Work in progress

: The importance of residents involvement during the implementation of a place brand

Abstract

Place branding is a complex concept. Marketers and other people try to establish new ways of expressing and conducting place brands in towns, cities, municipalities, and other places. The purpose of this thesis concerns how involvement in the place branding process influences the perception of the place brand. The conceptual framework of this thesis was based on previous research regarding place branding, co-creation, place stakeholders and their roles, and resident participation with a particular focus on involvement. The research was based on a qualitative case study guided by the forms of observations, sixteen qualitative questionnaire, and nine interviews. The participants from the observed workshop and interview respondents expressed their standpoints and emotions. These emotions were later on linked to eight different themes which were associated to the three roles of place stakeholders based on previous research. Findings revealed that there are differences in the implementation process and perception of a place brand regarding the level of previous or current involvement with the place brand of Kristianstad. The findings also revealed a new role connected to the previously involved participants. This thesis contributes with insight into how the involvement affects the perception of a place brand and its implementation. This could be useful for municipalities, advertising agencies, organizations that deal with these types of challenges.

Date of Award	2022-Jun
Original language	English
Supervisor	Lisa Källström (Supervisor), Christian Koch (Assessor) & Heléne Tjärnemo (Examiner)