Place branding (includes place marketing and place promotion) is a term based on the idea that "cities and regions can be branded," whereby branding techniques and other marketing strategies are applied to "the economic, political and cultural development of cities, regions and countries." As opposed to the branding of products and services, place branding is more multidimensional in nature, as a 'place' is inherently "anchored into a history, a culture, an ecosystem," which is then incorporated into a network of associations, "linking products, spaces, organizations and people." As such, the concepts of nation branding, region branding, and city branding (also known as urban branding), fall under the umbrella term of place branding.
The practice is understood to have gained significance with the emergence of the post-industrial society among developing nations, in which places contend in an interdependent, increasingly-globalized economy. Thus, place branding invariably relates to the notion that places compete with other places for people, resources, and business, and, as a result, many public administrations pursue such strategies. As of 2011, the global competition of cities is estimated to host at least 2.7 million small cities/towns, 3,000 large cities, and 455 metropolises,
