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Places in competition for inward investment increasingly apply place brands to address their target groups, often being unable to adequately establish the effectiveness of this approach. Based on theoretically derived components and structures an empirically validated model – the investor‐based place brand equity model (IPE) – is presented. Using the example of North European creative industries investments in Germany, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate the application of the model in establishing the effectiveness of place brands. This is preformed with the German place brand “Lübeck” as the illustrative case.

Theoretically derived model components and structures to establish the effectiveness of place brands from an investor perspective are tested empirically. This empirical test encompasses primary data from 101 North European creative industries investors in Germany (31 percent of total population).

The effectiveness of place brands in influencing the behaviour of inward investors can be established by identifying and applying suitable place brand attributes and place brand benefits. While place brand attributes assist the operational place brand management, place brand benefits support strategic decisions to be taken by place brand managers.

The model is limited to establish the effectiveness of place brands from the investor's point of view. If this approach can be related to the costs of implementation, the model can be extended to assess the efficiency. Within the context of this research, establishing the effectiveness is considered to be the only reliable approach for the time being since the costs of the place branding activities can usually not be delimited from economic development budgets. The model has not yet been considered for other target groups (e.g. tourists, residents).

So far this area of research has been approached by case studies. Considering this limited research basis, this paper aims at developing a generic approach to identify and validate those components and structures which can increase the effectiveness of place brands from an investor's perspective.

This paper aims to develop a methodological approach to place product analysis that aims to identify the distinctive ideas of places.

The methodology included two stages: first, classifiers of place product uses and technologies were constructed on the basis of the product concept abstraction (Study 1) and then they were used as tools to systematize data about the attributes of city districts and the everyday activities of their residents to further identify product concepts (Study 2).

Product concepts of five Moscow districts were formulated as sets of benefits or district uses (needs satisfied and activities encouraged) offered to residents. The concepts are expressed in terms of typical constructions but reflect the distinctive features and specificities of the districts.

Defining places as product concepts pushes the place product analysis, benefit and lifestyle segmentation forward. Additional place product dimensions and investigated places are advised to improve the reliability of the used classifiers as a tool for documentary research.

The developed analytical procedure is a much-needed supplement to existing techniques used to shape the product strategies of places. Identifying contradictory uses helps make product decisions that are appropriate in concurrently supporting all these uses, including providing spatial differentiation of the place product. The study results are thus useful for the development of city master plans characterized by long planning horizons and a high degree of conceptualization.

The paper proposes a new method for place product analysis that combines the advantages of both standardized and narrative approaches, introducing a convenient way to address the issue of clarity when transforming a variety of place attributes into core place values and eventual place brands.

This chapter examines the phenomena of third places as institutions that provide social interaction outside of home and work. The study explores the different types of third places and the opportunities and challenges offered by each. This is a conceptual paper that examines different conceptualizations of third places using brand examples to highlight the ways in which organizations try to benefit from society's need for a neutral gathering place. The chapter highlights the growth of organizations seeking to benefit from the phenomena of third places and the opportunities for them to profit further. The chapter also highlights the potential for virtual third places to enhance opportunities for increasing brand awareness and sales of products and services at other third places. The chapter identifies ways in which hospitality organizations can capitalize on the public's need for third places. The study moves the discussion beyond the rather limited perspective Oldenburg presented and shows how the needs of a new generation may require more flexibility and excitement than other generations. The study also highlights the ways in which organizations use a combination of third places to their benefit. Third places create opportunities for social interaction and community building and benefit organizations once they position themselves to achieve the status of third places. This chapter compares different conceptualizations of third places and shows the similarities and differences between them. It shows how organizations may position themselves to appeal to different generations seeking a third place.

Business accelerators facilitate new venture creation, and most research on the subject focuses on the performance of accelerated ventures. This paper aims to understand what entrepreneurs value in business accelerators and how this differs for women- and men-led ventures. The authors suggest that venture growth stage may play a mediating role in these relationships.

The authors use the resource-based view perspective to develop models of women- and men-led ventures’ valuation for business accelerator services. They also draw upon a database of 2,000 US entrepreneurs.

The authors found that, compared to men, women entrepreneurs place greater value on knowledge transfer benefits (i.e. business skills education) but lower value on networking benefits offered by accelerators. However, there are no significant differences in the valuations for these services between genders for high-growth ventures. Additionally, compared to men, women leading high-growth ventures place greater value on access to potential investors or funders.

This research serves as a practical guide for accelerator administrators and marketers who seek to adjust their business support offerings based on the value placed for the services by different populations of entrepreneurs.

The authors provide a business accelerator user’s perspective and highlight differences in valuation of accelerator services by women- and men-led ventures at different stages of venture growth.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the place brand building process based on multi-stakeholder perceived value. It contributes to an understanding of how place brands are developed, providing diverse benefits, and proposes a conceptual framework for place brand building and value measurement scales.

The study is based on the place brand Sud de France. Qualitative data from stakeholder interviews is used to investigate the main place brand value dimensions. A survey of consumers from the Languedoc-Roussillon region is conducted to measure consumer place brand values. Quantitative data is analyzed using structural equation modelling.

Results indicate that place brand value is a multiple-perspective and multidimensional construct that includes new measurement scales related to dimensions such as quality of life, a common local identity and local development. Brand identity is not only constructed on place identity, but should also incorporate stakeholder values and provide value to consumers.

For place brand managers, this study provides a methodology that helps identify the main place image and stakeholders values to be integrated into place brand identity construction. The place brand value measurement scales can be used to ensure a permanent match between brand identity and consumption trends.

