This book integrates new thinking on the image, marketing, and branding of places at all levels, from town squares to cities and countries, and of the products and peoples associated with them, thereby bridging the ‘country’ and ‘place’ silos in place-related research and practice. Insightful contributions from top scholars reflect fresh theorizing and provide a critical appraisal of conventional wisdom by juxtaposing intriguing contexts, questioning commonplace practices, and challenging methodologies and theoretical assumptions.

2020 has clearly been the year in which most people on this planet, most organisations, most economic sectors, most government agencies, had to reassess their priorities. Who and what contributes most to life; the economy; society? This opinion piece ponders the question of how place branding will be judged and where it might go in the coming years.

Usually, a country brand is not focused, resulting in unsuccessful place branding. It is possible to successfully raise your national identity to the level of an attractive brand. Building a country brand is an investment, with strong positive returns. This book will guide you along the path to building a successful brand.

As part of an emerging literature on place branding, this book fills the important gap between practice-oriented literature—which lacks in-depth and critical analysis—and technical academic literature—which tends to miss down-to-earth practitioners' concerns and to overlook policy and political contexts. Providing frameworks and knowledge on how to practice place branding effectively, this book anchors place-branding practices in a solid analytical framework. It presents place-branding practices through the lenses of public sector marketing, strategic management, and governance processes and structures, as well as communication tools. Marketing a place is more than creating a logo and a motto; this book presents the key strategic aspects to be considered when promoting a place. Readers will gain knowledge about the most important features of place promotion: the development of brands and marketing campaigns in the public sector, the establishment of dedicated politico-administrative structures, and the increasing involvement of various stakeholders that play a central role as place promoters. This book will be a valuable resource for researchers and postgraduate students across place branding, marketing and management, and urban studies, as well as public management, administration, and policy. The practical conclusions discussed in the book will also appeal to practitioners, business consultants, and people working in public administration and politics.

'The volume edited by Andy Pike includes contributions by several leading figures in the study of brands, places and place branding. . . However, this is not what makes the book a welcome addition to the literature. What really makes the book interesting is actually the brave attempt to deal with an intrinsically difficult topic, one that is rarely – if ever – explored: the relationship between brands and branding with the places in and around which these operate. Several facets of this relationship are explored in the book. . . The book is introduced nicely by Andy Pike in a chapter that sets the scene and clarifies the intentions of the book. . . I am glad the first book to handle these issues is on my shelves.' – Mihalis Kavaratzis, Regional Studies 'An incomparably rich trove of work on the multifarious and contradictory "entanglements" between space, place, and brand. The volume helps us understand how and why "places of origin" play an ever greater role in the marketing of commodities, even while corporations continue to seek "placelessness" in pursuit of the bottom line. And it illuminates how and why entrepreneurial governments seeking to enhance global competitiveness increasingly turn to place branding – at the neighborhood, urban, and national scale – even while launching rounds of restructuring that undercut the authenticity and viability of local identities. A valuable and accessible contribution to the urban studies and cultural studies literature.' – Miriam Greenberg, University of California, Santa Cruz, US 'An important effort to pull together multidisciplinary research on the spatial dimensions of brands and branding in an international context.' – John A. Quelch, Harvard Business School, US Despite overstated claims of their 'global' homogeneity, ubiquity and contribution to 'flattening' spatial differences, the geographies of brands and branding actually do matter. This vibrant collection provides a comprehensive reference point for the emergent area of brand and branding geographies in a multi-disciplinary and international context. The eminent contributors, leaders in their respective fields, present critical reflections and synthesis of a range of conceptual and theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches, incorporating market research, oral history, discourse and visual analyses. They reflect upon the politics and limits of brand and branding geographies and map out future research directions. The book will prove a fascinating and illuminating read for academics, researchers, students, practitioners and policy-makers focusing on the spatial dimensions of brands and branding.

Various phenomena in the global economy, such as intensifying firm internationalization and international sourcing resulting in a growing number of hybrid products, raise the question of whether the country-of-origin (COO) and the country-of-origin effect (COE) still matter in contemporary international business. This book points out various aspects of COO, its dimensions and COE that remain significant challenges for consumers, companies and brands not only from emerging and developing countries but also from developed ones. This edited book offers a multifaceted approach to COO and COE. It explores COO communication/neutralization, economic and legal issues, as well as semiotic and anthropological aspects of COO communication in advertising. The book also discusses the impact of COO on consumer behaviour, including in the luxury goods market, and the role of consumer ethnocentrism. It takes a novel, interdisciplinary approach to the field, covering various aspects of the COO, its implications for international business, further theoretical developments within this phenomenon and empirical evidence delivered by scholars representing different fields of science. This book is addressed predominantly to the academic community – academics, scholars and upper-level students – in international marketing, international business and consumer behaviour.