Place branding: are we wasting our time? Report of an AMA special session

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on a special session entitled “Place branding: Are we wasting our time?”, held at the American Marketing Association’s Summer Marketing Educators’ conference in 2014.

Design/methodology/approach

The report details the outcome of an Oxford-style debate with two opposing teams of two persons – one team supporting and one team opposing the motion. The opening speaker of each team had 10 minutes to put their case across, and the closing speaker had 8 minutes. Teams took to the stand alternately, matching up against each other’s arguments.

Findings

The outcome of the debate points towards a need for place brands to develop as more inclusive and organic entities, in which case it may be best for place practitioners to avoid creating and imposing a place brand and instead help shape it from the views of stakeholder constituencies. This shifts the notion of place branding towards an activity centred on “curation”.

Originality/value

The use of a competitive debating format as a means for exploring academic ideas and concepts in the place management field.

Citation

Medway, D., Swanson, K., Delpy Neirotti, L., Pasquinelli, C. and Zenker, S. (2015), "Place branding: are we wasting our time? Report of an AMA special session", Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 63-68. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-12-2014-0028