Around the South - Spring 2026 | Southern Business and D7evelo
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"...not all strengths and assets of a city or region are relevant, and the challenge of place marketing is to select the few that can have the greatest impact on the future success of the investment or business one wants to attract." - Mats Segerström, Future Place Leadership,
A place brand cannot be achieved by messaging and promotion, but rather through deliberate policies and behavior carried out over time.
Places are judged by what they do, not what they say about themselves. There is absolutely no correlation, and never has been, between a country’s image and the amount it spends on marketing, PR or “branding”. - Simon Anholt
The challenges of measuring place branding success are neatly summarized here by the The Place Brand Observer buff.ly/2QlIpmK
Communities with a corporate HQ attraction strategy may need to rethink.
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Place Marketing retweeted
While unique in approach, publicity stunts like this rank low in effectiveness. It will have zero bearing on an investment decision and while offering a temporary media spotlight (mostly local, not among intended targets) they do little in moving the needle on place brand/image.
While unique in approach, publicity stunts like this rank low in effectiveness. It will have zero bearing on an investment decision and while offering a temporary media spotlight (mostly local, not among intended targets) they do little in moving the needle on place brand/image.
A nice summary from @bloomconsult that applies to regions and cities, too. buff.ly/2yn9bVX
Forbes found that our world contains 455 metropolises, 3,000 large cities, 2.7 million small cities and towns, and too many districts, boroughs, suburbs and neighborhoods to count. All of these want a piece of the action, so you better know who you are and what you want.
Great advice for EDOs from Marketplace member and location advisor extraordinaire Didi Caldwell of @glsconsults
buff.ly/3e6RQB9
Place marketers: Here is a Forbes article that offers some great tips relating to your talent attraction and retention efforts.
Well done Gary Tonjes. COngrats and best wishes! @ABQEconDev
Albuquerque Economic Development president to retire krqe.com/news/albuquerque-me…
In a time of prospecting without conferences and trade shows, we can help you continue your outreach to location advisors. buff.ly/2xnMLUm
“No one wants to get a bunch of emails from brands and stores saying what they are doing. It’s spam.”
— Levi Strauss Chief Marketing Officer Jen Sey, in the context of companies sending messages to customers on what they doing in response to the pandemic.
Stop with the cute logos, play up your expertise and take action, advises Kit Yarrow.
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The coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated the effects of overtourism in Venice. Overtourism is the congestion or overcrowding from an excess of tourists, resulting in conflicts with locals. Will communities take steps to maintain the natural environment? buff.ly/2x8T4uR
A new Gartner report suggests that “Brands should prioritize the platforms where consumers are spending the most time for activations and media investment,” Gartner wrote, noting that time online in China rose 20% during life under quarantine.
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