What about the ‘place’ in place marketing?

This article considers the concept of ‘place’ in the context of place marketing. Following a discussion of the disciplinary antecedents of place marketing/branding, the article evaluates the concept of the ‘place product’, with specific reference to the construction of place narratives. In particular, contrasts are drawn between notions of materiality and realm of meaning as devices for conceptualising places as products to be commodified and marketed. This is illustrated using as a case study, a place marketing initiative in the city of Manchester in the north west of England. The implications of this are analysed in terms of three questions, relating to (1) what is being marketed, (2) who is implementing the place marketing activity and (3) how places are represented as a consequence. The article concludes by arguing that the place product should be regarded as a dynamic concept, composed as much from changing and competing narratives in and over time, as it is from its tangible and material elements.