A free editorial briefing on where place branding is heading in Africa, drawn from TPBO’s Special Edition: Places to Watch — Africa & the Middle East 2025–2026: seventeen nominated nations and cities, and the perspectives of the practitioners, advisors and researchers who put them forward. Rather than ranking them, it reads them across. It explores why governance now carries more brand weight than communication, what actually travels internationally, and the gap between substance and recognition that costs the continent $4.2 billion a year in sovereign debt premium. Written for senior place management, marketing and development professionals.