Using earlier research into models of place branding-management processes, this paper develops a multi-level conceptual model of strategic place brand management designed to support managers in embracing a holistic approach to place brand management. The model identifies the following components for attention and activity: place brand evaluation; brand infrastructure relationships, including infrastructure (regeneration) and stakeholder engagement (management); place brand articulation; and brand communications. The model identifies the influences and action processes between these components, including brand identity and architecture, influencing brand experience. Existing place branding models take different perspectives on the branding process -respectively, relationship management, communications, and strategic planning; none of these models are comprehensive and neither are they widely adopted or tested. This paper proposes an integrative model that builds on and subsumes these earlier models and is also grounded in the wider research on branding and place branding concept and processes.

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This article contributes to theory concerning the relationship between the brands associated with a place, through a two-stage mixed method study involving interviews with place brand practitioners and web content analysis. The article, first reports on the challenges associated with managing place brand relationships and, then, discusses various aspects of the brand webs associated with places. On this basis, the article proposes, exemplifies and discusses the Place Brand Web Model. This model, which responds to the complex nature of the relationships between the brands associated with a place, is presented in two instantiations, the DMO perspective, and the more generalised perspective that views brands with associations with a place as contributing to the co-creation of the perceptual entity, THE Place Brand. The model is exemplified and discussed and with reference to a major UK city.Keywords Place branding; brand architecture; brand leadership; stakeholders; place brand web.

This article reports on the use of the card-based game method in semi-structured interviews in three separate research projects. The essence of the method is simple: cards are created with words or images to represent the concepts or terms that are central to the topics in a semi-structured interview; the cards then act as visual cues to facilitate focus and prompt reflection. Of greater interest is the application of the approach in specific contexts, and the benefits that accrue from its application. This research demonstrates that the card game method can be used to provide qualitative validation of theoretical models, and can be applied variously to elicit and explore definitions, priorities, processes, challenges, issues, difficulties, views on the future and critical success factors. The card game method and other innovative techniques that involve the interviewee in activities have the potential to enhance the value of semi-structured interviews.

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