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Stakeholder Participation

Firstly, the findings indicated that the participatory approach, as outlined in the literature review, appeared to be vital for city brands. The participation of stakeholders was already expected to play a role in this study due to the self-evident connection of stakeholder participation and UGC (i.e. users participating in content creation). However, the interviews revealed that stakeholders are even more in focus for city brands than was expected. Accordingly, the model was adjusted to reflect that the aspects and relations exist within the participatory approach – meaning the involvement of stakeholders – to city branding. Each of these relations will be detailed in the following paragraphs.
The first part of the updated model depicts the process of city branding, specifically as it relates to tool of UGC due to the focus of this study. The components seen in the model were extracted from the literature review as well as from the information obtained through the interviews. The arrangement and illustration of relations between the components were then illustrated based on the authors’ interpretations of the data, as in line with the interpretivist angle of this study. Ultimately, the aim of this model was to depict the phenomenon of UGC in place branding by relating the observations from secondary and primary data.
At the top of the model, city identity represents the basis for all city branding activities. By this term, the authors mean the entirety of the city that is being branded. This, on the one hand, includes the people who are involved in shaping the city by living, visiting or doing business there; in other words, the stakeholders. And, on the other hand, the city identity is also supposed to include all other aspects of the city – as for instance sights, architecture, events, culture and other traits that influence the makeup of an urban area. Relating it to marketing, city identity is meant to reflect the “product” that is being branded. As from the interviews, for instance, there was a case (i.e. Rio de Janeiro) in which elements of the city identity were already broadly known around the world (e.g. Christ the Redeemer), but it was not related to a direct branding effort – since the city stated to be only in an initial phase of its city brand project. In general, therefore, the identity of a place, or city in this case, essentially arises from the three factors that were underlined in the literature review, as in the definition of place by Gieryn (2000): geographic location, material form and invested values and meaning.
In the model, the city identity is connected to the brand identity. The difference between the two is that the former, as mentioned, is meant to represent the city in its entirety with all the potential traits and perceptions while the brand identity is specifically created by place brand marketers to serve aims like attraction of tourism. Illustrating the difference with the example of one of the participating cities in this study, the city identity would be the South African city Cape Town, while the brand “Love Cape Town” and all meaning attached to it by the marketers would be the brand identity. Based on the findings of this paper, it appears that the aforementioned connection takes place via two routes, titled by the authors as the passive route and the active route.
The passive route, represented in the model by the dotted line, means to express that the city identity – everything that a city has to offer – inevitably influences the brand identity, even when not directly intended to do so. Especially the stakeholders, as became obvious from the interviews, play a vital role in shaping the city’s brand identity. The passive route illustrates that a city will always create a perception of itself, whether marketers actively try to shape the identity or not. This relates back to the definition of places by Gieryn (2000), specifically that places are being invested with meaning and value, for example by the citizens. Furthermore, the passive route affirms the assessment of Hankinson (2004) that cities have a high “product” complexity. Vice versa, it was determined, the brand identity will also have an effect on the city identity. This would be the case whenever parts of the image and identity created by city marketers are adopted and become part of the city. This can potentially take many different shapes and forms, one might think about how city brand logos or other designs can be integrated into the city’s landscape, for example through architecture, art installations or the general presence of these brand designs throughout the city.
More interesting from the marketing point of view and for the purpose of this paper – which is exploring the use of UGC in place branding – is the active route (bold lines). In the context of the participatory approach, the stakeholders, as part of the city identity, are particularly important and take a direct path to contribute in the branding of cities. They are, as the findings showed, a key part in building the city branding strategy, which then is implemented to create the brand identity. What is meant by the active route was illustrated clearly by Singapore, for instance. The city brand draws on traits of Singapore’s citizens – stakeholders – to create the city’s brand identity. Another example would be when parts of the city, such as landmarks or specific attractions, are integrated into brand logo or other city brand communication materials.
In the focus of this study, as well as at the core of the updated model, is UGC. The findings showed how content provided by users – city stakeholders (e.g. residents or visitors) – is integral and perceived as beneficial by all interviewed city brands, confirming previous findings of Andéhn et al. (2014) or Zhou and Wang (2014). It therefore follows that, in the model, stakeholders are connected to UGC, since this group provides the content. UGC itself is part of the toolbox available to city brand marketers who rely on dialogue-based communication, which creates the connection to the city branding strategy. Essentially, this expresses the findings that city brand marketers incorporate UGC in their city branding strategy to ultimately create and communicate the brand identity. The light grey line connecting UGC to the city brand identity aims to reflect the findings that UGC – whether featured on official brand channels or not – always may affect a brand identity. The enormous quantity of UGC, uncontrollably, has some impact on how the city’s brand is perceived.
In essence, the interviews confirmed the view of Braun et. al., (2013); Hankinson, (2004); Kavaratzis and Kalandides, (2015); and Andéhn et. al., (2014) in the place branding literature that the participatory approach to place branding is viable for city brands, among the interviewees it appeared to be of most importance. This has to do with people being an integral part of what makes a city; the “product” that is to be branded. UGC is then embraced as a way to facilitate essential dialogue-based communication, which is the preferred choice of city brands for building the brand identity, according to the obtained data. This means that UGC becomes a mediating force utilized by place brand marketers to extract the essence of the city identity and piece together a coherent city brand identity – based on the stakeholders and other intrinsic features of the city. It therefore arises that identity in the city branding context, as discussed by authors like Kavaratzis and Hatch (2013), is tightly connected to the tool discussed in this paper, UGC.

READ Solidification, Grain Refinement, and Isomorphic Self Inoculation

1. Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Problem Discussion
1.3 Purpose
1.4 Research Questions
1.5 Delimitations
2. Literature Review
2.1 Place Branding: An Introduction
2.2 Place Branding: Concepts and Practices
2.3 Marketing Communication and Social Media
2.4 User-Generated Content
2.5 Adverse Features of UGC
2.5.1 Ownership
2.5.2 Control
2.5.3 Credibility
2.5.4 Motivation
2.6 Preliminary Framework: UGC in Place Branding
3. Methodology
3.1 Research Process
3.2 Research Philosophy
3.3 Research Approach
3.4 Research Design and Strategy
3.5 Selection of Interviewees
3.6 Contacting City Brands
3.7 Sample
3.8 Data Collection 2
3.9 Data Analysis
3.10 Limitations on Method
4. Empirical Findings
4.1 Place Branding
4.1.1 Aims of Branding a City
4.2 Participation of Stakeholders
4.2.1 Residents
4.2.2 Visitors
4.2.3 Local Business & The Tourism Industry
4.3 Communication Strategy
4.4 UGC as a Tool
4.4.1 Application of UGC
4.5 UGC in Place Branding
4.5.1 Control
4.5.2 Credibility
4.5.3 Motivation
4.5.4 Features
5. Analysis of Findings
5.1 Part 1: Stakeholder Participation
5.2 Part 2: Potential Issues
5.3 Final Model Presentation
6. Conclusion & Discussion
6.1 Purpose and Research Questions
6.2 Managerial Implications
6.3 Further Implications
6.4 Directions for Further Research
References
Appendices