The role of local perceptions in the marketing of rural areas

This paper explores the ways that two rural counties are marketed, both as locations for enterprise and for tourist appeal. Secondary data sources and expert interviews provide the basis for a comparison of approaches in each case. To analyse marketing communication from the Cornish and Northumbrian tourism and regional development agencies, the Interaction Model of Communication and principles underpinning Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) are used. The research evaluates the fit of the marketing rhetoric against the perceptions and lived experiences of samples of business owners drawn from each county. A particular focus is apportioned to in-migrant business owners as they have had perceptions of their destination both before and after moving. It is discovered that social factors are highly significant, meaning that place marketers must engage with local communities as well as their external target audiences. This deeper understanding of the ways in which perceptions of place identity and reputation influence decision-making and communication offerings by local marketers, is a valuable insight for the way marketing is undertaken in, and of, rural areas. Beyond marketing, the findings demonstrate the significance of inter-relationships between social and economic influences in the rural economy

The political economy of competing regional images: the case of Tuscany's brands

This essay is based on empirical evidence from the case of Tuscany (Italy) and follows previous work on the role and meaning of image in regional development and innovation policies (Bellini, 2004). Discussions about image and branding policies is usually placed in the framework of "place marketing" and marketing literature helps in defining the features, components and main characters of image and of its relationship with local identity. We suggest, however, that managing images is also a political process with significant impact in supporting and shaping the scenario (perceptions and expectations) for innovation policies. In fact this process implies a competition between images in order to "control" the representation of the past, present and future of an area. This competition aims at influencing the policy agenda by manipulating the gap between image and identity. In other words, we suggest that image-related policies should be considered part of the toolbox of a modern innovation policy.

Cultural capital investment interim impact evaluation

This report provides interim impact evaluation evidence on a major initiative to develop the quality and opportunity of cultural provision in the East Midlands. Eight venues across the region have been supported through an investment totalling £120 million, which include a mix of brand new buildings and bringing new life to existing facilities. This report sets out what the investment has achieved so far and how information on the impact of the venues will be collected in the future

The Instruments of Place Branding: How is it Done?

Place branding is the idea of discovering or creating some uniqueness, which differentiates one place from others in order to gain a competitive brand value. This article is not about the concepts or justifications but about how it is actually done at the local level, especially as part of broader conventional place management policies. Three main local planning instruments are widely used throughout the world in various combination in diverse places, each of which is described and exemplified here. These are first, personality association, where places associate themselves with a named individual, from history, literature, the arts, politics, entertainment, sport or even mythology, in the hope that the necessarily unique qualities of the individual are transferred by association to the place. Secondly, the visual qualities of buildings and urban design is an instrument of place-branding available to local planners. This could include flagship building, signature urban design and even signature districts. Thirdly, event hallmarking is where places organise events, usually cultural or sporting, in order to obtain a wider recognition that they exist but also to establish specific brand associations. Lessons are drawn from practice about the importance of combining these instruments and integrating them into wider planning and management strategies

Mapping intangibilities in creative tourism territories through tangible objects: a methodological approach for developing creative tourism offers

What can people express about their places through the objects that they valorise and link to their territory? Can objects create narratives about a place's identity and collect significant cultural information that locate people in their places? Can such cultural mapping be a useful tool in the design of creative tourist offers? The Project CREATOUR held a series of Idea Laboratories with several entities that provide creative tourism experiences, approaching cultural mapping through objects as a tool for regional actors to discover what is 'so special' about their places, a way to link tourism offers with the community where they take place. These exercise lead participants to remark on the importance and idiosyncrasy of their regions and evidenced the importance of cultural mapping to a more sustainable offer and the overall marketing of destinations. Mapping intangibilities through tangible objects helped to capture what gives meaning to particular places.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia CREATOUR - 16437 COMPETE2020, POR Lisboainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing regional digital competence: Digital futures and strategic planning implications

Understanding strategic decisions aimed at addressing regional economic issues is of increasing interest among scholars and policy makers today. Thus, studies that proffer effective strategies to address digital futures concerns from social and policy perspectives are timely. In light of this, this research uses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis tool to frame a regional strategy for digital futures to enhance place-specific digital connectivity and socio-economic progress. Focus group discussions and a structured questionnaire were conducted to examine a SWOT for a digital economy strategy in the Southern Downs Region in Queensland, Australia. The findings show that while the proposed regional strategies for digital futures are susceptible to internal and external forces, strategic planning makes them manageable. The study’s findings also reveal that adaptive strategic planning can help regulate the effects of internal and external factors that shape individual and organisational responses to digital transformation, and that these factors promote regional competitiveness

Citizens and Institutions as Information Prosumers. The Case Study of Italian Municipalities on Twitter

The aim of this paper is to address changes in public communication following the advent of Internet social networking tools and the emerging web 2.0 technologies which are providing new ways of sharing information and knowledge. In particular public administrations are called upon to reinvent the governance of public affairs and to update the means for interacting with their communities. The paper develops an analysis of the distribution, diffusion and performance of the official profiles on Twitter adopted by the Italian municipalities (comuni) up to November 2013. It aims to identify the patterns of spatial distribution and the drivers of the diffusion of Twitter profiles; the performance of the profiles through an aggregated index, called the Twitter performance index (Twiperindex), which evaluates the profiles' activity with reference to the gravitational areas of the municipalities in order to enable comparisons of the activity of municipalities with different demographic sizes and functional roles. The results show that only a small portion of innovative municipalities have adopted Twitter to enhance e-participation and e-governance and that the drivers of the diffusion seem to be related either to past experiences and existing conditions (i.e. civic networks, digital infrastructures) developed over time or to strong local community awareness. The better performances are achieved mainly by small and medium-sized municipalities. Of course, the phenomenon is very new and fluid, therefore this analysis should be considered as a first step in ongoing research which aims to grasp the dynamics of these new means of public communication