Place branding and marketing in France is the focus of upcoming Place Marketing Forum 2016 (9-10 March), hosted by the Institute de Management Public et Gouvernance Territoriale (Regional Attractiveness and Place Marketing Chair) based at Aix-Marseille University.
Under the auspices of Christophe Alaux and Joël Gayet, marketing and branding experts from across the country will come together to discuss latest trends, challenges and opportunities. The event will feature as keynote speakers Juan Carlos Belloso, Mihalis Kavaratzis and Lionel Flasseur.
The Place Brand Observer will share some of the key insights from the conference after the event. In the meantime, here are some thoughts by Christophe Alaux on the country brand of France and the challenges the country’s brand image is currently facing:
Christophe, your thoughts on the country brand of France?
Christophe Alaux: France is a strong place brand with a well established reputation. One of the challenges regarding the image of France as country brand is insufficient awareness that the country’s attractiveness is a capital, whose assets are declining.
For example, if service quality does not meet the expectations of place marketing targets (tourists for example), then obviously they won’t come back.
In my view, France has so many place assets that it does not take sufficient time to manage them, and to create added value for its visitors or investors. Complacency is the drawback of being attractive: in France we shouldn’t forget to manage our reputation and country brand image!
Read the whole interview with Christopher Alaux on place branding & marketing in France.
