Czy marka miasta jest symbolem dominującym? Antropologiczna analiza wyobrażeń i praktyk marketingowych animatorów kultury i władz lokalnych na pograniczu

Abstract

The article presents the territorial brand as a category that can be analyzed in a broader theoretical context of the presence of dominant symbols in local culture. The research data indicate that territorial marketing is a specific strategy for the design and implementation of cultural contents that can be used by local actors at the borderland. The town’s brand appears as an important component of the symbolic space of the local community and local practices. Adoption of marketing assumptions by local actors strengthens their belief that there is some set of professional practices which lead to strengthening the brand as a dominant symbol. The article points to specific examples of actions which show some local mechanism of applying or practicing the town’s brand. There is the great facility of recognizing various cultural contents as the potential town’s brands. Therefore, local actors imagine that practically all activities and symbols in the sphere of culture can be applied to the local brand. However, moving these contents to the level of common appreciation and recognizing them as branded dominant symbols is already very difficult. The achievement of such appreciation depends both on the nature of cultural content promoted as branded, the local environment in which the cultural content is promoted and the position of the institution promoting the brand in this environment. So there are more potential brands than real ones, which means that many symbols (cultural contents) that are indicated as brands do not have the character of dominant symbols.