Place branding : overview of an emerging literature / Keith Dinnie.

There is a small but rapidly growing body of literature pertaining to place branding. Many streams of research have provided input to the creation of knowledge in the domain of place branding. This diversity of sources encompasses many disciplines that rarely, if ever, attract attention in the marketing and branding literature. For example, the fields of sociology, history, national identity, and politics may be regarded as having a potentially important contribution to make to the practice of place branding. Practitioners and academics involved in place branding should therefore be prepared to scan horizons far wider than those associated purely with conventional brand management and brand strategy.
The country-of-origin literature offers valuable insights into the effect on consumer behaviour that the provenance of a product or service can have. However, it has traditionally been beyond the scope of the country-of-origin literature to analyse the historical and cultural dimensions of which nations are constituted. It is this breadth of scope that characterises place branding. This overview of the literature highlights the multifaceted nature of place branding and identifies some of the landmark texts and emerging avenues in the place branding literature.