REGIONAL BRANDING – THE CASE OF LUBELSKIE VOIVODSHIP

Abstract

The paper is dedicated to an aspect of territorial marketing which is called region branding. It focuses on the branding of the lubelskie voivodship. The Lubelskie is clas-sified in the public discourse as one of the „inherently backward” regions in Eastern Poland. As such, it has been subject to discursive stigmatization and institutional dis-crimination. Its case exemplifies processes of orientalism that were triggered in the country after the systemic change and – concerning the regions – reinforced after the institutionalization of new „big” regions in 1999. In the paper, the official strategy of branding Lubelskie is analyzed. The aim is to identify the ways in which the stigma of its „eastern backwardness” is treated in order to produce a new, positive and attractive image of this region to be promoted and sold as its competitive brand