Whose Opinion Matters? Community Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Legitimacy and Engagement in Branding Northamptonshire

This paper views place branding as a stakeholder-led strategy for creating a distinctive identity and narrative for places to gain recognition and competitive advantage. Residents and voluntary organisations are integral stakeholders and co-producers of a place; however, they are often relegated to consumers of the place brand. This paper explores how community stakeholders perceive their engagement in place branding, which ultimately implicates issues of legitimacy and inclusiveness of socioeconomic and cultural policies.