Places are fundamentally experiential in nature. This experience is cultivated in the way a place presents the environment, delivers its services and products, facilitates psychological experiences, grows experiences and perception over time, and through all manner of sensory encounters (Allen, 2007). Allen (2007) and Anholt (2005a) argue that, the experience of a place can extend ahead of actual consumption. This before-place experience includes the period during which an intent to consume is formed, and extends to the post-place experience of memory formation, loyalty reinforcement, and word-of- mouth dissemination and communication (Leisen, 2001). The perception of a place formed by potential customers prior to actually engaging in the consuming of the place is of critical importance within the branding process (Allen, 2007; Anholt, 2006). Similar to consumer products and services, formulating predisposition and intent to buy is one of the central drivers of brand investment and decision-making (Allen, 2007). The goal is to create a proposition that compels the customer to buy into the ideas being presented. As Anholt (2006, p. 18) puts it,
48
“All of people’s decisions, whether they are as trivial as buying an everyday product or as important as relocating a company, are partly rational and partly emotional. No human activity is exempt from this rule, and the brand images of cities and countries underpin the emotional part of every decision and strongly affect the rational part too.”
Place branding, therefore, can be seen as the conscious attempt of governments to shape a specifically designed place identity and to promote it to desired markets and consumers (Allen, 2007; Eshuis and Edwards, 2012; Fan, 2005; Stock, 2010). Any consideration, therefore, of the fundamental geographical idea of sense of place must include the deliberate creation of such senses through place branding.
This description of places as an experience draws heavily from the humanist propositions of place, space, and sense of place. The ultimate goal is to develop a strong enough connection with the consumer – potential capital investors, labourers, and industry – that it affects their decision-making process (Anholt, 2006). One of the main goals is to create imagery and narrative that are developed to attract external attention – essentially attempting to improve economic standing at the municipal level through the creation of place and sense of place (Hansen, 2010).
Gregory et al (2009) describe ontology as the attempt to account for what is in the world. Ontologically, the core of place branding are space and place. While place
ultimately becomes the dominant explanation of what comprises the world, understanding of space is a required underpinning. In this regard space provides a context from which the idea of place can spring; or as Tuan (1976) argues, place is explained in the broader frame of space. Tuan (1971) defines space as formless and profane, devoid of any true meaning; contrasted with place, which incarnates the experiences and aspirations of people. Contextually, this space-place relationship can be used to explain the political-
49
economic environment of an increasingly globalized world. As homogenization continues - where cities are increasingly providing similar services and infrastructure, and
improvements in communication and transportation allow increased connectivity – the exceptional becomes the mundane (Scholte, 2005). In this sense, cities still have a location fixating them within space; but meaning and uniqueness are diminished. From the decision-maker trying to find a location for labour, capital, or industry the lack
distinguishable features over space can make it appear formless. Therefore, in the context of economic development, branding becomes important because it provides meaning. Ashworth and Kavaratzis (2007) and Hankinson (2001) argue that branding allows for meaning and association to be developed for a city, differentiating itself from its contemporaries, and ultimately becoming a place within the larger political-economic space.
If ontology explains how branding can allow a place to stand out within a
formless, homogenous space, epistemology explains its creation and why it has meaning to potential consumers (Cloke and Johnston, 2005). While place is framed in the broader context of space, Tuan (2001) argues that it needs to be clarified and understood from the perspectives of those who have given it meaning. This connects with Gregory et al (2009) definition of epistemology, namely defining knowledge and understanding of the world. Therefore, in its most general form, the epistemological element for the study lays within the concept of sense of place (Cloke and Johnston, 2005; Richards, 2009). The
epistemological underpinnings are used by those branding to develop the sense of place. Additionally, the consumer understands and connects with the embedded messages of the brand to create their own meaning and sense of place.
50
In place branding, there are three critical epistemological elements that help explain the creation of a sense of place: phenomenology, existentialism, and idealism. Phenomenology is based on the idea that all knowledge relates to experience; and is the study of how the individual gives meaning to the environment (Relph, 1970; Tuan, 1971). Existentialism is the defining of oneself through the creation of an environment.
Therefore, environments and landscapes can be read as biographies, as representations of a person or city creating themselves. Idealism’s approach in human geography is the attempt to understand the development of earth’s cultural landscapes through discovery of the thought that lies behind them (Gregory et al, 2009). To an idealist, all actions result from rational thought ensuing from a theoretical construct present at the back of the decision-maker’s mind (Guelke, 1974; Harris, 1971). Relating back to branding,
phenomenology helps explain the consumer relationship of the place-brand, as it speaks to how their personal experiences and values affect how they interpret and understand its meaning. Existentialism speaks to the values held by those creating the brand. By
examining the components of the brand being displayed, it can be read like a landscape to identify what values, thoughts, and motivations are held by its creator.