Correspondence: Michael Gould, Department for Employment and Learning, Lesley Buildings, 61 Fountain Street, Belfast BT1 5EX, Northern Ireland. Tel: +44 (0)2890 441840 Fax: +44 (0) 2890 441861; e-mail: michael.gould@delni.gov.uk

¹has just returned to live and work in Northern Ireland after four years as the First Secretary and Deputy Director, Northern Ireland Bureau, Washington DC. He is a Chartered Marketer and has a wide range of experience of marketing in the public sector, particularly within the food supply chain and marketing education, and in the private sector in aquaculture management. He has worked throughout the UK and Europe and prior to taking up this diplomatic posting he lived and worked in Sweden.

²is Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Glamorgan's Business School. Her main research interest is the representation of national identity through nation brands, and in particular about the way this can lead to economic regeneration. She has published papers on national branding in Place Branding, the Journal of Brand Management and the International Journal of Applied Marketing.

Received 19 December 2006; Revised 19 December 2006.

Abstract

This study focuses on place branding as a method of promoting a positive image of Northern Ireland as a post conflict society in the United States of America in the absence of an agreed single national identity on which to build. Qualitative methods were used to collect data on the views and opinions of key stakeholders in both Northern Ireland and the USA. The results show that Northern Ireland has adopted a 'Janus' strategy when marketing Northern Ireland internationally, marketing Northern Ireland as 'Irish' in Irish-friendly markets and as 'British' in British-friendly markets.