Joining the Place Brand Impact Story Challenge is a great opportunity for cities, regions and countries looking to gain international recognition for their place branding initiatives: and to argue internally for impact, justifying budgets.

Our comprehensive assessment, aligned with the principles of the IPBA Place Branding Manifesto and the UNSDGs, offers a unique opportunity to showcase your place branding achievements and benchmark your efforts against global standards in sustainable and ethical place branding.

The Place Brand Impact Story Challenge is open to a wide array of organizations and entities that play a key role in place branding. This includes:

This inclusive approach ensures that we can capture a diverse range of perspectives and initiatives in place branding, aligned with the UNSDGs, reflecting the multifaceted nature of this field.

A well-crafted story should take the reader on a meaningful journey, showcasing the unique journey of your place branding effort. It should be:

• Compelling: Your story should captivate from the start, keeping readers engaged with a clear narrative that unfolds logically and engagingly.
• Emotionally Resonant: It should strike a chord with readers, making your place's journey relatable and memorable through genuine emotional connections.
• Meaningful: Beyond telling an engaging tale, your story should offer insights and lessons that contribute to the broader discourse on sustainable place branding, encouraging reflection and inspiring action.

March 2024: We made our official announcement and opened the registration form.

Registration Phase (March - September): Our story submission portal will be open during this period, available to anyone eligible who has filled the registration form (this is needed to get access to the story submission form, which you can preview here).

Evaluation Period (October): TPBO Impact Story Advisory Board (the judges) will review and rank eligible submissions. This evaluation will be based on the below set of criteria.

Public Vote for Readers’ Favorite (Opens October): Allowing readers to vote their favorite story for a Readers’ Choice award, through the TPBO LinkedIn page.

TOP Place Brand Impact Stories Announced (November onward): We will officially announce the TOP Place Brand Impact Stories, sharing the news on our website, LinkedIn, and other platforms.

Awards Ceremony (February 2025): Winning stories will be presented and celebrated at a special session during the Global Soft Power Summit in London, late February 2025 (date tbc).

We will also present the 2025 Place Brand Leaders Yearbook at this event, including a selection of Place Brand Impact Stories.

1. Initial Eligibility Check and Submission Process:

When registering for the Place Brand Impact Story Challenge, we ask you to confirm your commitment to responsible place branding by the symbolic action of signing the IPBA Place Branding Manifesto, developed by the academic community of place branding scholars. We consider this step crucial to make sure submitted stories actually represent a place branding initiative.

Once you have submitted the registration form and it has been checked by our team for eligibility, you will receive access to our story submission form. A detailed guide and structured submission form will be provided to facilitate your story submission.

2. Judging and Evaluation:

Our judges (meet them below) evaluate submissions based on a scale from 1 (non-existent) to 10 (outstanding), focusing on five key areas:

1. Completeness of Documentation (20%): Assesses the evidence support for the submission, such as images, web references, and data, showcasing impact on specific UNSDG targets. Scores range from inadequate to comprehensive evidence that convincingly demonstrates significant impact.
2. Originality (20%): Evaluates the uniqueness and innovation of integrating sustainable development challenges within place branding efforts. Scores range from basic innovation to highly original and inventive strategies.
3. Effectiveness (30%): Measures tangible outcomes and benefits of the initiative, including impact on community identity, involvement of multiple actors, and measurable results. Scores range from limited to high effectiveness in solving sustainability challenges.
4. Transferability (20%): Examines the potential for the initiative's strategy to be adapted and applied in other contexts with similar effectiveness. Scores range from limited adaptability to high potential for universal application.
5. Longevity (10%): Considers how well the initiative aligns with and supports the long-term place branding strategy. Scores range from weak to excellent fit in developing and maintaining the place's brand identity, reputation, and core values.

Each aspect is crucial in demonstrating how place branding initiatives can effectively contribute to sustainable development goals, emphasizing the importance of well-documented, original, effective, transferable, and long-term strategies.

We suggest you focus on one or more UNSDGs when preparing your story submission. The following might be particularly relevant (it is also possible to focus on others). Find an overview of all UNSDGs here