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Place Branding: are we at a Turning Point?

  • December 2016
Authors:
Gilberto Marzano at Rezekne Academy of Technologies
Gilberto Marzano
Luis Ochoa Siguencia at Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego im. Jergo Kukuczki w Katowicach
Luis Ochoa Siguencia
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Abstract

Recent investigations have enriched the place branding concept, presenting positive and negative factors that influence place promotion. Some researchers argue that the lack of clear political priorities for place marketing is one of the main obstacles for tourism development. At the same time, ICT is transforming tourism globally, and the idea of using the new technologies for manipulating place brands is becoming attainable. This paper shortly reports on the first outcomes of a preliminary exploratory research into online tourist communities and free web-based travel guides.
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IPSAPA/ISPALEM - UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI UDINE
IN COLLABORAZIONE CON UNIVERSITÀ DI NAPOLI
DIPARTIMENTO DI ARCHITETTURA
IPSAPA/ISPALEM - UNIVERSITY OF UDINE
IN COLLABORATION WITH UNIVERSITY OF NAPLES
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
ISBN: 978-88-942329-1-2
Proceedings of the 19th IPSAPA/ISPALEM
International Scientific Conference
Napoli (Italy) July 2nd – 3rd, 2015
The Turning Point of the Landscape-cultural Mosaic:
Renaissance Revelation Resilience
Atti della XIX Conferenza Scientifica
Internazionale IPSAPA/ISPALEM
Napoli (Italia), 2-3 Luglio 2015
Il punto di svolta del Mosaico paesistico-culturale:
Rinascimento Rivelazione Resilienza
Udine, Italy
2016
Collana: Il mosaico paesistico-culturale
Book series: The Landscape-cultural Mosaic
Volume 2
Atti della XIX Conferenza Scientifica Internazionale IPSAPA, Napoli, Italia, 2-3 Luglio
2015. pp. 414.
Proceedings of the 19th IPSAPA International Scientific Conference, Naples, Italy, July 2nd-3rd
2015. p 414.
Curatori/Edited by L.C. Piccinini, T.F.M. Chang, M. Taverna, L. Iseppi
Editorial Board: F. Angelucci, C. Battaino, C. Bellia, A. Pagliano, P. Parisi, P. Pedrocco,
D. Privitera, M. Rizzo, M. Sepe, M.R. Trovato, A. Voghera
Ogni autore è responsabile del contenuto del suo paper
The author of the paper takes responsability for the content of the paper
I lavori di questo volume saranno inviati per la pubblicazione a Thomson Reuters Web of
Knowledge ISI Conference Proceedings data base. http://www.isiwebofknowledge.com/.
The papers of this issue of publications after the conference will be offered for publishing
onThomson Reuters Web of Knowledge ISI Conference Proceedings data base.
http://www.isiwebofknowledge.com/.
Conference link: https://sites.google.com/site/landscapewonder/convegno-2013/convegno-
2015
The conference is supported by
ISBN: 978-88-942329-1-2
© Published by IPSAPA/ISPALEM 2016
INDICE
CONTENT
Introduction
The Turning Point of the Landscape-Cultural Mosaic: Renaissance,
Revelation, Resilience ....................................................................................
11
Who: Leaders and dialogue
Marichela Sepe
The “Happy Place Mapping” ................................................................................
19
Salvatore Giuffrida, Giovanna Ferluga, Maria Rosa Trovato
Flood Risk and Land Resilience: a Socio-Systemic Approach to
Valuation .................................................................................................................
29
The Turning Point of the Place Identity ..........................................................
43
51
What: Encounter and confrontation
The Urban Landscape and the Real Estate Market. Structures and
Fragments of the Axiological Tessitura in a Wide Urban Area of Palermo
67
Gilberto Marzano, Luis Ochoa Siguencia
Place Branding: are we at a Turning Point? ........................................................
79
Drinking Architecture. Fog as a Possible Architectural Device able to
Connect the Landscape and Water Demands of the Canary Islands ..............
83
Where: Small nodes and large spaces
Livio C. Piccinini, M. Antonietta Lepellere, T.F. Margherita Chang
Long-Term Evolution of Italian Coastal ..............................................................
93
Proceedings of the 19th IPSAPA/ISPALEM International Scientific Conference
Napoli (Italy) July 2nd - 3th, 2015
79
PLACE BRANDING: ARE WE AT A TURNING POINT?
