Marketing of Regions

Diploma Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1,7, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, language: English, abstract: In the past decade place marketing, country marketing and city marketing have enjoyed an increase in recognition, especially as countries and locations have been spending more money to encourage firms to locate their offices and plant locations in the place marketer's area. This is reflected in a growing number of associations, literature, media coverage and educational courses offered. The aim of the present thesis is to evaluate current literature in order to understand the importance of place marketing in general and marketing of the Rhine Main Region, as Germany´s most cosmopolitan region, in particular. For an international context Hong Kong and Los Angeles are used as exemplary competitors. Los Angeles being one of the United States most powerful cities and Hong Kong representing the gateway to China. However, the focus of my investigation is on a B2B perspective in the marketing of the Rhine Main Region. In literature and in practice, place marketing strategies vary from very simple to very sophisticated. Through examination of the aforementioned business locations I find out that there are huge differences in the approach and execution. After the creation of a theoretical framework, in which I examine place marketing from the perspective of the marketer and that of the business customer, I put the whole set into practice with help of the Rhine Main Region, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. In my final conclusion I assess the place marketing activities of the aforementioned competitors and try to rank them according to their current performance.