Positioning Rawalpindi as a Place Brand

Abstract

In the branding literature, the idea of Nation, Country and Place branding can be seen prominent and evolving. With globalization taking its toll and the fast change in trends, the concepts of Nation and Place branding have gained importance as countries are also in the arena and are competing among each other for the sake of reputation and better image worldwide. Recent development in technology and awareness has made it convenient and easier for nations to market themselves on the map as a distinctive nation to not only attract tourism, inward foreign investment but also to encourage exporting. The idea of creating a separate and unique identity of a place or country on the whole has become a new dimension and risen a new level of competition. The investigation first presents anillustration of the basic terms branding, nation branding, and place branding. An extensive effort has been made to study the place branding concept and to study how a city of Pakistan can be branded. Anholts hexagon has been brought into the research work as a model to check the concept of city branding and its applicability in Pakistani context to position Rawalpindi as a Place brand.A qualitative research has been conducted with non-probability convenience sampling, whereas transcription is done for data analysis. It was founded that the role of government, youth and social media is essential for implementing the place branding strategies. By engaging celebrities and politicians this goal can be achieved and awareness can be created through including the concepts of nation and place branding in the curricula of academic institutions. An effort has been made to make available, insights to the awareness about positioning Rawalpindi as a place brand and level of commitment for branding it.