Key elements in defining Barcelona’s place values: the contribution of residents’ perceptions from an internal place branding perspective

Abstract

According to numerous authors, residents play a decisive role in any place branding strategy, although paradoxically, they have played little or no role in the implementation of place branding strategies in recent years. It is for this reason that this study emphasises so-called “internal place branding”. Furthermore, we aim to determine whether the outwardly projected attributes of Barcelona (Spain) correspond to the attributes held by its residents. To achieve this aim, we undertook a cross-sectional descriptive study using a mixed method survey questionnaire in order to measure residents’ perceptions, with both open-ended and closed-ended questions. We selected 300 participants using the snowball sampling strategy. Results showed that residents of Barcelona, as a whole, perceived their city as cultural, creative, cosmopolitan, touristic, entertaining and friendly, attributes that closely match those projected by the city over recent decades. However, we also found a certain distancing of residents with respect to other values projected by Brand Barcelona. We believe this study provides important managerial implications not only for Barcelona’s brand managers, but also for professionals all over the world seeking to work with internal place branding.