The Place Brand Academy is the world’s first training academy dedicated solely to career development and capacity building in place branding.

The three founders offer a unique mix of practical and academic experience, which has been applied to a pedagogical framework for clear and effective skills development. Our mission is to empower professionals in Place & City Branding.

Until now, there has been no CPD-accredited or equivalent scheme in the field of place branding. The Place Brand Academy seeks to remedy this and offer professionals an academically informed, experience-led, and comprehensive training for professionals globally.

Why a Place Brand Academy?

If you’re reading TPBO, you already understand the power of Place Branding. In a world where places compete globally, it can mean the difference between being overlooked or standing out.

A strong place brand builds identity, fosters civic pride, and helps position countries, regions, or cities as attractive to investors, visitors, and residents. It shapes public perception and supports sustainable development.

But no matter how solid your strategy or stakeholder buy-in, without long-term implementation, that effort can quickly fade—like water through sand.

Which is why we launched our flagship course Place Branding Essentials: to help those tasked with implementing the strategy, to enable them to do so with direction, knowledge and confidence.

It will answer questions such as:

• How can you plan the funding to execute your Place Brand Strategy?
• How do you ensure sustained engagement of your key stakeholders?
• How do you make sure your activities align with your brand promise?
• And how on earth can you track what’s working and what isn’t?

The good news is you’re not in this alone, and others have faced these issues before. The “know how” behind the “how to” and practical tips are explored in the PBA Essentials 10 Steps Course.

Tip for Place Brand Leaders: Going through the course as a team can help shape your implementation path.

Personnel in Destination Management Organisations, Destination Marketing Organisations, and Investor Relations already know what Place Branding is and what it can deliver. Many are leading — or part of — teams tasked with that delivery.

• We want team leaders to know they can upskill their teams.
• We want team members to feel confident asking for specialist training to help them succeed.

This is an important and rapidly growing field. The people in it are tasked with achieving HUGE goals that impact large populations — often without sufficient training or support. We want to provide both.

If you’d like to learn more about our training offers, explore collaboration opportunities, or discuss a bespoke program for your organisation, we’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to reach out via email: pba@placebrandacademy.com