Gilberto Marzano
Rezekne Academy of Technologies, Latvia
Luis Ochoa Siguencia
The Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice, Poland
Abstract. Recent investigations have enriched the place branding concept, presenting positive
and negative factors that influence place promotion. Some researchers argue that the lack of
clear political priorities for place marketing is one of the main obstacles for tourism
development. At the same time, ICT is transforming tourism globally, and the idea of using
the new technologies for manipulating place brands is becoming attainable.
This paper shortly reports on the first outcomes of a preliminary exploratory research into
online tourist communities and free web-based travel guides.
Keywords: place branding management, tourism changes, tourist social media, participatory
branding
Introduction
Place branding management is a topical issue, and its importance is
demonstrated by the proliferation of place branding studies (Lucarelli & Berg,
2011).
ICT is transforming tourism globally, and the idea of manipulating a holistic
brand for a place is becoming unattainable.
Nowadays, social media and traveller’s Internet communities offer the
opportunity to present places in a way that transcends mere advertising
(Ashworth & Kavaratzis, 2010).
This paper synthetizes the first outcomes of a research on online tourist
communities and free web-based travel guides.
Background to the research
At present, many researchers share the opinion that, thanks to social media, new
online brand builders might quickly replace traditional forms of marketing
communication - see also the increasing use of “viral marketing” (Chan-Olmsted
& Shay, 2015; Kavaratzis & Kalandides, 2015; Paul, Peretti & Datta, S2016).
Online brand builders found their success on a seemingly transparent approach,
opinions sharing, and word of mouth.
Our research will explore the participatory branding idea, focusing on cultural
heritage and accommodations.
We privileged cultural heritage data, since tourist literature indicates cultural
Gilberto Marzano, Luis Ochoa Siguencia. Place branding: are we at a turning point?
80
heritage as one of the main factors which prompt people to visit a place.
Statistics shows that much money is spent on building warm and charming
cultural images and promoting place identities for capturing the consumers’
presumed expectations. Many marketers struggle to construct place brands
exalting place identities, and sometimes making place identity-based
competitive comparisons.
Aim of the research
Everybody knows that behind the official identity of a place, less virtuous, dark
and prurient aspects may be hidden and sometimes they represent the actual
tourist attractions.
Can social media (e.g. facebook; twitter; instagram; youtube) spread this kind of
information escaping from the official control?
Do social media really satisfy the multifarious expectations and habits of
tourists?
The aim of our research was to contribute to answering similar questions.
Research approach
The research method was designed to support an exploratory analysis.
We choose four places: Riga (Latvia), Czestochowa (Poland), Udine (Italy) and
Castillon de la Plana (Spain). Data about these places was gathered from
Wikivoyage, Tripadvisor, Booking.com, and Lonely Planet.
Starting from July 2014, we extracted, normalized and compared data
concerning cultural heritage, hospitality structures, and posted comments.
For each of the four places, we analyzed data in English, Italian, Polish and
Spanish (setting the option language in the portals).
A raw preliminary content classification was made.
Our content analysis can be summarized in the following steps:
1) Posts were selected;
3) Categories were defined for coding;
4) Posts were coded;
5) The data collected during the coding process were analyzed and interpreted.
We considered for coding both categories in the websites and categories
emergent from the data (Herring, Scheidt, Bonus & Wright, 2005).
Findings and discussion
Before presenting the research findings, we briefly discuss the new idea of co-
creating the place brand. Recently, many researchers (Aitken & Campelo, 2011;
Zenker, 2014) share this idea. It grounds on the assumption that place brands
“are built out of the ‘raw material’ of identity” (Kavaratzis & Hatch, 2013).
Proceedings of the 19th IPSAPA/ISPALEM International Scientific Conference
Napoli (Italy) July 2nd - 3th, 2015
81
Researchers who sustain the co-creating brand place idea argue that place
identities emerge from the “conversation” between stakeholders. The identity of
a place is what stakeholders share together about the characteristics of that
place. Accordingly, some researchers claim the relative insignificance of
traditional marketing view applied to place branding (Mayo, 2013).
We partially agree with the co-creating place brand idea: place identity as a
“negotiation process” is suggestive and reductionist at the same time.
We are persuaded that it is necessary to better define what the “raw materials”
are.
Moreover, at the moment, it seems that:
new social media partially capture people opinions;
the Internet users are price sensitive: cheap price was the chief reason for
their choices;
the aim of Web marketing is selling stuff, not creating brands.
Although our research is limited, it confirms that the Internet basically prompts
towards new forms of participative place branding. Many on-line organizations,
such as Amazon, e-Bay, Bookinkg.com, encourage people to post their reviews
about products. Similarly, almost all tourist sites publish peers evaluations,
providing reviews of travel-related contents and host interactive travel forums.
