Like businesses, places too feel a competitive need to differentiate themselves from other places. To this end, some places create a brand to convey a unique combination of functional characteristics and symbolic values to both residents and potential consumers (tourists, investors, new residents), which is intended to persuade consumers to choose this place over others and, as a result, to influence the positive development of the place. Over a decade ago, one of Slovenia's least developed regions - Zasavje - decided to brand itself. However, Zasavje does not exist as a region on an administrative level, but its regional boundary is formed by the borders of three post-industrial Zasavje valleys or municipalities. The brand was called "V tri krasne", but after only a few years it ceased to exist and the umbrella organisation that managed the brand ended up bankrupt in 2021. Based on existing literature, the master thesis asks how residents identified with the brand, what factors influenced its demise and whether the expectations and wishes of all internal stakeholder groups were taken into account in the branding process. Through in-depth interviews with representatives of public, private and local stakeholder groups, the master thesis uses the example of the failed regional marketing brand "V tri krasne" to identify several factors of its demise and to evaluate our findings from a strategic-marketing perspective.
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