This article focuses on the ways in which, after its successful bid to host the ‘mega event’ of World Cup 2022, Qatar is branded as a sports tourism destination in the online semioscape and linguascape of sports events. The promotional multimodal digital material that Qatar has already released to launch its ambitious sports-related projects in both its English and Arabic versions is analysed from a critical perspective of multimodal discourse analysis and social semiotics, focusing on image making. This includes the strategic use of symbolic and material markers that construct Qatar as a distinctive destination offering its visitors high quality sports while also being good value for money as it brings the world to its visitors through sports, inter alia. Finally, the argument put forward is that Qatar constructs a politically appealing and distinctive campaign, oscillating between tradition-driven utopia and the remarkably transformed modern landscape of the country.

By addressing two separate branding exercises for Amman, Jordan, we investigate the links between the city’s image and the visual image of its brand. We build on previous research by proposing a theoretical framework that combines city branding, Canter’s theory of place, and Kevin Lynch’s Image of the City. We test this theoretical framework by contrasting the development of Amman’s city brand in 2002 and its rebranding exercise in 2009. We address, firstly, how Amman’s brand(s) and image(s) are linked, and secondly, how the city brand and its image influence and are influenced by the values Ammanis ascribe to their city. We find that while it incorporated intensive promotional campaigns and place-making interventions, the 2002 branding exercise excluded the residents of Amman; the ensuing brand image therefore failed to correspond to the residents’ perceived values of Amman. Conversely, Amman’s 2009 branding exercise aspired for an inclusive process (“inward branding”), which allowed the new brand and its ensuing image to be ‘lived’ by and to ‘enliven’ Ammanis. We thus trace how Amman’s 2009 branding effort achieved more success among residents than the multidimensional branding exercise of 2002 simply by capturing the intricacies between residents’ affective perceptions and the new brand image.

The pervasive managerial logic of branding has established a stable foothold in the context of place management. Yet the question of whether places, such as cities, regions and nations, can be effectively managed using marketing techniques remains elusive, as place brands and company brands have been observed to differ in various ways. A key characteristic of this difference is the possibility of a company brand of being created from scratch and having its associations and characteristics carefully tailored to suit the needs of its authors. While the control of a company brand can easily be lost and its meaning relies on a reading of the brand by anyone receiving its message, the control that can be exerted over which meaning is attributed to a company brand appears almost absolute when compared to a place brand. A place is a brand often long before it is formally branded. A place brand – like a city, region or nation brand – is per definition attached to a system of geographical abstractions in quasi-cartographic form in which each city, region or nation is understood in relation and contrast to other geographical entities. For those who seek to alter perceptions about a place, this presents a challenge, since the role of a place in this system of geographical abstractions constitutes a piece of information more vital than any other in defining the place. Our understanding of places cannot be separated from their scale, and any effort at managing the reputation and meaning of a certain place will be interpreted in an unintended way due to interrelations between these abstract representations. For instance, a particular region is likely to be seen as part of a bigger context – for instance, the nation. Most of the time, the nation is in turn also part of a higher-order place (e.g. the European Union or Africa). Using the example of nation branding for Sudan and Slovenia, one can identify supranational places such as “sub-Saharan Africa” or “Eastern Europe”, carrying their own highly salient and often negative meaning in much of the Western world. We explore how association to a system of place is thought to influence the prospects of branding campaigns and introduce and discuss how reassociation can serve as means of mitigation of negative supranational belongingness. In doing so, we discuss also the challenges of interregional branding in this regard, where perceptions of two (or more) different nations interfere.

Place branding is commonly understood as the application of marketing and commercial ideas, strategies, measurements and logic to the realm of places such as cities, regions and nations. Nevertheless, place branding is also understood as the locus where political activities – imbued with political impact and political effects – appear and affect the soft and hard infrastructures of urban agglomeration and other spatial environments. In this regard, by performing an analysis that helps unpack the multiple characters and impacts of political structures and processes in relation to place branding activities, the present dissertation aims to offer a conceptualization of the political dimension of place branding. By drawing on the critical assessment of the academic literature on place branding and on a series of studies about the branding processes in the region of Romagna and in the Greater Stockholm, the present dissertation further specifies an alternative conceptual framework (i.e. ecological politics) that suggests how place branding should be seen an empirical and theoretical political apparatus that acts, in praxis, based on an emerging, multifaceted and spatio-temporal enfolding of politics. More specifically, the ecological politics of place branding is characterized by four main aspects: the unfolding of a biopolitical ecology around place-branding practices; the ideological appropriation of place-branding processes; the positioning through politicized actions between the interest groups; and finally place-branding as a process of policy-intervention. Finally, on more general level, the present dissertation, by recognizing the political activities and efforts of place branding as crucial elements to be analyzed, makes the case for a more explicit, complex and manifold political analysis of the political dimension of place branding, which allows attention to be given to the impact that branding processes, practices and activities have on cities, regions and nations

