Branding the destination versus the place: The effects of brand complexity and identification for residents and visitors

Abstract

h i g h l i g h t sResidents are an important target group for destination branding, since they, e.g., work as place ambassadors. (Destination) branding often simplifies messages, but this could be not effective for complex brands.Residents have a wider knowledge of the place and could disagree with a simplified brand. For residents, positive place attitude and place behaviour is increased with a higher brand complexity. Positive relationship between brand complexity and place attitude and behaviour is stronger for residents than for tourists. a r t i c l e i n f o b s t r a c tThis article contributes to a broader understanding of how the branding of places affects both residents and tourists. While branding often relies on simplified messages, the effectiveness of such strategies for complex brands remains questionable. Residents in particular possess a confounded knowledge of the place and could disagree with simplified destination brands. To test the role of brand complexity for residents and tourists, we conducted two empirical studies (N ¼ 765; N ¼ 385), showing that, for residents, positive place attitude (i.e., place satisfaction, identification, and attachment) and place behaviour (i.e., positive word-of-mouth) increase with a higher brand complexity. The second study shows that the positive relationship of brand complexity is stronger for residents than for tourists, supporting the conclusion that brand complexity is relevant for place brands, but that the place brand for residents requires more complexity than a destination brand, while it imperative that both are integrative parts of an overall brand.

Influence of perceived city brand image on emotional attachment to the city

“…One practical implication of these findings is that the city authorities should create a sellable city brand by using proper logo, slogan and visuals in its marketing communication 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 Residents as brand community co-creators (Braun et al, 2013) can participate in the city's promotional campaign (Florek, 2011) and thus, residents act as ambassadors for the city (Braun et al, 2013;Zenker et al, 2017). This is of great importance, since residents are not only the most important target audience of city branding, but also the most significant marketers of a city (Kavaratzis, ...…”

“…We argue that an integrated approach is needed to highlight the vital role that the period of residence plays in aligning the possible gaps between 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 Residents as brand community co-creators (Braun et al, 2013) can participate in the city's promotional campaign (Florek, 2011) and thus, residents act as ambassadors for the city (Braun et al, 2013;Zenker et al, 2017). This is of great importance, since residents are not only the most important target audience of city branding, but also the most significant marketers of a city (Kavaratzis, 2004).…”

Local Perception of Impact-Attitudes-Actions towards Tourism Development in the Urlaubsregion Murtal in Austria

“…Subsequent theoretical development has investigated how attitude would influence behaviour differently [9,14,73]. These connections were also relevant to areas such as destination marketing and branding [4,74,75]. Furthermore, research on (pro-)environmental behavior often refers to theories of planned behavior or reasoned action but also highlight the gap between articulating intentions and acting environmental friendly [31,[76][77][78].…”

“…These decision makers have to maximize and manage both the local support for tourism infrastructure and products, as well as a welcoming host population [27]. Across multiple stakeholders in tourist destinations, there can be different and often complex structures of value chain and brand perceptions [74,75]. In attempt to keep the attitude of residents towards tourism development under control, tourism authorities are advised to closely monitor attitudinal changes constantly [114].…”

Brazil’s image and Brazilian personality: a systematic review from the viewpoint of cordiality

“…Finally, country image is understood as being mental representations (Dinnie, 2016) composed of cognitive and emotional elements that people have about a particular country (Roth & Diamantopoulos, 2009). Moreover, this acquired perception can be related to the internal public, that is, the image the internal public has of its own country (Zenker, Braun, & Petersen, 2017) or to the foreign public (Buhmann & Ingenhoff, 2014).…”