Strengthening Brand America’s Reputation Through Cooperation

Abstract

Place branding is concerned with managing the reputation of cities, states, regions and nations. More specifically, it intends to build name awareness; a distinctive, believable, authentic, meaningful, memorable and co-created image; as well as loyalty among (potential) tourists, investors, traders, expatriates and the like. In addition, Govers and Go (2009) state that place branding departs from the identity of place and is hence supply driven, in contrast to marketing, which, as is well known, should be demand driven. Ultimately, when the analysis of identity and image is completed, and the choices for brand values and intended image are made, it is wise to think about how this ‘corporate place brand’ will be accessible and communicable to the various target groups. However, it is a mistake to start a branding process by looking at customer needs and wants. Govers (2010) argues (see www.placebrandz.com) that there are three reasons why it is not wise to take a marketing approach to place branding.