The process of implementing aspirational place brands

There is increasing interest on the part of governments and associated agencies in place branding - the practice of applying marketing and brand principles to geographic entities. While existing literature advocates the need and benefits of place branding, there is a call for more empirical research particularly into the process of implementing a place brand. Contemporary authors refer to the similarities between the more developed literature on corporate brand and that of the place brand. However, in both domains there remains a need for greater understanding of the process of engaging and harmonising multiple stakeholders towards the acceptance of an adopted brand strategy. This study addresses this need. This research investigates the process of place brand implementation in a number of locations which have applied a place brand strategy and applies an inductive methodology to this new domain of place branding and identifies through case study research, stages that are important to the place brand implementation process. The research provides empirical evidence and a suggested framework for the implementation of a place brand strategy. Further, this work contributes to the extant literature on place branding and the improvement of professional practice, assisting those who have the responsibility to effectively implement a place brand strategy. As a result of this study it is concluded that there is a process, consisting of stages, which are necessary to improve the likelihood of successful place brand implementation. The stages of implementation developed as a result of this research have been identified as activating, energising, concepting, expanding and re-energising