More information coming soon!
See details of the 1st edition:
Duration: 7 working weeks
Format: online
Language: English
Number of hours: 21 hours + 10 hours of self-study
Starting date: March 1, 2022
Head tutor: Martin Boisen
Tutors: Robert Govers, Mihalis Kavaratzis, Magdalena Florek
Guest lecturers: place brand managers from Ghent: Melanie De Vocht; The Hague: Ernst van den Berg, Luuk Helleman; Oslo: Øyvind Såtvedt; and Hamburg
Certificate of completion: yes
Price: 1799 EUR
Registration deadline: February 7, 2022
Max No. of participants: 12
This course is presented in cooperation with European Cities Marketing.
In order to receive more details, please click on the “request details” button below.
See also: Frequently Asked Questions
This course presents state-of-the-art place brand management. It is reflective, critical and above-all honest in presenting what works and what doesn’t. As such, the course is suitable for anyone who works with promotion, marketing, branding and/or management for a city, region, or country. Although the in-depth cases in this edition are European cities, the principles and practice are more than worthwhile for practitioners on all scalar levels as well as public-private partnership managers, politicians, and academics.
The course is built around in-depth case studies, which will be presented to you by speakers who are involved in the place brand management of Oslo (Norway), The Hague (The Netherlands), Ghent (Belgium) and Hamburg (Germany). They will share their personal day-to-day experience on working with place brand management in their respective cities. What have they found to be working? – and what are they (still) struggling with? As such, this is an opportunity to learn from what can be considered best cases, but at the same time, it will be a series of honest and personal reflections on the practice of place brand management. In addition, each course meeting ends with what we call ‘after-talk’. This is meant to be an hour of honest reflection amongst peers, hosted by an expert and moderated by the main tutor.
Participants are expected to understand the basics of place branding and place marketing. Before the course begins, participants will prepare themselves by studying provided materials and reflecting upon a place of their choosing. It may be a place they work(ed) for, the place where they live or any other place. During the course, participants are expected to apply the learning outcomes to a structured assignment centred on that place. This assignment makes sure that the lessons learned are internalised and made as applicable as possible to the participant’s place of choosing. In this way, we really take place brand management from theory to practice. The head tutor will provide feedback on the assignment for the duration of the course.
The course consists of interactive webinars and guest lectures in its entirety. Live participation is highly recommended, but the sessions will also be recorded. Certification will be based on the completion of the assignment. If participants fail to deliver a completed assignment on time, a second opportunity to do so will be offered.
is a geographer who specializes in the marketing and branding of cities and regions as an integral part of urban and regional governance and planning. Martin is the owner of the advisory firm For the Love of Place and co-founding Board Member of The International Place Branding Association. He lives in The Netherlands, from where he has been involved in more than 100 advisory projects. His clients include cities like The Hague, Oslo, York and Ghent, and regions like Amsterdam Metropolitan Region, Provincie of Northern Brabant, the Veluwe and the Wadden Sea area. Martin also contributes as a panel expert to The Place Brand Observer, he’s a chief advisor to European Cities Marketing and has been involved in knowledge-development through UrbAct, Interreg and UNWTO. Next to his advisory work, Martin is a lecturer in Human Geography & Planning at the University of Groningen. He's published a number of influential research articles and book chapters on the topic, is a frequent keynote speaker at international events and a celebrated guest lecturer at several institutions around the world.
see bio >is an independent international adviser, scholar, speaker and author on the reputation of cities, regions and countries. Since 2009 Robert Govers has co-edited and authored four books, including Imaginative Communities, on the topic of community reputation. He has also co-authored over 50 journal articles, book chapters and conference papers and has delivered numerous public speeches and business publications. In addition, he is co-editor of the quarterly journal, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. He has also been an adjunct or visiting scholar at Tsinghua University, Beijing; the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad; the University of Leuven, Belgium; Rotterdam School of Management, the Netherlands; Loughborough University London Campus; IULM University Milano, Italy; and several institutes in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He also teaches place branding on the UNESCO World Heritage at Work Master's programme in Torino, Italy. Robert has held positions in South Africa, the Netherlands, Belgium and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He has been involved in many consultancy projects and advisory boards for reputable organisations such as the International Air Transport Association, the European Commission, the Flemish government and various ministries, tourism promotion boards, and regional and city administrations.
see bio >is Professor of Place Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He holds a PhD on city marketing from the University of Groningen, Netherlands and has taught marketing and tourism related courses in Budapest, Hungary and Leicester. His research focuses on the theory and application of place marketing and place branding. His interests include tourism destination marketing and the study of destination images. Mihalis is also a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Place Management. He has published extensively in various academic journals and he is co-editor of ‘Inclusive Place Branding’ (with M. Giovanardi and M. Lichrou, 2017), ‘Rethinking Place Branding’ (with G. Warnaby and G.J. Ashworth, 2015) and ‘Towards Effective Place Brand Management’ (with G.J. Ashworth, 2010).