Literature dealing with place equity has focused mostly on country-of-origin or destination image effects from a non-local consumer or tourist perspective. The originality of this study lies in analyzing the perceived benefits of a regional brand by its local stakeholders, leading to a new brand building framework and value measurement scales.

This study aims to address the research gap about value in the holistic discourse of creative placemaking. It identifies and synthesises the often discounted social and environmental values of creative placemaking along with typically emphasised economic values.

This paper builds upon two research phases; first, a review and extraction of creative placemaking value indicators from relevant current urban, cultural and planning literature; and second, the identification of relevant, practice-based, value indicators through interviews with 23 placemaking experts including practitioners, urban planners, developers and place managers from the two largest cities of NSW, Australia; Sydney and Newcastle.

This study identifies three broad thematics for valuing creative placemaking along with several sub-categories of qualitative and quantitative indicators. These indicators reveal the holistic value of creative placemaking for its key stakeholders, including expert placemakers, designers, building developers, government and community groups. A key conclusion of the research is the need for tools that grasp the interconnected, and at times conflicting, nature of placemaking’s social, economic and environmental outcomes.

While a variety of value indicators exist to understand the need for ongoing resourcing of creative placemaking, stakeholders identified the limitations of current approaches to determine, represent and appraise the value of creative placemaking. The indicators of value proposed in this research consolidate and extend current discourse about the value of creative placemaking specifically. The indicators themselves have profound practical implications for how creative placemaking is conceived, executed and evaluated. Theoretically, the study builds on the deep relationships between values and practice in creative placemaking, as well as critiquing narrow forms of evaluation that entrench economic benefits over other outcomes.

This paper aims to develop a theoretical approach to place market analysis that aims to identify the ways in which specific places are used and to further enable the identification of distinct segments and products.

Typology construction was chosen as the main study method. Eight polar place demand patterns were classified on the abstract level, using a set of binary variables of spatial behaviour (migration, natural growth and settling). Based on this typology, eight abstract places were deductively described. In conjunction with this deductive study, the authors conducted focus groups, and the results showed considerable similarity in the interpretation of the achieved types.

This paper arrives at interdependent typologies of place demand, place product and place use patterns that allow the ways of using specific places to be identified and distinctive segments and products to be distinguished as particular, consistent combinations of the achieved types.

The typologies obtained expand the scope of competitive analysis and planning in framing place marketing. Distinct uses of specific places unambiguously point to the features of certain segments and could thereby enable a lucid marketing strategy.

Empirically driven place market research has not precisely defined the distinct ideas and concepts of investigated places, which might reflect the different segments of the population that have different intentions for the use of these places. This paper offers important insights into product differentiation and market segmentation in the frame of simultaneous product use.

Maintaining human capital in the hotel industry is challenging due to high turnover. Through the implementation of circular economy theory, hotels are finding that human capital retention can be achieved via Quality of Life (QOL) outcomes by providing Corporate Social Resposibility (CSR) initiatives in the employee brand experience that focus on “place” attachment.

The approach is qualitative and three interviews were conducted with professionals from luxury hotels. The results were then compiled for each interview to determine whether QOL outcomes were in fact experienced by the interviewee in their designated hotel company.

Based on the interviews, all three hotels do incorporate CSR initiatives that focus on “place” attachment. Consequently, employees experience QOL outcomes that result in their retention within the hotel company.

An issue that hotels face is employee turnover. However, with experience-driven human capital management, retention can be achieved by ensuring that QOL outcomes are properly incorporated into the employee brand experience. In so doing, hotels can ensure that employees are engaged in their surrounding “place” through CSR initiatives that attach them to the local area.

The main aim of the chapter is to propose a conceptual approach for the creation, exploitation and building of a competitive advantage through which it would be possible to create a unique place from tourism space. In the chapter we present theoretical basement for the issue of competitive advantage at the level of places, its types, factors and approaches for its creating, building and exploiting. In the chapter we specify one main hypothesis and one research question. They are verified through several scientific, statistical and mathematical methods. These methods are used for the evaluation of primary and secondary research results. In the final part of the chapter, a conceptual approach for identification and exploitation of competitive advantage aimed at building unique and competitive places was proposed.

The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to expand the understanding of brand equity for places (e.g. countries, regions or cities) and propose two frameworks to increase its value.

By interviewing international participants, this study was exploratory and interpretative; thematic analysis was performed for a broader understanding about place brand equity.

The Roadmap of Brand Equity is provided by proposing three “pathways” founded on core value drivers as “road signs” (potential influences or main variables of the value of a place brand), which are required to be strategically monitored and aligned to place branding activities to enhance the value of a city, region or country. Value drivers of place brand equity and the roadmap of place brand equity are proposed through the figures.

A natural progression of this study is the investigation of place brand equity by applying statistical procedures for measuring places. Due to specific locations’ (often) unfavorable and threatening reputations worldwide, the key value-drivers (government initiatives, stakeholders' perceptions, residents’ engagement, news media, social media and real data indexes) are noted as influential partakers – either separated or combined – when analyzing their brand equity.

Both proposed archetypes suggest applications for several co-creators involved in public or private places, which can be beneficial for both emerging and non-emerging countries, regions or cities. Furthermore, both may be applied to the analysis of other places (e.g. universities, schools, museums, public squares, airports, hospitals, etc.).

This study may inspire planning and actions for public policies, including private partnerships, government initiatives and practical endeavors.

This is one of the first studies to perform an analysis of brand equity of places under a qualitative approach and to propose strategical frameworks for both research and practice.