Page 72 - World Heritage and Tourism Innovation

Carly Stiana Scheffer-Sumampouw et al. Smart City Branding

three economic practices: liberalisation, privatisation unsuccessful, and urban marketing was difficult to
and stabilisation. Furthermore, these technocratic ac- understand conceptually and practically. Traditional
tions are advocated as a solution to cultural and po- marketing cannot provide the correct answer for the
litical problems, presented as the only necessary re- city as a product, how to determine the market for the
sponse to the inevitable forces of globalisation. This city, and how to understand the target consumer for
solution is called neoliberalism when globalisation is the city (Kavaratzis, 2004). A basis for discussing city
presented as an economic problem. branding, a refined perspective on place emerged as
Businesses and corporations “not only” collab- part of a critical discussion of urban entrepreneur-
orate closely with state actors but even acquire a ship through a re-imaging analysis of localities, urban
substantial role in writing laws, determining public transformation and post-industrial development, op-
policies, and setting regulatory frameworks. In this erationally relegated to large-scale physical redevelop-
context, the state engages in a balancing act that must ment, grand events and cultural regeneration (Antti-
strengthen its authority by reducing tax and regula- roiko, 2014).
tory structures to enforce a free market that becomes
a consensus. Adopting public-private partnerships is Destination Branding
one vivid example of this balancing act. In 2004, Hankinson conducted research on destina-
The two main elements above, globalisation and tion branding, which resulted in the category of im-
neoliberalism, organise today’s thinking about na- age attributes related to history, heritage, and culture
tions in different but familiar ways. The representation that could shape the image of a tourism destination
of countries through time has revealed the close rela- brand. Then, in 2005, Wisansing researched desti-
tionship between commerce and culture, morals and nation branding, examining various components of
markets, and national and global. If nation branding destination branding in Malaysia. The results of this
represents business transformation in articulating na- study conclude that all products require a brand to at-
tional identity, then this novelty explains what makes tract customers. In this context, Malaysia has elements
nation branding refer to commercialisation, corpora- that contribute to the success of destination branding:
tisation, or commodification (Aronczyk, 2013). a strong brand, firm commitment and positioning,
marketing capabilities, and unique tourism products.
City Branding In 2006, Peterson researched destination branding, re-
Cities are part of the state, so the commercialisa- sulting in several studies from laboratories, museums,
tion of cities requires a strategy. Cities have always works of art, and culture. This research study concludes
been something of a brand, though not necessarily that a good national brand construction will construct
well-managed. It is still rare for a city to be perceived an excellent social image. A good social image will be
as relevant to its services, production, attributes, repu- created if state and destination brands are properly
tation, visual associations and stories that significant- nurtured. The social image of the state brand is cre-
ly influence the decision to visit. Middleton (2011) ated by building good destinations such as museums,
claims that in a world where cities and regions com- city parks, festivals, tourism events, hotels, good res-
pete aggressively for investment from the public and taurants, public readiness for tourist arrivals, smooth
private sectors, it will consider professionally manag- transportation, and attractive souvenir products. In
ing city branding. Brands in the context of city brand- 2007, Rufaidah researched destination branding, con-
ing are lenses through which information is viewed cluding that a destination brand consists of visual el-
and provide criteria that influence tourist decisions ements, strategic issues, tactical issues, sound, logos,
(Middleton, 2011). and so on, based on the nation’s philosophy, all the
Modern marketing began to spread to local gov- country’s advantages, wealth, and soul. In 2008, Lusi
ernments in the 1970s. However, at that time, its trans- researched destination branding in Surabaya, Indone-
fer from the business sector to the public sector was sia, which concluded several things: First, Sparkling

68 | Proceedings of the 7th UNESCO UNITWIN Conference