This paper uses the city
of Pori in Finland as a case example to investigate how a city brand can be rebranded
as a result of co-creation with the city’s residents. The purpose of this study
is to analyze the co-creative role of residents in rebranding a city. Herein,
the city of Pori in Finland is used as a case example as it is a city with a
reputation not only for focusing on business and tourism but also on the
wellbeing of its residents. The latter approach can be witnessed in the
willingness of the city authorities to solicit branding ideas from the
residents.

Qualitative methods were
being used to investigate the co-creation process from initiation to
implementation. The brand co-creation process has helped the city of Pori open
up the strengths of the city and foster a positive community spirit among the
residents and other internal stakeholders, thereby developing the city brand
among tourists and other external constituencies. A multitude number of interviews
conducted between 2015–2019 harvests the opinions of residents and supporters
of Pori on the city’s brand image.

As to the theoretical
implications, the findings of this study underline the role of its
stakeholders, and particularly its residents, in developing a city’s brand, and
thus enhance place-branding literature. Most studies on place branding focus on
the tourist context and consequently the role of residents can be
underestimated. The authors believe the current study is a rare example of exploring
the role of residents in co-creating a city brand.

Keywords (3–5): brand
co-creation, city branding, residents, brand image, place rebranding