Rebranding a “rather strange, definitely unique” city via co-creation with its residents

Ulla Hakala, Arja Lemmetyinen () and Lenita Nieminen
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Ulla Hakala: Turku School of Economics at the University of Turku
Arja Lemmetyinen: Turku School of Economics at the University of Turku
Lenita Nieminen: Turku School of Economics at the University of Turku

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 2020, vol. 16, issue 4, No 4, 316-325

Abstract: Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate how a city can be rebranded as a result of co-creation with its residents, using the city of Pori in Finland as a case example. Residents play a critical role in co-creation as they live the city; it is they who make the place. Indeed, the inclusion of residents is often requested in contemporary place-branding literature (e.g. Giovanardi et al. in: Kavaratzis et al. (eds) Inclusive place branding. Critical perspectives on theory and practice, Routledge, London, 2017). Citing the communication coordinator, the case city has had a brand, but the brand has not been documented; it has had a logo but has not had a brand manual. The administrative functions have acted independently, each implementing its own version of a brand, i.e. the brand has been fragmented. Accordingly, the aim of the co-creation process was to reform and reorganize Pori’s brand - not make a city make-over but develop the city and its brand on strategic level. There are recent articles on the co-creation of a place brand from the bottom-up approach (e.g., Casais and Monteiro in Place Brand Public Dipl 15:229–237, 2019; Hudson et al. in J Vacat Mark 23:365–377, 2017), yet practically no studies on engaging residents in a city’s rebranding process. Overall, scientific articles on rebranding are scarce. This study expands knowledge in both areas by carefully investigating and documenting the co-creative rebranding process from initiation to implementation over a 5-year timeline. For this, various qualitative methods were applied, and various sources of data used, e.g., 100 residents interviewed.

Keywords: Brand co-creation; City branding; Residents; Brand identity; Place rebranding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1057/s41254-020-00173-4

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