Using Service Dominant Logic (SDL) to place marketing research, this paper conceptualizes and empirically tests the triadic relationship of place branding, souvenir branding, and consumers‟ perceptions of souvenir brands. We propose place branding to be the dominant strategy that encompasses destination product branding and brand personalities of such brands.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how social media and user-generated content (UGC) foster consumer engagement through the development of a good city image. Special emphasis is placed on the attitudes of potential visitors, how these attitudes affect a city’s image, and the perceived social distance between users and the authors of social media content. The study adopts a 2 x 2 experimental design in which high/low green image and high/low social distance are examined. The results suggest that a green city image has a significant effect on potential visitors’ attitude towards cities. Moreover, this study found that the effects of social media content varies according to the perceived social distance between the author of the post and potential visitors.

Place branding and city branding are multi-disciplinary rapidly growing research domains (Brown & Campelo, 2014; Kavaratzis & Hatch, 2013; Kavaratzis & Ashworth, 2008; Lucarelli & Berg, 2011). However, there are problems with the lack of conceptualization and theoretical shortcomings in this field (Kavaratzis, 2004; Parkerson & Saunders, 2005; Skinner, 2008). In order to fill these gaps this paper introduces a novel approach towards place branding and social responsibility of the city. In the present paper the brand attitude to living in the city (Merrilees, Miller, & Herington, 2012, 2013) is explained by four other concepts: 1) social responsibility of the city, 2) contribution of the city to the metropolitan area, 3) city brand identification, and 4) city reputation. These concepts are based on previous research in the fields of marketing and management and adapted to the context of the study. Social responsibility of the city has its background in the concept of corporate social responsibility (He & Li, 2010; Marin, Ruiz, & Rubio, 2008), which is a driver of brand loyalty (Marin et al., 2008), and brand value (Melo & Galan, 2011). The concepts of city brand identification and city reputation have been developed using the research on brand identification (Lam, Ahearne, Mullins, Hayati, & Schillewaert, 2013; Mael & Ashforth, 1992) and corporate reputation (Lai, Chiu, Yang, & Pai, 2010; Wang, Kandampully, Lo, & Shi, 2006). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the theoretical model with a data (N=400) on consumers' attitudes towards the city of Helsinki. The results of the model show that Social responsibility of the city has a very strong impact on City brand identification. Likewise, Contribution of the city to the metropolitan area has a very strong impact on City reputation. Moreover, City brand identification has a strong impact on Brand attitude to living in the city. Finally, the model demonstrates that City reputation has a very strong impact on Brand attitude to living in the city. Overall, the results show that both social responsibility of the city and contribution to the metropolitan area are strong drivers of city brand identification and city reputation. Moreover, the evidence shows that these are drivers of brand attitude to living in the city. This evidence is important as it develops and links the concepts of social responsibility and contribution to the metropolitan area to the concept of brand attitude to living in the city.

본 연구의 목적은 도시 재생을 위한 플레이스 브랜딩 구축으로 도시 활성화를 위해 차별화된 플레이스 브랜드 개발 방법을 모색하는 것이다. 이를 위해 성공사례를 토대로 각 도시마다 지니고 있는 문화상징요소를 파악하는 것이 필요함 을 제안하는 것이다. 도시 재생은 쇠퇴하고 낙후된 구도시의 부정적인 이미지를 없애고 문화적, 사회적, 경제적 재활성화 를 추진하는 사업이다. 도시재생이라는 도시발전 전략을 통해 이루어진 효율적인 브랜딩 구축은 도시 경쟁력을 확보하 고 방문자와 거주자를 포함한 도시민의 삶의 질을 향상시킬 수 있다. 플레이스 브랜딩이 성공적이기 위해서는 플레이스 브랜딩 전략을 도입하여 이미지를 향상시키는 이미지 구축 과정이 필수적이다. 플레이스의 핵심 가치를 찾아내고 그 가치들을 수요자들의 요구에 부합시킴과 동시에 그 가치를 증대시키 는 적극적인 전략이 요구되며 이러한 이미지 구축 과정에서 문화상징요소의 활용이 필요하다. 플레이스 브랜딩의 가치는 지역의 문화상징요소들의 상징화와 구체화를 통해 경제적 부가가치 창출에 기여하고 지역 및 도시 브랜드의 가치를 향상시키는 중요한 역할을 하고 있다. 지역의 특성을 파악하는 차별화된 플레이스 브랜딩을 구축하기 위해서는 지역의 문화상징요소들을 파악하고 상대적 중요성을 분석하여 선택적으로 개발하는 것이 필요하다. 결과적으로 지역 고유의 역사성, 특수성, 상징성의 문화를 활용 한 플레이스 브랜딩 전략구축이 있어야 한다.