I think that more work and discussion is happening from a theoretical perspective that understands that the branding of a city is quite different from the branding of a product or service. However, I find that most practitioners continue to approach the branding and marketing of cities and communities from the same consumer-centric point of view.

We continue to use the word “branding” because it’s widely valued in business circles. But for most people, “branding” carries the connotation of just creating logos and taglines and, in the case of a city, these actually have very little to do with the identity and success of cities today.

"A logo or a “brand” might be a final outcome in the place branding process, but it’s only one of several deliverables and not the raison d’être for the initiative itself."

I think the field will become increasingly important – whether we continue to call it “place branding” or something else I’m not sure.

The effects of globalization have had a profound economic impact on both developed and developing societies. But while goods and capital can move around the world in the blink of an eye, the mobility of people is still relatively restricted in comparison.

As the global labor market becomes ever more fluid in the years ahead, I believe cities and countries are going to place even more importance on the branding and marketing of place to not only attract, but retain the talent that will increasingly drive progress and prosperity in the future.

The European and the U.S. Place Equity Indices measure the key assets and liabilities that shape the identity of place today, based on our research; the purpose is to measure the overall strength of one city’s “brand” versus another.

While there are numerous indices out there that use core statistics with respect to livability or others that are based on perception of cities using consumer surveys, the Place Equity Index is the first that uses data gathered from social media channels to include a benchmarking of the experiential quality of one city to the next by analyzing the millions of ratings and reviews produced by both locals and visitors.

We’re using this research in our own consulting engagements and hope others will want to access the database we are building to produce customized reports that benchmark their city versus their competitive set.

We always tell people that the overall rankings are relatively unimportant – what is important is using the data to better understand and measure what makes your city unique or different from your specific competitive set.

It’s no surprise that the largest cities like New York and London come out on top overall in our analysis. But there are many smaller cities such as Portland, Oregon that vastly outperform other cities their size. Understanding the polices and initiatives these cities have used to build their Place Equity and how they have been able to develop such a strong competitive identity are great learning tools for city and destination managers.

If I had to boil our brand equity work down to one general conclusion, it’s that the “software” of the city in terms of arts, culture, entertainment and recreation is becoming more important than the hardware of the city, as these are the things that are the strongest attractions for Millennials when considering a city to visit or live.

Absolutely. As the influence and reach of traditional media declines, Destination Marketing Organizations have less and less control over the messaging and identity of their destination. However, they have a tremendous opportunity, and responsibility, to focus on the management of that identity by helping communicate with and curate the guest’s experience within their destination – both through new product and experience development and via the management of social media channels and other forms of in-destination digital communications.

I think the biggest issue for destination marketers and branders continues to be figuring out a way to justify the return on investment to politicians and policy makers.

The equation used to be relatively simple: x media spend = y visitors or investment. It’s no longer that simple.

However, there has been some excellent work done by our friends at Tourism Economics to demonstrate that destination marketing is not only linked to but actually helps stimulate economic growth. It’s work like this that will help educate policymakers as to the value and importance of destination marketing initiatives.