Local and sustainable production as vectors of an agrarian branding strategy in Catalonia: case study of the Baixa Tordera

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the implications in terms of economic promotion and local development that ensue from the implementation of a strategy of agrarian branding in five municipalities in the Baixa Tordera region (Catalonia, Spain). Design/methodology/approach: The research follows a case study logic. First, five focus groups were designed and distributed by sectors of activity. Second, six in-depth interviews were scheduled with opinion leaders from the region. Finally, a survey open to all inhabitants was set up on the town councils’ websites. Findings: The brand understood as a device removed from the connotations of indiscriminate marketing should guarantee the following elements in its deployment and implementation: knowledge, recognition, complicity, development and denomination of origin. Practical implications: This research contributes to improve the management models of agrarian spaces, but it also helps expand the research background on studies on agrarian branding. Originality/value: The place brand must become something close to a denomination of origin that, informally, invites us to define the future of this agrarian area. It therefore also affects the complexity of the planning and development of this area which, from now on, must necessarily be supramunicipal. In this way, the brand needs to offer a holistic vision of the region to all the agents that work in the strategic and urban planning of the five municipalities under study.