TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL FOR BRANDING NEW CITIES
Abstract
Recently, the competition between cities worldwide has been raging while attempting to attract domestic and international investment, residents and visitors. Consequently, governments resorted to City Branding (CB) approach either to create or develop competitive identities for their cities. Since then, an abundance of literature on city branding is being produced by academics. Yet, it appears that the branding new cities has received lesser or no attention in the city branding literature. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to develop a comprehensive model for branding new cities. This model is based on the analysis of 20 models and frameworks of place, city, and destination developed by academic researchers and practitioners. The proposed model consists of 11 inter-related components that are proved to have a strategic importance in for the success in the development and management of city branding process. Therefore, it provides a wider perspective unlike previous models that tackles the branding process from different perspective. This comprehensive model is addressing professionals and practitioners, government officials to guide and assist their efforts to effectively create and manage brands of new cities.