Place Brand Leaders Yearbook 2026
Spotlighting the people, places, and ideas shaping the art and practice of place branding in 2026.
The 2026 edition brings together leading practitioners, pioneering city and country teams, and the agencies and experts influencing global place branding practice.
Registered with the Swiss National Library, the Yearbook is TPBO's annual benchmark publication — a long-term reference for strategy, leadership, and impact.
A Global Reference for Place Brand Leadership
Each year, the Place Brand Leaders Yearbook presents a curated selection of standout places, strategies, and leadership voices from around the world. The 2026 edition highlights how places navigate reputation, investment, talent, sustainability, and public trust — supported by insights from our expert community and grounded in international comparison.
The Yearbook brings together leading place brand and economic development organisations, cities and regions shaping their global position, agencies advancing new thinking in the field, and expert commentary that sheds light on emerging trends and practical pathways to impact.
Who Is Featured in the 2026 Edition
The 2026 edition opens with greetings from Leen Gysen of VisitFlanders and David Haigh of Brand Finance, our title partner, alongside contributions from academics Magdalena Florek and Joao Freire on where the field is heading. Partner perspectives come from Konrad Jagodzinski (Place Branding Director, Brand Finance) and Shyam Vasudevan of IdeaWorks.
A People to Watch section rounds out the edition, profiling individuals shaping place branding across policy, research and practice in 2026. Get to know them here.
At the heart of the Yearbook is our cover story on Flanders, complemented by showcases from Al Madinah, Barcelona, Canberra, Costa Rica, Gold Coast, Gothenburg, Graubünden, Greater Copenhagen Region, Leeuwarden, Los Ríos, South Africa, South Australia, Sweden and The Bentway — places that demonstrate how strategy, governance and long-term commitment shape reputation.
Spotlight:
Each edition of the Place Brand Leaders Yearbook reflects how places are rethinking what it means to lead. It is a publication that looks ahead with confidence. I am proud that Flanders is part of this story.
Leen Gysen
CEO, Visit FlandersThe Place Brand Leaders Yearbook provides a useful guide to the most important issues in place branding and a forum for governments, businesses, and other key stakeholders to highlight areas of strength and identify opportunities for improvement.
David Haigh
Chairman, Brand FinanceThe Yearbook offers a rare opportunity to see how ideas translate into action across different settings. It is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to understand place branding beyond theory — and helps us find new avenues for research.
Magdalena Florek
IPBA Education DirectorThe Place Brand Leaders Yearbook plays an important role in connecting practitioners and researchers. It does not simply document what is happening. It helps structure the conversations that will shape what we study and practice next.
Joao Freire
Professor of Marketing, IPAMPeople to Watch 2026
Place branding is shaped by people before it is shaped by strategy. The twelve individuals featured in this edition were nominated by the TPBO expert community for one reason: their work is changing how places understand and present themselves.
Among them: a minister turning tourism into a tool for national confidence, a city brand director treating identity as civic infrastructure, and researchers pushing the field toward evidence, governance and long-term impact.
They now join TPBO's Who's Who in Place Branding, a peer-recognised global network of over 500 professionals at the intersection of place, strategy and leadership.
Behind the Edition
The Place Brand Leaders Yearbook 2026 was produced by Dr Florian Kaefer, founder of The Place Brand Observer, together with a small international editorial team. Edition coordination was led by Nafisa M. Sharfi, with editorial contributions from Saskia Ruttkowski, who brought particular focus to the cover story on Flanders and sustainability perspectives throughout the edition.
Brand Finance is the title partner of this edition. Layout and design were developed in collaboration with IdeaWorks. The places, people and ideas featured reflect nominations and perspectives from the wider TPBO expert community. The Yearbook is registered with the Swiss National Library as part of the permanent public record.
Curious about future editions? Write to editor@placebrandobserver.com