The concept of place branding is fairly new in the new world. The geographical and cultural distance between our sub continent from the rest of the world contributes to an isolation that apparently enhances this abyss. I say apparently because, in fact, this cultural distance is not so big.

In the last City Nation Place conference, it became clear that some of the main issues present in the place branding discussion in South America are also present in the rest of the world and that, although the practice and reflection are still in their early days here, we are more united by doubts that by certainties.

More than doubts about the discipline, we face an adverse political and economic situation. While the so called developed countries plan their place brands with the perspective of decades, here in Latin America, and I can talk specifically about Brazil, we not only don’t plan, but, even worse,  when we do, we think of the period of government (with the change in the electoral law, it comes down to four years) -  because we do not think of a place brand in terms of its relationship to society, but as a government brand, disguised as a place brand.

But this "selfishness" is only one of the factors that hinder our life. South America is a region with enormous social inequality, second only to middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, such as South Africa and Namibia, according to Gabriel Palma, from the University of Cambridge.

According to the newspaper Valor Econômico:

"In addition to the strong concentration of national income between the richest 10% of the population, the return to society of that wealth is much lower in Latin America, in contrast to what happens in Asia, for example. In that region the private investment in the richest part of the society in general account for 70% of income. In Latin America this "return" is much lower, around 35%. "

The term "branding" after years of misuse, is now associated with marketing, advertising, design… In Brazil, more specifically, branding has become a "buzzword". This is another one of those questions that unites us. In Europe the term "place branding" is also confused with a “cosmetic" activity. I can’t forget the doubt on peoples’ faces when I used the term place branding for academics of urban planning, always looking at me with some suspicion until I precisely explained "my" vision of place branding.

This "cosmetic" vision combined with social inequality creates even more doubt on the subject: how to speak of something cosmetic when you have not even basic sanitation?

One of the main challenges of place branding here is to precisely explain its strategic character, in a market that often can not understand exactly the meaning of the term branding.

In a major election year in Brazil, one of the solutions proposed to change  this scenario is advocacy. Advocacy for urban issues in this case involving placemaking and place branding is one way to create a "culture of cities." This thought addresses public policies before they become public policy. This process can be understood as a way to educate the market, or even create a market, as advocacy can work in the sphere of political candidates, discussing and creating guidelines that will become promises.

In the Latin American scenario, the fact that something becomes a promise does not mean much, something that can be easily proved by the current political scandals unfortunately unfolding in my country as we speak. But regardless of these concrete events, the fact that the urban question, with its diverse outlines is on the radar of the political class takes these disciplines  to a new level, not only academically or consultatively but  also with a strong popular appeal,. The population can and should fight for this realization, not only of these but any electoral promises.