Creating meaning on main street: Towards a model of place branding

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to theoretical development in place branding in two ways. First, we seek to refine the terms place brand and place branding, and differentiate these from other commonly used marketing terms. Secondly, we seek to distinguish place branding processes from contemporary branding models in four key areas. These areas, identified through a literature review, include product development, brand identity, brand building activities, and brand management. Drawing on findings from an ethnographic study conducted in a central business district (CBD) in the Midwest United States, we tentatively suggest how socio-cultural features of places affect the development of place brands. A long-term field investigation of a Midwestern American Main Street is presented in an extended case study format. Participant observation, depth and field interviews, and secondary data collection are the primary methods employed. This study challenges the view that place brands are developed and managed by a subset of actors drawn from local industry and tourist offices, suggesting how the creation of a place brand may emerge in communities of place. In this study, marketplace actors co-produced marketplace meanings, but disagreed about the valence of these. There were tensions and inconsistencies in actors’ views about development of the CBD in economic, political, social, and cultural ways. Yet, there were socially acceptable variations in marketplace meanings because, as it has in other settings, the social structure has fostered tolerance or reconciliation of differences. Our data suggest that place brands are socially and culturally embedded, and co-created and reified by social actors. Unlike traditional brands, place brands may be sufficiently malleable to support varied brand interpretations. It is the multifaceted and social nature of place brand identities that may make conventional branding models insufficient for place branding efforts. This paper was designed to prompt interest in additional theoretical scholarship as it relates to place branding, and may be of interest to place marketers, rural economists, city planners, and economic development agencies for its focus on sociological aspects of small city commercial centres. Key findings in the place branding literature are reviewed and directions for further theoretical development of a model of place branding are suggested.