Abstract
In recent years, Europe has seen a strong increase in cross-border cooperation. Under different headings, most commonly the Euregion, cross-border partnerships are being set up in all member states of the EU and beyond. This trend is hailed as the regionalization of Europe, or the rise of the region state, and is actively supported by EU initiatives such as INTERREG. A key responsibility of these emerging cross-border regions is the attraction and retention of inhabitants, investors, and visitors, and place branding is a key tool for attaining these goals. An extensive literature has emerged, providing insights on strategies for the branding of cities and regions. At the same time, policy practitioners and branding professionals have developed a wide variety of place branding strategies in cross-border regions. However, few studies have dealt with the specific challenges faced by cross-border branding initiatives. Moreover, the cross-border cooperation literature suggests that besides the commonly assumed entrepreneurial motivations behind place branding, cross-border place branding may in fact be motivated by political reasons instead. This difference may be significant if the motivations behind a place branding initiative impact its design and implementation and hence its outcomes. This chapter explores the extent of cross-border place branding in Europe, as well as differences between cases in terms of the type of cross-border region, the scale of the region, and the scope of the branding initiative in terms of the range of target audiences addressed. Moreover, it proposes a first measure of the outcome of branding initiatives and suggests some possible relations between the characteristics of the cross-border branding initiatives and their outcomes.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Andersson M (2007) Region branding: the case of the Baltic Sea Region. Place Branding Public Dipl 3(2):120–130
Andersson M, Paajanen M (2012) Common or competing products? Towards supra-national branding in BaltMet Promo. J Place Manag Dev 5(1):56–69
Ashworth GJ, Kavaratzis M (2007) Beyond the logo: Brand management for cities. J Brand Manag 16(8):520–531
Berglund E, Olsson K (2010) Rethinking place marketing – a literature review. Paper presented at the 50th European regional science association congress, 19th–23rd August 2010, Jönköping
Braun E (2008) City marketing: towards an integrated approach. ERIM PhD series in research and management, No. 142, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), Rotterdam, http://hdl.handle.net/1765/13694
Braun E (2012) Putting city branding into practice. J Brand Manag 19(4):257–267
Braun E, Kavaratzis M, Zenker S (2013) My city – my brand: the different roles of residents in place branding. J Place Manag Dev 6(1):18–28
Caldwell N, Freire J (2004) The differences between branding a country, a region, and a city: applying the brand box model. J Brand Manag 12(1):50–61
Council of Europe (1995) Manuel de coopération transfrontalière à l’usage des collectivités locales et régionales en Europe. Council of Europe, Strassbourg
Fan Y (2006) Branding the nation: what is being branded? J Vacat Mark 12(1):5–14
Hospers GJ (2006) Borders, bridges and branding: the transformation of the Øresund region into an imagined space. Eur Plan Stud 14(8):1015–1033
Ioannides D, Nielsen P, Billing P (2006) Transboundary collaboration in tourism: the case of the Bothnian Arc. Tour Geogr 8(2):122–442
Jenssen O, Richardsson T (2003) Being on the map: the new iconographies of power over European space. Int Plan Stud 8(1):9–34
Kavaratzis M (2005) Place branding: a review of trends and conceptual models. Mark Rev 5(4):329–342
Kavaratzis M, Ashworth GJ (2005) City branding: an effective assertion of identity or a transitory marketing trick? Tijdschr Econ Soc Geogr 96(5):506–514
Klijn EH, Eshuis J, Braun E (2012) The influence of stakeholder involvement on the effectiveness of place branding. Public Manag Rev 14(4):499–519
Lepik K, Krigul M (2009) Cross-border cooperation institution in building a knowledge cross-border region. Probl Perspect Manag 7(4):33–45
Lucarelli A, Berg PO (2011) City-branding: a state-of-the-art review of the research domain. J Place Manag Dev 4(1):9–27
Nilsson J, Eskilsson L, Ek R (2010) Creating cross-border destinations: interreg programmes and regionalization in the Baltic Sea area. Scand J Hosp Tour 10(2):153–172
Olins W (2002) Branding the nation – the historical context. J Brand Manag 9(4–5):241–248
Perkmann M (2003) Cross-border regions in Europe: significance and drivers of regional cross-border co-operation. Eur Urban Reg Stud 10(2):153–171
Prokkola EK (2007) Cross-border regionalization and tourism development at the Swedish-Finnish border: “destination arctic circle”. Scand J Hosp Tour 7(2):120–138
Van den Berg L, Braun E (1999) Urban competitiveness, marketing and the need for organising capacity. Urban Stud 36(5–6):987–999
Ward SV (1998) Selling places: the marketing and promotion of towns and cities 1850–2000. Spon Press, London
Zenker S (2011) How to catch a city? The concept and measurement of place brands. J Place Manag Dev 4(1):40–52
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Witte, JJ., Braun, E. (2015). Cross-Border Place Branding in Europe. In: Zenker, S., Jacobsen, B. (eds) Inter-Regional Place Branding. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15329-2_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15329-2_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15328-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15329-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)