Place brand love and marketing to place consumers as tourists

Purpose – The purposes of this paper are to outline the theoretical context for the study of brand love in the context of places and to report preliminary findings from an extensive study on place brand love. Design/methodology/approach – Three places were chosen for the research: Orlando, Florida; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Las Vegas, Nevada. A study sample of 20 consumers engaged in a variety of methodological techniques including semi-structured consumer interviews, volunteer-employed photography and consumer collage creation. Findings – Thirteen primary themes through which participants articulated their love in respect of the places under study were identified. These can be grouped into four categories: antecedents, relational themes (involving relationships between others, oneself and the place), experiential themes (relating to the experience of being at the place) and outcomes. Originality/value – ‘Brand love’ is an aspect of branding that has not been explored in the context of places, and preliminary results indicate that this may be a useful concept for both academics and practitioners to investigate further.