Place branding has increasingly established itself as a discipline shaped by long-term thinking, institutional collaboration, and lived experience. By 2024, it has become clear that many places are no longer asking how to promote themselves, but how to rebuild trust, reposition identity, and align brand with real-world transformation. It felt important to capture that moment, which is why the inaugural Place Brand Leaders Yearbook 2024 focuses on places navigating change with clarity, ambition, and purpose.
The Place Brand Leaders Yearbook 2024, published by The Place Brand Observer, brings together cities, regions, and nations that treat reputation as a strategic asset — one closely linked to resilience, economic development, and social cohesion rather than short-term visibility.
What emerges in this edition is a picture of place brand leadership shaped by context: post-crisis recovery, regional innovation, cross-border cooperation, and national positioning in an increasingly complex global environment. Across very different geographies, the featured stories share a commitment to long-term strategy and collaborative governance.
This edition opens with three forewords that frame the conversation from complementary perspectives:
- Dr Robert Govers, Chair of the International Place Branding Association and Senior Partner at Anholt & Co., reflects on the evolving role of place branding in a world marked by disruption and uncertainty.
- Dr Jens Thraenhart, former CEO of Destination Mekong and Barbados Tourism and Founder & CEO of Chameleon Strategies, brings a practitioner’s lens to collaboration, leadership, and system-wide change.
- And David Haigh, Chairman of Brand Finance, offers a global perspective on place-brand performance, value, and measurement.
At the heart of the 2024 Yearbook are five main stories that illustrate distinct pathways to place brand leadership. Christchurch’s rebranding journey following the devastating earthquakes shows how identity can be rebuilt through participation, design, and long-term vision. The Brabant region presents its ‘high tech, high touch’ proposition, linking innovation ecosystems with quality of life, whereas Lublin in Poland highlights its role as innovation powerhouse.
Tasmania demonstrates how a portfolio of coordinated initiatives can create one of the strongest and most coherent place brands in the Asia-Pacific region. New Zealand is explored as a nation of bold innovators, positioning itself confidently on the global stage.
And Destination Mekong offers a powerful example of cross-border collaboration — one river, six countries, and a shared commitment to opportunity.
Together, these stories highlight the breadth of contemporary place branding: from post-crisis recovery and regional economic positioning to national storytelling and international cooperation. They underline that strong place brands are rarely built around a single campaign, but through sustained effort across policy, partnerships, and community engagement.
The printed Yearbook is complemented by a growing body of online content on placebrandobserver.com, where several of the featured places are explored in greater depth through interviews, showcases, and expert commentary. This combination of print and digital allows the stories to continue evolving beyond the publication itself.
Taken as a whole, the 2024 edition captures a field in transition — more strategic, more evidence-informed, and more closely connected to the realities facing places on the ground. It offers a reference point for practitioners seeking to learn from peers navigating similar challenges in different contexts.
With the Place Brand Leaders Yearbook 2024 now published, I invite you to explore the edition through this link.
Over time, we have continued to share selected stories and reflections from this edition through our LinkedIn page, extending the conversation around place-brand leadership and impact. These pieces offer additional insight into the teams behind each initiative and the thinking that shaped their work.
You can reach me at florian@placebrandobserver.com. I welcome your thoughts.
