Two tales of one city: Image versus identity

• Published in: Place branding and public diplomacy Vol. 12; no. 4; pp. 314 - 328
• Main Authors: Peighambari, Kaveh, Sattari, Setayesh, Foster, Tim, Wallström, Åsa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Palgrave Macmillan UK 01.11.2016; Palgrave Macmillan
• Subjects: brand identity; brand image; brand loyalty; brand personality; Business administration; Business and Management; city branding; Corporate Communication/Public Relations; Diplomacy; Företagsekonomi; Industrial Marketing; Industriell marknadsföring; Marketing; Original Article; Personality; place branding; Political Science and International Relations; brand loyalty; place branding; city branding; brand identity; brand personality; brand image
• ISSN: 1751-8040; 1751-8059; 1751-8059
• DOI: 10.1057/pb.2015.25

By applying the concepts of brand personality and attitudinal loyalty of a city as a brand, the objective of this study is to investigate the perceived place brand identity versus image and to empirically examine and compare their relationships with loyalty toward a city as a brand. This is to make a comparison between two groups of internal stakeholders; namely, residents of a city (image) and city officials (identity). The results indicate that there exists a great difference in the components of loyalty between city officials and the residents of the city. The results also reveal that how brand personality of the studied city is perceived varies between the two groups of internal stakeholders evaluated in this study. As the results of this study shift the focus from tourist (external) stakeholder to the internal ones representing two different internal perspectives of a city, they constitute a significant contribution to the process of city brand personality creation. This is of importance since the starting point in communicating the attractiveness of a city to the external stakeholders is how the city is perceived as a brand from its internal stakeholders’ perspectives.