HessS. (2007) ‘Place Attachment and Place Identity in Natives and Non-Natives’, Journal of Environmental Psychology27: 310–19.
38.
HildagoM. C.HernandezB. (2001) ‘Place Attachment: Conceptual and Empirical Questions’, Journal of Environmental Psychology21: 273–81.
39.
HolcombB. (1994) ‘City Make-Overs: Marketing the Post-Industrial City’, in GoldJ. R.WardS. V. (eds) Place Promotion: The Use of Publicity and Marketing to Sell Towns and Regions, pp. 115–32. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
40.
HolcombB. (1999) ‘Marketing Cities for Tourism’, in JuddD. R.FainsteinS. S. (eds), The Tourist City, pp. 54–70. New Haven and London, UK: Yale University Press.
41.
HospersG-J. (2006) ‘Borders, Bridges and Branding: The Transformation of the Øresund Region into an Imagined Space’, European Planning Studies14(10): 15–33.
42.
HubbardP. (1996) ‘Re-Imaging the City. The Transformation of Birmingham’s Urban Landscape’, Geography81(1): 26–36.
43.
IversonN. M.HemL. E. (2008) ‘Provenance Associations as Core Values of Place Umbrella Brands: A Framework of Characteristics’, European Journal of Marketing42(5/6): 603–26.
44.
Jansen-VerbekeM. (1986) ‘Inner-City Tourism: Resources, Tourists and Promoters’, Annals of Tourism Research13: 79–100.
45.
JensenO. B. (2007) ‘Culture stories. Understanding cultural urban branding’, Planning Theory6(3): 211–236.
46.
JobberD. (2010) Principles and Practice of Marketing. 6th ed. Maidenhead, UK: McGraw Hill.
47.
JonesP. (2011) The Sociology of Architecture: Constructing Identities. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press.
48.
KalandidesA. (2011) ‘The Problem with Spatial Identity: Revisiting the “Sense of Place”’, Journal of Place Management and Development4(1): 28–39.
49.
KaplanM. D.YurtO.GuneriB.KurtulusK. (2010) ‘Branding Places: Applying Brand Personality Concept to Cities’, European Journal of Marketing44(9/10): 1286–1304.
50.
KavaratzisM. (2004) ‘From City Marketing to City Branding: Towards a Theoretical Framework for Developing City Brands’Place Branding1(1): 58–73.
51.
KavaratzisM. (2007) ‘City Marketing: The Past, the Present and Some Unresolved Issues’, Geography Compass1(3): 695–712.
52.
KavaratzisM. (2009) ‘Cities and Their Brands: Lessons From Corporate Branding’, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy5(1): 26–37.
53.
KavaratzisM. (2012) ‘Participatory Place Brands: Stakeholders in the Foreground’, paper presented at Special Session on Rethinking Place Marketing: The Necessity of Marketing to Citizens, European Marketing Academy Conference, Lisbon, May.
54.
KavaratzisM.AshworthG. (2005) ‘City Branding: An Effective Assertion of Identity or a Transitory Marketing Trick?’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie96(5): 506–14.
55.
KavaratzisM.AshworthG.(2007) ‘Partners in Coffeeshops, Canals and Commerce: Marketing the City of Amsterdam’, Cities24(1): 16–25.
56.
KavaratzisM.AshworthG. (2008) ‘Place Marketing: How did we get Here and Where are we Going?’, Journal of Place Management and Development1(2): 150–67.
57.
KonstanskiL. (2011) ‘Toponymic Dependence Research and its Possible Contribution to the Field of Place Branding’, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy7(1): 9–22.
58.
KotlerP.AsplundC.ReinI.HaiderD. (1999) Marketing Places Europe: Attracting Investments, Industries, and Visitors to European Cities, Communities, Regions and Nations. Harlow, UK: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
LewickaM. (2008) ‘Place Attachment, Place Identity, and Place Memory: Restoring the Forgotten City Past’, Journal of Environmental Psychology28(3): 209–31.
McDonoughT. (2009) (ed.) The Situationists and the City. London and New York: Verso.
63.
MerrileesB.MillerD.HeringtonC. (2012) ‘Multiple Stakeholders and Multiple City Meanings’, European Journal of Marketing46(7/8): 1032–47.
64.
MoilanenT.RainistoS. (2009) How to Brand Nations, Cities and Destinations: A Planning Book for Place Branding. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
65.
PaasiA. (2002) ‘Bounded Spaces in the Mobile World: Deconstructing Regional Identity’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie93: 137–48.
66.
PaasiA. (2010) ‘Regions as Social Constructs, but who or What ‘Constructs’ Them? Agency in Question’, Environment and Planning A42: 2296–2301.
67.
ParkersonB.SaundersJ. (2005) ‘City Branding: Can Goods and Services Branding Models be Used to Brand Cities?’, Place Branding1(3): 242–64.
68.
PinderD. (2005) ‘Arts of Urban Exploration’, Cultural Geographies12: 383–411.
69.
