Place branding and control vs management

What’s your brand? Do you have an online identity that is different from your in-person character? How do you control how other people view YOU? What does this mean for you? What about celebrities? Who creates their images and do they have a stake in controlling their brand? From the level of individual and on up into organizations, identity is something that we grapple with. Part of our identity is formed from our perceptions of how other people view us. Even when we get old enough to realize we are not each the center of the universe for anyone but ourselves, we try to control our image.

It’s the way we dress, our hairstyles, language(s) we use, our body language, our daily choices, how we treat other people, the vision we have for ourselves. How does this get projected into the creation of national images and national brands? All organizations and nations are made up of individuals contending with identity and image challenges, which go into the daily tasks and decision-making processes we do/make as individuals and groups. I think that part of this process is realizing that we can’t control people’s perceptions of ourselves. I think manage is a better way to conceptualize it.

In his chapter on place branding, van Ham argues that branding "is not only about 'selling' products, services, ideas and foreign policies, it is not only about gaining market share and attention, it is also all about managing identity, loyalty, and reputation." (van Ham, p. 141).

Anholt, in “The Importance of National Reputation”, argues that national reputations are fairly stable. He also says that “National reputation truly cannot be constructed; it can only be earned.” (Anholt, p. 34)

So while we may try to manage reputations (national, corporate, individual), construction is not enough. There has to be a foundation for the construction that is based on reality of actions, product quality, and personability.

Anholt outlines his “competitive identity” concept, which includes components for creating influence-- brands, tourism, people, policy, investment and culture. This brings me to the point discussed in class, where place branding and Public Diplomacy can be different, overlap, join each other, or be treated in the same way- depending on how they are defined. Our guest speaker, Efe believes that place branding is the creation of meaning, and public diplomacy is just a communication tool.

But I don’t see such a distinct separation between creation of meaning and communication. Maybe he meant the thought that goes behind the management of place branding as where the meaning is created and then that the PD is the actual implementation to strive toward that image. As discussed, even if you don’t put effort into creating your image, you will have an image. Maybe it means there is a shift from policy as the driving force behind PD toward a broader goals of an essence or idea inherent in a place branding conceptualization that is bigger than policy goals.

My takeaways

1.distinctions between place branding and PD are contextual and therefore in scholarship and conversation, definitions have to be outlined for common ground/understanding to occur.

2. management is more realistic than control because you can not control how an audience will receive your message.