Introduction to the special issue: Nordic perspectives on place branding

Purpose
This special issue on Nordic perspectives on place branding aims at developing research on the practices and processes of mobilising the Nordics in place branding in order to achieve cultural, commercial and diplomatic ends.

Design/methodology/approach
The Nordic perspective goes beyond regionalist schools of global marketing scholarship. While regionalist perspectives give an insight into fruitful distinction tactics in international contexts, their lens of ‘radical particularism’ diverts attention away from more hybrid and geopolitically attentive branding endeavours. Hence, instead of attempting to simply portray the essence of Nordic place branding as a top-down positioning device, the ambition of this special issue is to understand how the cultural narrative of the Nordic is mobilised as a result of networked and participatory practices across multiple stakeholders.

Findings
The papers collated in this volume address different aspects of Nordic place branding. They share the notion of the Nordic as a cultural narrative that should be studied ’in the making’ via an engaged type of scholarship driven by therapeutic and diagnostic knowledge objectives, as opposed to technical or emancipatory intents.

Originality
Like any regionalist perspective, Nordic place branding manifests symbolic and material boundaries of exclusion and inclusion, involving ideological struggles and contestations. The special issue highlights the dialectical tensions inherent in the Nordic perspective between dismantling the old mythologies, symbols, and ideologies, and using them in branding efforts to differentiate the region.