PredA. R. (1984) ‘Place as Historically Contingent Process: Structuration and the Time-Geography of Becoming Places’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers74(2): 279–97.
70.
RelphE. (1976) Place and Placelessness. London, UK: Pion.
71.
RitzerG. (2008) The McDonaldization of Society. Los Angeles, CA: Pine Forge Press
72.
SadlerD. (1993) ‘Place Marketing, Competitive Places and the Construction of Hegemony in Britain in the 1980s’, in KearnsG.PhiloC. (eds) Selling Places: The City as Cultural Capital Past and Present, pp. 175–92. Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press.
73.
SadlerS. (1998) The Situationist City. Cambridge, MA and London, UK: The MIT Press.
74.
SeamonD (1980) ‘Body-Subject, Time-Space Routines and Place-Ballets’, in ButtimerA.SeamonA. (eds) The Human Experience of Space and Place, pp. 148–65. London, UK: Croom Helm.
75.
ShortJ. R. (1999) ‘Urban Imagineers: Boosterism and the Representation of Cities’, in JonasA. E. G.WilsonD. (eds) The Urban Growth Machine: Critical Perspectives Two Decades Later, pp. 37–54. New York, NY: State University of New York Press.
76.
ShortJ. R.KimY-H. (1998) ‘Urban Crises/Urban Representations: Selling the City in Difficult Times’, in HallT.HubbardP. (eds) The Entrepreneurial City: Geographies of Politics, Regimes and Representations, pp. 55–75. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
77.
SinclairI. (2011) Ghost Milk: Calling Time on the Grand Project. London, UK: Penguin Books.
78.
SmytheH.(1994) Marketing the City: The Role of Flagship Developments in Urban Regeneration. London, UK: E. & F. N. Spon.
79.
SteadmanR. C. (2002) ‘Toward a Social Psychology of Place. Predicting Behaviour From Place-Based Cognitions, Attitude and Identity’, Environment and Behavior34: 561–81.
80.
SteadmanR. C. (2003) ‘Is it Really Just a Social Construction? The Contribution of Physical Environment to Sense of Place’, Society and Natural Resources16: 671–85.
81.
TerlouwK.(2009) ‘Rescaling National Identities: Communicating Thick and Thin Regional Identities’, Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism9: 452–64.
TherkelsenA.HalkierH.JensenO. B. (2010) ‘Branding Aalborg: Building Community or Selling Place?’, in AshworthG.KavaratzisM. (eds) Towards Effective Place Brand Management: Branding European Cities and Regions, pp. 136–55. Cheltenham/Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
84.
TuanY-F. (1974) Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes, and Values. New York, NY: Colombia University Press.
85.
Van den BergL.BraunE. (1999) ‘Urban Competitiveness, Marketing and the Need for Organising Capacity’, Urban Studies36(5–6): 987–99.
86.
WardK. G.(2000a) ‘State Licence, Local Settlements and the Politics of ‘Branding’ the City’, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy18: 285–300.
87.
WardK. G.(2000b) ‘From Rentiers to Rantiers: ‘Active Entrepreneurs’, ‘Structural Speculators’ and the Politics of Marketing the City’, Urban Studies37(7): 1093–107.
88.
WardS. V. (1998) Selling Places: The Marketing and Promotion of Towns and Cities 1850-2000. London, UK: E. & F. N. Spon.
89.
WarnabyG. (2009) ‘Towards a Service-Dominant Place Marketing Logic’, Marketing Theory9(4): 403–23.
90.
WarnabyG.(2012a) ‘Representing Towns and Cities in Marketing Activities: An Exploratory Chorographical Investigation’, paper presented at European Marketing Academy Conference, Lisbon, May.
91.
WarnabyG. (2012b) ‘Collaboration, Contestation, Co-creation and Control? Conceptualizing the Role of Citizens in the Place Product’, paper presented at Special Session on Rethinking Place Marketing: The Necessity of Marketing to Citizens, European Marketing Academy Conference, Lisbon, May.
92.
WarnabyG.DaviesB. J. (1997) ‘Commentary: Cities as Service Factories? Using the Servuction System for Marketing Cities as Shopping Destinations’, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management25(6): 204–10.
93.
WarnabyG.BennisonD.MedwayD. (2010) ‘Notions of Materiality and Linearity: The Challenges of Marketing the Hadrian’s Wall Place Product’, Environment and Planning A42(6): 1365–82.
94.
WarnabyG.MedwayD.(2010) ‘Semiotics and Place Branding: The Influence of the Built and Natural Environment in City Logos’, in AshworthG.KavaratzisM. (eds) Towards Effective Place Brand Management: Branding European Cities and Regions, pp. 205–21. Cheltenham/Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
95.
WilliamsR. (1977) Marxism and Literature. London, UK: Oxford University Press.
96.
WilliamsD.VaskeJ. (2003) ‘The Measurement of Place Attachment: Validity and Generalizability of a Psychometric Approach’, Forest Science49: 830–40.
97.
YoungC.LeverJ. (1997) ‘Place Promotion, Economic Location and Consumption of the City Image’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie88(4): 332–41.
