The Principles of Place Branding

Placebrands have developed a set of Place Branding Principles that we believe should guide any place branding programme.

1 Purpose and potential

Place branding creates value for a city, region or country by aligning the messages that the place already sends out, in accordance with a powerful and distinctive strategic vision; by unlocking the talent of the people who live there and stimulating investment to reinforce and fulfil this vision; and by creating new, powerful and cost-effective ways to give the place a more effective and memorable voice and enhance its international reputation.

2 Truth

Places often suffer from an image which is out of date, unfair, unbalanced, or cliché-ridden. It is one of the tasks of place branding to ensure that the true, full, contemporary picture is communicated in a focused and effective way; never to compromise the truth or glamorise it irresponsibly.

3 Aspirations and betterment

The place brand needs to present a credible, compelling and sustainable vision for its future, firmly in the context of our shared future. This will support the overall aim of a real increase in the economic, political, cultural, and social well being of the people who live in the place, whilst contributing in a more than token way to the well being of other people in other places.

4 Inclusiveness and common good

Place branding can and should be used for achieving societal, political and economic objectives. Inevitably, a workable strategy will favour certain groups or individuals over others, and this creates an inalienable responsibility to ensure that they are supported in other ways.

5 Creativity and innovation

Place branding should find, release, and help direct the talents and skills of the population, and promote the creative use of these in order to achieve innovation in education, business, government, environment and the arts. Furthermore, only creativity of the highest order can ‘square the circle’ of translating the complexity of a place into purposeful, distinctive and effective brand strategy.

6 Complexity and simplicity

The reality of places is intricate and often contradictory, yet the essence of effective branding is simplicity and directness. It is one of the harder tasks of place branding to do justice to the richness and diversity of places and their peoples, yet to communicate this to the world in ways which are simple, truthful, motivating, appealing and memorable.

7 Connectivity

Place branding connects people and institutions at home and abroad. The clear and shared sense of purpose which good brand strategy engenders can help unite government, the private sector and non-governmental organisations; it stimulates involvement and participation among the population; externally, it helps build strong and positive links to other places and other people.

8 Things take time

Place branding is a long-term endeavour. It need not and should not cost more than any place can comfortably afford, but is neither a quick fix nor a short-term campaign. Devising an appropriate place brand strategy and implementing it thoroughly takes time and effort, wisdom and patience; if properly done, the long-term advantages, both tangible and intangible, will outweigh the costs by far.