Places: Identity, Image and Reputation [Hardcover]

Simon Anholt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0230239773 | ISBN-13: 978-0230239777 | Publication Date: December 22, 2009

Places depend on their reputations for almost everything in the modern world: tourism, foreign investment, the respect and interest of the international media, attracting talented immigrants and students, cultural exchanges, engaging peacefully and productively with the governments of other places. But what can actually be done to understand and measure the reputations of places, and even to influence them? Are they simply 'brand images' like the images of products, that can be influenced at will by the tricks and techniques of commercial marketing? Or are they, as Simon Anholt argues, deeply rooted cultural phenomena that move – if they move at all – very slowly, and only in response to major events and changes in the places themselves? This new collection of essays by the 'father of place branding', Simon Anholt, reveals compelling and essential new thinking on the nature of national reputation.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

SIMON ANHOLT is the leading authority on managing national identity and reputation. He is the British Government's advisor on Public Diplomacy, and has advised the governments of the Netherlands, Jamaica, Tanzania, South Korea, Sweden, Botswana, Germany, the Baltic Sea Region, Bhutan, Ecuador, New Zealand, Switzerland and Slovenia, as well as organizations including the United Nations, the World Economic Forum and the World Bank. He is a Parliamentarian of the European Cultural Parliament and Founding Editor of the quarterly journal, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. His books include Another One Bites The Grass; Brand New Justice (which deals with the role of brands in economic development), and Brand America, (which charts the rise and fall of America's reputation). He is also a co-author of Beyond Branding, The Economist's Brands and Branding, Heritage and Identity and Destination Marketing. He is the founder of the Anholt Nation Brands Index and City Brands Index.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (December 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230239773
• ISBN-13: 978-0230239777
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #564,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful & fun reading!, April 23, 2010

By 

Mark Mccullough (San Juan, PR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Places: Identity, Image and Reputation (Hardcover)

In this world full of promises of quick fix solutions to complex situations, Mr. Anholt reasons with us and brings us to the conclusion that we already know; there are no free lunches.

Be wary of the new millenium's version of snake oil merchants that promise quick growth and prosperity in any given location solely on the application of their magical ointment.

The message of the book is what we should have learned as a child; we always must do the right thing. For a place, nation, town, etc. to become known and admired, it must focus on doing things that are admirable. And this action must be repeated. Again and again. Only then can the "logos and slogans" come into play; and carefully at that.

This book is brilliantly honest, highly entertaining and contains more insight per pound than most books I have read.

Hats off to Mr. Anholt!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable, December 25, 2009

By 

Jeremy Hildreth "jeremyhildreth.com" (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Places: Identity, Image and Reputation (Hardcover)

As I write this, Simon has just been awarded the 2009 Nobels Colloquia Prize for Economics by a committee of ten past Nobel laureates in economics.

I've known Simon Anholt for years and have been reading him since before I knew him. I've witnessed attentively, and sometimes at close range, the evolution and refinement (and, simultaneously, the expansion) of his thinking.

On the matter of the reputation and image of countries and what's to be done about them, this man is the undisputed heavyweight champion, with an eloquence that does justice to his cultivated and idiosyncratic intellect and his deeply humane vision. And this is his richest and sharpest monograph to date, in my opinion.

If you're involved with the marketing or promotion - or governing - of a place of any size, you will profoundly value having Simon's thoughts percolating in the back of your mind as you go about your work. And the more people who have those thoughts, the better the world will be.

(Yes, I'm a fan, and I think if you read this, you will be too - if you're not already.)