First research results:
Wikivoyage contents may differ depending on the language;
Contents plagiarism;
Most questions posted find better answers on official websites;
There are habitual users;
etc.
Our principal research considerations are synthesised in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Principal research findings
Conclusion
Although our exploratory research is limited, it confirms that the Internet basically leads to
new forms of participative place branding. Many online organisations, such as Amazon, e-
Bay, Bookinkg.com, etcetera, encourage people to post their reviews about products.
It seems that
new social media partially capture peoples
opinions
the Internet user is price sensitive: low cost
was the chief reason for their choices
the aim of Web marketing is selling stuff, not
creating brands
Gilberto Marzano, Luis Ochoa Siguencia. Place branding: are we at a turning point?
82
Similarly, almost all tourist sites publish peer evaluations, providing reviews of travel-related
content and hosting interactive travel forums.
There are an increasing number of researchers who are persuaded that social media can
drastically alter consumers’ behaviour and their brand preferences. They argue that social
media sites will extend their influence beyond the narrow confines of a message platform, and
that marketers will soon start to manage social media for their place branding activity.
Accordingly, there are those who claim the relative insignificance of the mainstream
marketing approach when applied to place branding (Mayo, 2013).
We partially subscribe to their ideas, in that place branding as a people negotiation process is
both suggestive and reductionist at the same time. At least for now.
Our research has showed that, at the moment, the most well-known traveller social portals
have been designed with the traditional marketing exigencies in mind. We need new functions
and facilities in order to use them to create place brands that are built out of the raw material
of identity. To exploit the huge amount of data available on the Web, in fact, it will be
necessary to invest in representations and models that are able to manage that data.
References
1. Ashworth, G.; & Kavaratzis, M. (Eds.). (2010). Towards effective place brand
management: Branding European cities and regions. Edward Elgar Publishing.
2. Aitken, R.; & Campelo, A. (2011). ‘The four Rs of Place Branding’, Journal of
Marketing Management, 27(9/10), 913–933.
3. Chan-Olmsted, S. M.; & Shay, R. (2015). Media branding 3.0: From Media brands to
branded entertainment and information. In Handbook of Media Branding (pp. 11-32).
Springer International Publishing.
4. Herring, S.C.; & Scheidt, L.A.; & Bonus, S.; & Wright, E. (2005). Weblogs as a bridging
genre. Information, Technology & People, 18(2), 142-171.
5. Kavaratzis, M.; & Hatch, M.J. (2013). The dynamics of place brands an identity-based
approach to place branding theory. Marketing Theory, 13(1), 69-86.
6. Kavaratzis, M.; & Kalandides, A. (2015). Rethinking the place brand: the interactive
formation of place brands and the role of participatory place branding. Environment and
Planning A, 47(6), 1368-1382.
7. Lucarelli, A.; & Berg, P.O. (2011). City branding: a state-of-the-art review of the
research domain. Journal of place management and development, 4(1), 9-27.
8. Mayo, M. (2013). City branding efforts seem a waste of good money. Sun Sentinel,
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-city-slogans-mayocol-b031013-
20130309,0,4499980.column; last accessed 27.12.2015.
9. Paul, S.; & Peretti, P.; & Datta, S.K. (2016). The emerged trends in consumers' co-
creation: a conceptual framework for extending or creating the brand.Journal for
International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 9(2), 190-203.
10. Zenker, S.; & Braun, E. (2010). Branding a city – a conceptual approach for place
branding and place brand management. In 39th European Marketing Academy
Conference, 1st–4th June.
Gilberto Marzano
Rezekne Academy of Technologies – Latvia
E-mail: gilberto.marzano@ru.lv
Luis Ochoa Siguencia
Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in
Katowice
– Poland
E-mail: l.ochoa@awf.katowice.pl
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
The dynamics of place brands: An identity-based approach to place branding theory
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City branding efforts seem a waste of good money
  • Jan 2013
  • M Mayo
Mayo, M. (2013). City branding efforts seem a waste of good money. Sun Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-city-slogans-mayocol-b031013-20130309,0,4499980.column; last accessed 27.12.2015.
Branding a city -a conceptual approach for place branding and place brand management
  • Jun 2010
  • 1-4
  • S Zenker
  • E Braun
Zenker, S.; & Braun, E. (2010). Branding a city -a conceptual approach for place branding and place brand management. In 39th European Marketing Academy Conference, 1st-4th June.