When you’re taking something as complex and multifaceted as a place, how do you identify who you are and the values that are at the core of your DNA? Place brand and marketing leaders share what they consider the essential tenets of delivering a strategy that is firmly rooted in the authentic values of your community.

There’s a saying in marketing: “The riches are in the niches.” It suggests there’s more worth in marketing a specific product or service to a specific audience. Not one size fits all—fit just for them. It’s about resonance. Alphabet's Cathy Kirkpatrick looks into how this applies to place marketing.

New York has its ‘Empire State of Mind’ – what is the Eindhoven equivalent? So in 2021, Eindhoven went in search of a musical tribute to the city through a community project to give local music makers a prominent stage.

Nurturing reputation and coming across as an influential player are both essential objectives for building soft power. But how should nation brands go about growing reputation and influence? Drivers analysis conducted by Brand Finance experts on the Global Soft Power Index data provides the answers.

At City Nation Place UK 2023, it was wonderful to hear how many places are finding new ways to work with their stakeholders, their citizens, and their neighbouring cities and regions. Discover how UK cities, regions, and nations are re-inventing their strategies as we explore the key takeaways from this year's conference.

Investment promotion agencies have a huge role in shaping the future of their place. Instead of chasing growth for growth’s sake, economic development agencies can shape a more resilient and equitable future by targeting the businesses they attract and support. ApexBrasil's Ana Paula L. A. Repezza talked to us about how her team are making a clear commitment to gender parity, as well as steps they’re taking to develop a positive working environment within the organisation.

Prioritising growth in terms of visitor numbers alone means that local residents are likely to lose out. The Travel Foundation's Kelly Galaski explores how destinations can embrace a holistic approach to planning that includes a broader range of key performance indicators to ensure you can make informed decisions for residents and visitors alike.

A place brand is far more than a logo. But at the same time, having a clear, consistent visual identity is a key component to unifying the different facets of our place as one voice. However, it’s also very easy to get wrong. After all, how do you capture something as multidimensionally complex as a city or nation on paper without being reductive? And what can you do to avoid your community critiquing the cost of the re-design?

In June 2023, Brussels launched their new international city brand to address the fragmentation of their international reputation. visit.brussels' Annemie Verschueren explains how they developed and launched a place brand that shows Brussels as perfectly imperfect and how they’re working with residents and stakeholders to tell the story of Brussels with one voice.

If soft power is the ability of a place to influence the behaviour or actions of other actors in the international arena, what role does place branding have in generating and promoting soft power for your place?

Sheffield needed a refreshed brand and narrative to help address their challenges in awareness, reputation and relevance. Discover how the city collaborated across private and public organisations to launch their place brand strategy and why it is that the city has had such success in updating their domestic and international reputation.

If you want to use an event to create a longer-lasting legacy, you have to be strategic. Tampere's Iina Ojala explores how they built on being named hosts of the 2022 IIHG Ice Hockey World Championship to build civic pride and engage the community in their place marketing and branding.

Costa Rica had a particular challenge: to transmit the essence and values of Costa Rica to every corner of the world, through the design of a new biometric passport. Discover how the team brought their nation brand strategy to life in their new passport design.

What can places do to ensure their business attraction strategy strengthens their place brand proposition and delivers longer-tail benefits that extend beyond the event dates themselves? Five of our expert place branding partners shared their insights to help you refine your strategy.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moldova saw thousands of Ukrainian refugees fleeing across their border. As a former Soviet republic, the country was facing a communication crisis. Invest Moldova's Irina Tolstousov explains how they launched the 'Moldova for Peace' campaign and what this means for their citizen engagement and soft power one year on.