Bloom Consulting is proud to present the first part of the global study that aims to develop a common framework for measuring the impact of Nation and Place Branding on a Place’s economy. To carry out the research, Bloom Consulting worked with:

  • Welphi, a research company specializing in the Delphi method, which provided technical support;
  • City Nation Place as partners in recruiting experts for the sample group;
  • an Academic Advisory Board composed of José Fernández-Cavia (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Sara Vinyals-Mirabent (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and Valeriano Piñeiro-Naval (Universidad de Salamanca) for scientific supervision;
  • the insights of 47 Nation, Destination and Place Brand managers from 23 Countries, four Regions, and 20 Cities.
Figure 1: The list of Countries, Regions, and Cities of the study participants/ experts.

Nation Branding is the systematic and coherent management of perceptions surrounding a Country, Nation, or City that is inherent of political and social domains. In other words, Nation Branding, Place Branding, and City Branding pursue not only economic goals but also offer governance tools for developing territories through social, cultural, and environmental policies.

Challenge

While branding as an instrument has become almost a must-have within territory development and governance agendas, conceptual debates about Nation Branding and Place Branding continue to proliferate among academics and Place Brand professionals. Although there is no consensus on how to define Nation Branding and measure its impact, the fact is that we live in a world where Countries are being urged to find new ways to stand out and distinguish themselves in the global race for Talent, Investment, and Tourism attraction. This new reality undeniably calls for a comprehensive measurement tool to help build resilient Nation Brands and Place Brands, and guide policies and actions.

Thus, this study aims to contribute to the dialogue between Nation Branding and Place Branding theory and practice, offering a tool for measuring Nation Branding and Place Branding efforts guided by an interdisciplinary approach. The challenge was to deconstruct the good/bad binary approach to how Nations and Places are perceived, define what elements build these perceptions, and how they can be managed in a way to facilitate Export, Tourism, and Talent and Investment attraction.

This study will be useful for Nation, Region, and City managers, governors, and Nation Brand, Place Brand professionals, while also contributing to the theoretical debates with its distinctive methodology based on collaboration between academics, consultants, and practitioners in Nation Branding and Place Branding.

Objectives of the study

The study has three objectives:

  1. Define what constitutes perceptions.
  2. Understand how much positive perceptions of a Place impact its economic or social performance.
  3. Discover potential correlations between the proactive efforts in managing a Nation Brand or Place Brand and the Nation or Place’s economic performance.

The first report touches upon the first objective – to define a taxonomy of perceptions.

13 Perception Elements that constitute one’s perception of a Country

The first objective of the “Nation and Place Branding Impact on Place Economies” study — to define what constitutes perceptions about Countries and global Cities — allowed establishing a framework for further research. Further reports will address the other objectives — measuring the weight of each Perception Element, and how positive perceptions about a Nation or Country impact its economic or social performance. The Perception Elements, evaluated by means of a five-level scale, serve as a guide to later define the policies required to improve the general perception of a Country, Region, or City. 

Nation brand Taxonomy model
Figure 2: The list of elements that constitute general perception of a Place and approach to measure each of them based on the 5-level scale 1- Extremely negative 2 – Negative 3 – Moderately positive 4 – Positive 5 – Extremely positive

In the Technical report I, you will learn about what constitutes people’s perceptions of Countries and global Cities. Download the report here: Nation and Place Branding Impact on Place Economies: What constitutes perceptions about Countries and Global Cities?