The universe of place brands: What is it really about?

Place branding has in recent years become a considerably attractive topic for academic research and an increasingly popular practice among local officials. It is currently a central element of contemporary place management, necessitating local, regional and national authorities to invest more funds in branding activities in order to create and manage a place brand. While there are many cases of place brands around the world that have been successful, others have failed for various reasons, in particular because this practice is still misunderstood and generates confusion among researchers, practitioners and local officials. This paper aims to address certain important questions related to the enigmatic and complex universe of place brands. The hope behind our desire to provide relevant answers and further clarifications is to assist professionals and organisations in charge of such brands to assimilate their specific characteristics and requirements so as to better define a successful place branding strategy.