Images of Place: Is This About Marketing, or Isn’t It?

Abstract

As one ploughs through the ever-increasing quantity of blogs, articles, interviews and academic papers where place ‘branding’ or public diplomacy are discussed — and interestingly enough, more and more of them mention both ideas in the same context — I get a sense that one important message may finally be starting to permeate the community of academics and practitioners: that communications are no substitute for policies, and that altering the image of a country or city may require something a little more substantial than graphic design, advertising or PR campaigns.