A Short Reflection on City Branding and its Controversies

Bibliographic Data

ID10833472
AuthorsGert‐jan Hospers (0000-0002-7569-7354, Radboud University Institute for Management Research Elinor Ostrom Building, Heyendaalseweg 141 6525 AJ Nijmegen the Netherlands, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume111
Issue1
Pages18-23
Publication date2020-02-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0040-747X • E-ISSN: 1467-9663
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/tesg.12386
OpenAlexW2978075135
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited20

Thanks to its conceptual character the paper ‘City Branding: An Effective Assertion of Identity or a Transitory Marketing Trick?' by Kavaratzis and Ashworth (2005) is a classic piece in the area of place branding. The paper has been much cited in the literature, but did it really steer the further development of the field? Nearly fifteen years later, there is still a lot of debate in place branding circles. Taking the paper as a starting point I briefly discuss four controversies in city branding: (1) branding versus marketing; (2) places versus products; (3) policy versus politics; and (4) theory versus practice. I conclude that the complexities surrounding places and their stakeholders asks for more realism, modesty and dialogue in the place branding community

Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Assertion · Brand management · Business · Corporate branding · Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Identity (music · Place Branding · Point (geometry · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Realism · Sociology · Tourism · Customer Service Quality and Loyalty · Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research · Law · Philosophy · Place Attachment and Urban Studies

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