Canberra is the capital city of Australia. But it’s not Australia’s most famous city. To tackle misconceptions about the city, the team at Canberra are unearthing the city’s DNA to position the city in a way that reflects their everyday reality and showcases Canberra’s strengths to a domestic and international audience. Isaac Mizrachi, Senior Director – Marketing for VisitCanberra, caught up with us to outline the strategy and vision for the city, as well as his top tip for other destinations looking to grow awareness of their place.  

Medway in Kent was one of 25 areas in England awarded a share of £3 million to help them set their own standards for design locally. We asked Virginie Giles, Place Manager & Director for We Are Medway CIC, to explain more about the impact placemaking is having on the area, including the importance of bringing Medway’s diverse communities together to deliver positive change.

Shelley Watson, Head of Marketing for Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, spoke with Asbjørn Overgaard Christiansen, CEO at Copenhagen Capacity, to understand Copenhagen’s success at attracting top talent and how Copenhagen’s sustainable values have proven such an asset.

Maria Lypiatska, Head of BRAND UKRAINE and Strategic Communications Advisor for the MFA, outlines how they’re telling Ukraine’s story to the world during a war and shares lessons from crisis communications that hopefully you’ll never need to use.

Talent attraction is the global challenge right now. Katie Ralston Howe, the Director of the Workforce Division at North Dakota Department of Commerce, joined us to explore how they’re engaging their community in a strategy to attract new residents to the state.

Rural destinations are facing a potential renaissance. Idanha-a-Nova's Mayor Armindo Jacinto sat down with us to explain how a clear place brand strategy overturned decades of population decline and positioned the region as a place of opportunity and prosperity.

We've collated insights from our speakers across four of the key themes weaving throughout the conferences: how organisations are re-thinking after the crises of the past few years; collaboration between key stakeholders; quality of life for your residents; and developing a sustainable strategy that will continue to deliver returns.

Since its launch, the GREAT Campaign has created a wealth of world-class place marketing campaigns - but what's the secret to their success? Before Andy Pike, Director of the GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland Campaign, joins us at City Nation Place UK, we caught up with him to understand more about the strategy and vision behind the campaign.

Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia is, coincidentally, shaped like a banana. It’s also a hub for creative and digital industries, and Tourismus NRW e.V. have just launched a new strategy to reposition the region internationally. We caught up with Heike Döll-König, CEO of Tourismus NRW e.V. to discover what the impetus was for the strategy and how they’re moving forwards as a region.

The de Bois report set out 12 recommendations to improve the DMO landscape in England – and the UK government has recently published their response, accepting the majority of Nick de Bois’ recommendations. Ahead of City Nation Place UK, we reached out to Patricia Yates, CEO of VisitBritain/VisitEngland, to understand what the broader impact will be across England following these decisions.