Image by Edwin Lee.
Public value creation
A public place can refer to a country, region, city, neighborhood or common area such as a shopping mall, gated community or holiday parc.
Public spaces can provide both functional and emotional value. Functional value entails tangible objective benefits to the community (e.g. playgrounds for children) and are often the result of placemaking initiatives. Emotional value encompasses subjective feelings of citizens in a particular place and can partly be fostered by place branding efforts. Often, place branding and placemaking work in tandem with each other, for example during a reinvention of a place (e.g. revamping the war-torn city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands). In such cases place branding provides an emotionally captivating vision for the project. Placemaking translates that vision in concrete changes in the environment. Finally, place branding communicates the new destination image to tourists and investors.
Creating functional value through place making efforts
Placemaking efforts encompass government policies, collaborative projects (e.g. infrastructure, a neighborhood app) and events. They improve the following aspects of a place:
- Sociability: the building of social interactions, dialogue and social networks, e.g. in the form of a neighborhood watch, playgrounds and volunteer groups working on revitalizing a designated area (e.g restoration of small parks).
- Prosperity: boost the economic performance of a neighborhood by improving ease of doing business, financial literacy education, teaching about alternative streams of income (e.g. agritourism) and funding opportunities.
- Uses & activity: preferably the place includes a lively mixed use of activities, related to business, leisure, living and tourism.
- Neighborhood comfort: in the form of building conditions, sanitation, the quality of the natural environment, and the absence of crime.
- Accessibility: Routing to, from and within the place.
Creating emotional value through place branding efforts
Place branding concerns the design of an unique image and reputation that has emotional value to either residents, visitors, or both.
A place brand provides meaning to visitors by presenting an imaginative vision and story which is communicated before-, during, and after the visit. The vision preferably focuses on the strengths or the wholeness of a place (e.g. introducing luxury elements to complement the mundane experiences). An umbrella brand approach is often applied because of the great diversity of sectors and potential audiences. The umbrella brand provides a common global theme which connects lower tier themes focused on different target markets (and including different products: e.g. tourism, conferences, commerce).
The main target markets are approached in different ways:
Residents
The goal of place branding here is to establish a stakeholder supported identity to foster a sense of belonging and a sense of purpose.
- The Hop Jam: a festival that promotes the crafts beer & music scene in Oklahoma.
- Tohoku Food Marathon & Festival in Japan: promote the region and enhance a feeling of community to all those residents who help to make the event a success.
- Community murals: these large paintings on walls of houses and industrial buildings can be a great way to teach people about the history and meaning related to a place, and invite them to learn more (e.g. by visiting the local history museum).
Tourists
For this target market, place branding aims to present an unique, authentic and welcoming leisure experience, that help them interpret the beauty of the place.
- Yakima Valley Wine Country in the state of Washington, USA: promotes the unique wine and food of the region.
- The Olympic games in Beijing aimed to reinvent the image of China to the outside world.
- Bhutan develops the concept of a ‘Mindfulness city’ to further solidify and innovate upon its image of enlightenment.
Business
The place brand promotes a commercially attractive and welcoming place for companies, investors and expatriates.
- The South Dakota recruitment campaign ‘Freedom works here’.
- The music festival SXSW reinvented the image of Austin, Texas to become the hotspot for the music and entertainment industry.
- The NEOM project in Saudi Arabia envisions a futuristic smart city which reimagines urban living.