NEOM is a Saudi mega-project. It extends over an area of 26,500 km² beside the Red Sea, adjacent to the Egyptian and the Jordanian border. NEOM is short for“new future”: neo is Latin for new and m is the first letter of mustaqbal, Arabic for future. The mega-city was first announced in 2017 by the Saudi Crown. This chapter shows that NEOM, as the Crown Prince’s brainchild, cannot be understood in isolation from his aspirations and argues that NEOM’s place branding is utilised by MBS as a spatial realisation of self-branding and power reaffirmation. Hence, the chapter foregrounds placebranding asapolitical act composed of processes, actors,and narrati vesand tri ggered by its creator’saspirations and local and internationaldynamicsand implies political and socioeconomic consequences. The chapter asserts the importance of broadly approaching place branding as a political act by systematically viewing NEOM’s branding through this lens.

In rentier countries around the Gulf, a paradigm shift is certainly happening. Gulf States resorted to branding strategies which would secure a global recognition for their cities. The paper analyzes the effectiveness of tools used in Doha, the capital city of Qatar to create its own identity within the Gulf States and the rest of the Middle East. The analyzed tools will include City Uniqueness, Quality of Public Spaces, Signature Architecture, Events, Festivals, Cultural Tourism and Facilities. One of the main strategies used in Doha to articulate its brand is enhancing the ability of the city to host global Events, Festivals, and international sports. Competitions and cultural Carnivals. The research illustrates the use of Interesting Architecture, Cultural Facilities, Unique streets, Public parks, City natural and man-made Uniqueness as a City Marketing and Positive Branding Tools. The paper investigates crucial questions including the impact of the digital paradigm on the competitiveness of cities? How to regionally and globally market a city? What are the sustainable and resilient strategies for branding contemporary city? The paper also articulates a model for the case of Doha city banding and marketing which is based on a balanced approach. Such an approach would consider traditional assets including history and heritage. Also, it will include contemporary and innovative assets resulted from the last decade unprecedented investments in the sectors of education, research, culture and knowledge. Hence, the paper suggests a more holistic approach to city branding which would balance between social equity, economic prosperity and ecological integrity.

This paper introduces post-place branding in the context of the post- representationalist turn in marketing research by drawing on Deleuze & Guattari’s (1987) theory of nomadology. By engaging critically with fundamental concepts in the place and destination branding literature, post-place branding offers an alternative perspective to entrenched definitions of subjectivity, place and event experiencing, by effecting a paradigmatic shift from processing monad to nomad, from event as symbolic structure to micro-events, from pre-constituted place to spacing in the process of de- and reterritorializations. Post-place branding is illustrated by re-imagining the brand architectural components of the experiential events of 70000 Tons of Metal and The Boiler Room. The analysis culminates in a metaphorical modeling exercise that draws nomadological guidelines for brandcomms’ message strategy.

1 ABSTRACT As cities worldwide compete to attract human resources and investment, Place Branding has emerged as a key urban development strategy. With the growing importance of tourism as a basis for building and diversifying the economy, Place Branding has played an instrumental role in marking a place as a destination. Creating and promoting the quality of place, lifestyle and availability of opportunities are regarded as critical measures when publicising the competitive advantage of a place. This research examines the nature of the public realm which is shaped primarily by Place Branding forces in the context of the Yas Island development in Abu Dhabi. The Yas Island, which gained international attention as the venue for the Formula One races in 2009 is also home to several notable attractions such as the Yas Waterworld, Yas Ferrari World and Yas Mall with still others in the pipeline. The research attempts to identify emerging public space typologies in branded environments suc...

Alberto Vanolo, City Branding. The Ghostly Politics of Representation in Globalising Cities, Routledge, New York and London, 2017 The file includes cover, table of contents and chapter 1 (manuscript) Book abstract Since the 1990s, city branding has become a key factor in urban development policies. Cities all over the world take specific actions to manipulate the imagery and the perceptions of places, both in the eyes of the inhabitants and in those of potential tourists, investors, users and consumers. City Branding: The Ghostly Politics of Representation in Globalising Cities explores different sides of place branding policies. The construction and the manipulation of urban images triggers a complex politics of representation, modifying the visibility and the invisibility of spaces, subjects, problems and discourses. In this sense, urban branding is not an innocent tool; this book aims to investigate and reflect on the ideas of urban life, the political unconscious, the affective geographies and the imaginaries of power constructed and reproduced through urban branding.