Unfolding and configuring two decades of research and publications on place marketing and place branding

Abstract

In the past few decades, a growing number of communities, cities, states/provinces, nations and regions have adopted marketing and branding concepts and tools to attract investors, visitors, residents, events and so on. The prolific body of literature on ‘place marketing’ and ‘place branding’ produced and the vast number of venues for publication of articles on these subjects corroborate the growing importance of the area for both scholars and practitioners. This article unfolds and configures 212 articles on ‘place marketing’ and ‘place branding’ produced by 280 authors and published by 43 periodicals over a two-decade period. It concludes that, in spite of the fact that ‘place marketing’ and ‘place branding’ research have steadily intensified, the assessment of the articles published between 1990 and 2009 on these topics, conducted for this investigation, gives rise to some questions about the future of the field.