see bio >is a former Associate Professor at the Poznan University of Economics and Business in Poland. She is co-founder and Member of the Board of Best Place – the European Place Marketing Institute as well as Senior Fellow at the Institute of Place Management in UK. In 2006/2007 she was a senior lecturer at the Marketing Department, University of Otago in New Zealand. Magdalena is also scholarship holder of the Fulbright Program at Northwestern University and the Kellogg School of Management in USA. She is a member of the Editorial Boards of Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, and Tourism and Hospitality Management. Consultant in brand strategy, city and region promotion. Magdalena is co-author of brand strategies and other related projects for Polish cities and regions. She is an active speaker and member of teams working on many international projects and grants.
see bio >is one of two place brand managers at the City of Ghent (Belgium). In 2019, Ghent developed a place brand strategy in which it distinguishes itself from other cities by a Ghentian way of handling things. The strategy has one main goal: reflecting Ghent’s unique style in all aspects of city life. Using different tools (e.g., brand filter workshops, Value Proposition Canvas workshops), the team focuses on implementing this Ghentian style in the city organization and in every aspect of city life. Melanie obtained a bachelor’s in social work (2007), a master’s degree in Communication Sciences (2009) and finished her PhD in communication sciences at Ghent University in 2014. Her research focused on risk communication about food safety and included an internship at the World Health Organization. Afterwards, Melanie worked as a marketing manager in a small user’s experience company. Since 2016 she works at the City of Ghent. In the first years, she focused on city marketing and strategic communication, and in 2019 she took up the project lead in the development of the place brand strategy of Ghent.
see bio >is one of two place brand managers at the City of Ghent. She implements the brand strategy by organizing brand filter workshops and value proposition workshops. Moreover, she focuses on monitoring and place brand image research of Ghent. After obtaining a master’s degree in communication sciences at Ghent University (2006) and following the post-university training ‘Management and Communication’, Eveline worked for 3 years as Account Manager in top advertising agencies like Duval Guillaume and McCann. She returned to Ghent University in 2010 to study how social marketing campaigns could be improved by focusing on the deep, evolutionary rationality of unhealthy behaviours and obtained her PhD in 2017. After this, she was a guest professor at the Department of Communication Sciences of Ghent University, teaching the courses ‘Marketing communication’ and ‘Social marketing’. In 2018 she started at the City of Ghent focusing on strategic communication and is a full-time place brand manager since 2021.
see bio >is the Strategist and Program Manager of the Department of Communications and Citybranding in The Hague. He works for the municipality of The Hague and has been active in the field of city branding since 2011. He has experienced the entire development from classic city marketing to strategic branding. From late 2020 to early 2022, he worked as an advisor to one of the deputy mayors of The Hague and now works as a strategist for the department of Communications & Citybranding. He is the program manager of the positioning strategy of The Hague. A strategy on city branding that aims to apply brand values across a large number of policy areas. From communication with and about the city to relevant developments that determine the quality of life and attractiveness of the city. Luuk has extensive experience in positioning issues, stakeholder management, reputation management and political processes. Luuk represents The Hague in the Dutch association of city marketing and city branding and also regularly participates in (international) conferences and courses to learn from other cities at home and abroad.
see bio >is the Manager of the Department of Communications and Citybranding in The Hague. He is the first point of contact for the board of Mayor and Aldermen when it comes to the city branding of The Hague. He is also the primary contact for partners in the city. Ernst was one of the founders of what was first the independent Bureau Citybranding, which eventually became part of the Department of Communications & Citybranding. Ernst is now part of the team of 4 managers that directs 140 communication professionals with their daily jobs of communicating with and about The Hague. Ernst has almost 20 years of experience in the field of city branding and has worked on numerous projects. From the communication around major international events, hospitality programs for visitors to recently the local communication approach to the corona crisis. In addition, Ernst has extensive experience with change processes within organizations. From the centralization of the various communication departments within the municipal organization to the introduction of task-oriented solutions to combat compartmentalization.
see bio >is the Managing Director of the Oslo Region Alliance, which consists of the City of Oslo and 64 additional municipalities in the Oslo metropolitan region. The overarching aim of the alliance is to promote the region as a sustainable and competitive region. The alliance works with regional spatial planning, transport, climate and environment as well as business development and branding. Øyvind was a project leader for the development of the Oslo Region Brand Management Strategy, which was developed in partnership with Oslo Business Region. He now coordinates the Oslo Region Alliance’ work to promote the region internationally to attract talent and investments. Øyvind is a political scientist, and a former researcher and private consultant. He also has extensive experience from public management as chief of staff for the Governing Mayor of Oslo for eight years. The Oslo Region Alliance is a small organization in terms of staff and relies on a close collaboration with other partners such as Oslo Business Region, VisitOSLO, business clusters and other organisations and stakeholders.
see bio >