The R(Evolution) of Territorial Marketing : Towards an Identity Marketing

Abstract

In a context of asserted competition, political decision-makers in charge of territorial destiny can no longer resolve to “do things well”, they must ‘do the right things”, those that will be the most structuring and the most determining for the future of the territory. They now have to face new dilemmas and tensions which force them into showing more discernment, responsiveness as well as creativity to address the growing complexity of local issues. They must retain the territorial marketing that will not only allow their territory to develop, but first of all to survive. As a result, territorial marketing today takes a broader, more in-depth, more strategic and more versatile approach, drawing on sources as diverse as anthropology, sociology, culture, etc. Identity marketing is part of the new practices of territorial marketing and draws from the reservoir of the territory’s intrinsic strengths and weaknesses to develop its territorial marketing approach. This paper has two main objectives; the first one is to explore and present the major new marketing practices, the result of observations at the level of several territories – Some of these practices have already been formalized and have proven their worth in terms of outcomes; others have reached in the improvement phase or are going through the experimental stage. The second objective of this article is to explain the state of mind of the new identity-based territorial marketing approach that will allow territories to be branded in order to be noticed.