Correspondence: Sonya Hanna, Bangor Business School, Bangor University, Hen Goleg, College Road, Bangor, Gwynedd Wales, LL57 2DG, UK. Tel: +44 07748 103932; e-mail: abp405@bangor.ac.uk/sonyahanna80@hotmail.com

¹is a PhD candidate at Bangor Business School. She holds an MBA in General Management.

²is Professor of Information and Communications at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was previously Professor of Marketing and Information Management at Bangor University.

Received 10 September 2007; Revised 10 September 2007.

Abstract

The inception of place branding evolved from research within various fields including place image and marketing. The literature reports on studies focusing on the application of the branding concept to various geographical entities ranging from countries to towns and the challenges of branding the multidimensional construct 'place' especially in relation to stakeholder engagement. There seems to be a recognisable gap in the literature regarding the application of the term 'place' and its associated vocabulary: location, country, nation, city and region. While a 'destination' indicated tourism only, there is no agreed language for the holistic or all encompassing brand. This exploratory research attempts to identify the application of the term 'place' and it associated vocabulary. The application of place brand terms was examined by discipline and in relation to geographical entities using the sample population of place-branding case-study research. Content analysis was used to elicit place brand terms and geographical entities within various articles published in various disciplines. The data were analysed using the chi-square test for independence. The content analysis affirmed that the focus of place branding has shifted from the discipline of tourism to branding and business. The research also affirmed that a 'destination' indicates tourism only, articulated in various geographical entity forms, while the absence of 'town' as a possible place brand term became apparent as did the lack of case-study research relating to towns; countries and cities commanded the majority share of the case-study research. The results of the study depict the application of place brand terms in a generic manner from which guidance for the specific application of place terms may provide future consensus either implicitly or through the formation of distinctive place term definitions.