How do internal stakeholders relate with the place brand: the case of Porto and São João da Madeira

Resumo

As the competitiveness of cities declines, residents move away, consumers spend less money and businesses begin to decline or close. The literature refers to the use of branding strategies to reverse this trend. Regardless of their size, cities have been adopting branding strategies to promote themselves, retain citizens, attract new residents and investors, compete for more tourists, get new investments, and job creators. According to the literature, there is a link between branding and multi-stakeholders through internal stakeholders as they are of key importance in the co-creation of place, brand co-creation and its long-term success. The aim of this research is to analyse how the internal stakeholders of two cities with different dimensions, located in Portugal — Porto and S.o Jo.o da Madeira — relate to the territorial brand. These cities were selected because they are recognised for attracting population, business, and tourism. To achieve this objective, an extensive literature review of territorial branding (place branding) management frameworks was carried out. A qualitative case study approach was pursued through 24 interviews with representatives of internal stakeholders conducted in both cities, targeting their most relevant internal stakeholders.The results demonstrate how the adoption of a place branding strategy influences the quality of life in the city, the level of involvement of its internal stakeholders and affects their relationship with local institutions. These results are thus very encouraging to develop further research and give clues to policy makers to adapt the necessary policy measures to meet the interests of cities. This paper contributes to knowledge by reinforcing the significance of the role of internal stakeholders in the territorial branding management process.

Keywords: place branding, internal stakeholders, brand engagement, brand equity, sustainability