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"Nation Branding: Concepts, Issues, Practice provides a theoretical framework, alongside insightful examples from the practice of Nation Branding, in which the principles of brand strategy and management are applied to countries globally. This new edition has been comprehensively updated and its influential original framework modified to reflect the very latest changes the field. It remains an accessible blend of theory and practice rich with international examples and contributions. Updates to this edition: New Academic Perspectives and Practitioner Insights in each chapter. Updated and new cases from a broad range of nations and cultures. Fresh coverage of online branding and social media. New material covering the critical and ethical issues of nation branding, including the limitations. Updated references and sources. Updated online resources, including PowerPoint slides, a test bank, and a glossary. This is an essential introduction to Nation Branding for students of Marketing, Brand Management, Communications, Public and International Relations, as well as policy makers looking for a rigorous yet applied approach"--

The practice of city branding is being adopted by increasing numbers of city authorities around the world and it is having a direct impact on public and private sector practice. This emerging phenomenon is captured with contributions from international place branding experts, in a way that blends a solid theoretical and conceptual underpinning together with relevant real life cases. This is a highly focused, yet broad and comprehensive, city branding text that is strong both in theory and practice.

This article explores the concept of contingent self-definition, whereby place brands employ flexible self-definitional approaches in constructing their place brand architecture. Adopting a view of regions as social constructs, the article builds on and extends previous work on place brand architecture by identifying the underlying factors that drive contingent self-definition decisions. Based on an empirical study of professionals tasked with managing region brands in the Netherlands, 11 factors are identified as drivers of contingent self-definition by place brands. These factors are grouped into four thematic categories: (i) external perceptions, (ii) proximity, (iii) brand relationships, and (iv) politics and power. A dynamic approach to place brand architecture is advocated, foregrounding the amorphous character of regions as social constructs that defy reification solely as fixed territorial-administrative spaces.

This e-book aims to advance the theoretical base of the nation branding domain by providing a forum for the sharing of research findings across multiple dimensions of the nation branding construct. Different perspectives, settings, and methodologies are brought together in order to deepen the intellectual base of the discipline and to share valuable insights into some of the critical issues in contemporary nation branding

Place branding strategies contribute to policy decisions that shape a city. Little research, however, investigates how place marketers influence the decision-making of those higher up in the value chain. Drawing upon Bourdieu's theory of cultural intermediation, we identify where these professionals exhibit influence in a city branding endeavour and what impact they have on policy decisions. We report results of semi-structured interviews with senior place marketers at 13 cities around the world and find that policy decisions are influenced in unofficial, hidden and non-systemic ways, including identifying and working with key stakeholders behind the scenes, playing politics, and applying a promotional lens to policy endeavours. We discuss these findings and their implications on theory and practice.

Purpose
Sectoral brands are umbrella brands created to represent all companies' products belonging to a country's economic industry abroad to enhance their export performance. This study aims to explore the development of a sectoral brand model through the optic of the social constructionist perspective. Besides, this study also proposes to apply the model to a sectoral brand case in the business-to-business market.


Design/methodology/approach
The authors have developed a systematic qualitative literature review to provide a theoretical basis for the attributes chosen to compose the social constructionist sectoral brand management (SCSBM) model. To apply the model, the authors have conducted a series of 17 in-depth semi-structured interviews with the association's managers that constitute the sectoral brand development, the director of the branding consultancy firm and specialists on place branding.


Findings
The authors present the SCSBM model, highlighting that sectoral branding should be seen as a dynamic and continuous process with the integrated participation of all industry stakeholders. Moreover, the authors have applied the model to the Brazil Fashion System brand.


Research limitations/implications
The main contribution to theory is the link between sectoral brand management and the social constructionist approach, being the first study, to the best of the authors' knowledge, to propose this connection. SCSBM model extends previous work on sectoral brands by adopting a social constructionist view.


Practical implications
The SCSBM model might contribute to marketing professionals willing to develop sectoral brands across multiple economic sectors and geographies.


Originality/value
The study's originality lies in developing the first model, which adopts a social constructionist approach to sectoral brands.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report an application of the CETSCALE measuring consumer ethnocentrism for high‐value consumer goods in the emerging markets of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The study examines how regional markings can be thought of as variants of national markings and then goes on to establish a regio‐centric scale, thereby taking up calls for ethnocentrism studies to be conducted across multiple countries that actively trade with one another.Design/methodology/approachThis research is based on an empirical investigation of consumer ethnocentrism (CE) that includes simultaneous manipulation of country‐of‐assembly and region‐based country‐of‐components. The study surveys a sample of 720 car owners equally divided between the three largest automotive markets of ASEAN: Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.FindingsStatistical analysis of this study's empirical results confirms that for the three‐country sample of 720 respondents, this newly derived regional ethnocentrism construct is as relevant as the classic country‐based construct. The research concludes that regional use of campaigns with a (potentially collaborative) Made‐in‐ASEAN theme may reach the target group of regio‐centric consumers.Originality/valueThe study is original in providing a new perspective on the ethnocentrism debate by adding and testing for a regional dimension reflecting realities in the marketplace for a major product category. The study is also one of the few to focus upon the ASEAN region rather than the more commonly studied regions such as Europe or North America.