Place Branding (PDF)

ROBERT GOVERS is currently serving as Adjunct Associate Professor, holding the Visit Flanders Chair in Tourism Management of the Consortium University of Leuven, Belgium, where he was also Project Manager at the Flemish Center for Tourism Policy Studies. Besides this he is a visiting faculty with The Hotel School The Hague, Rotterdam School of Management, IULM University in Milan, the University of Turin and several institutes in Dubai. He co-authored many publications in the field of place branding and image, tourism, hospitality and quality management. As a project manager, Govers has been involved in many consultancy projects for reputable organizations such as IATA, the European Commission, the Flemish Government and various Dutch ministries and tourism promotion boards, and has taught courses on place branding, marketing, services marketing, strategic services management, and research methods.
www.rgovers.com

FRANK GO is Professor and Director of the Centre for Tourism Management at the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University. Prior to his present post he served within business faculties at universities in Canada and Hong Kong. His research focus is on marketing strategy, destination images& brand identity, ICT and innovation, sustainable business development. He serves as Academic Director of the MSc program - a joint program of RSM/Hotel School The Hague - and is a visiting professor at Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan and the Open University Business School, U.K. Go has also (co) authored more than 125 articles, official reports and book chapters in which most of his writing has focused on the need to integrate technological, market and organizational change in travel, destination and hospitality contexts to improve the effectiveness of organizations.

'This book makes a very useful addition to the rather scarce literature on the subject. What I always look for, and what I'm particularly gratified to find in this book, is a prominent acknowledgement of the 'deeds not words' school of thought which I devote most of my energies to communicating.' - Simon Anholt, Government Advisor; Author of the Anholt Nation Brands Index and Competitive Identity (Palgrave); Member of the UK Foreign Office's Public Diplomacy Board

'Robert Govers and Frank Go's new book brings a new level of intellectual rigour to the often misunderstood subject of place branding.' - Nicholas Ind, Managing Partner of Equilibrium Consulting; Author of Living the Brand (Kogan Page) and Branding Governance (Wiley)

'This book is a valuable addition to current thinking on the subject of place branding. It offers fresh insights and perspectives. I thoroughly recommend it for practioners and students of place marketing' Roger Pride, Marketing Director of Visit Wales and co-author of Destination Branding, Creating the Unique Destination Proposition (Elsevier)

'I truly appreciate this book's attempt to approach the practice of place branding from an (applied-) academic perspective.' - Sicco van Gelder, Founder of Placebrands and author of Global Brand Strategy-Unlocking Branding Potential Across Countries, Cultures and Markets (Kogan Page).

'The reader will likely find the book to be an intellectually stimulating experience; as noted previously, the depth of research and efforts to validate the claims put forward by the authors make the book enlightening and fascinating.' Elsa Wilkin-Armbrister, Annals of Tourism Research