In the past decade, place marketing, country
marketing and city marketing have enjoyed an increase in
recognition, especially as countries and locations have
been spending more money to encourage firms to locate
their offices, and plant locations in the place
marketer's area. This is reflected in a growing number
of associations, literature, media coverage and
educational courses offered. The aim of the present
study is to evaluate current literature in order to
understand the importance of place marketing in general,
and marketing of the Rhine Main Region, as Germany's
most cosmopolitan region, in particular. For an
international context, Hong Kong and Los Angeles are
used as exemplary competitors. For Los Angeles is one of
the United States most powerful cities and Hong Kong
represents the gateway to China. However, the focus of
the investigation is on a B2B perspective in the
marketing of the Rhine Main Region. In literature and in
practice, place marketing strategies vary from very
simple to very sophisticated. After the creation of a
theoretical framework, in which the author examines
place marketing from the perspective of the marketer,
and that of the business customer, the author puts the
whole set into practice with help of the Rhine Main
Region, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. In the final
conclusion, she assesses the place marketing activities
of the aforementioned competitors, and tries to rank
them according to their current performance.
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