2024 in Review: Achievements and What’s Next for TPBO

As 2024 draws to a close, it’s a good moment to reflect on the milestones that have shaped an exciting and impactful year for The Place Brand Observer (TPBO). From groundbreaking reports to growing our expert community, this year has been one of progress, innovation, and collaboration.

Here are some of my key highlights that defined TPBO in 2024.

1. Launch of Our First Yearbook at the Global Soft Power Summit

February was a momentous month for TPBO as we presented the inaugural Place Brand Leaders Yearbook at the Global Soft Power Summit, with Brand Finance as the title sponsor.

This event, the first major international gathering that we attended following the long hiatus of COVID-19 restrictions, was an inspiring opportunity to connect with peers, share insights, and celebrate the achievements of place branding professionals worldwide - including a lively panel discussion with representatives of Bhutan, Türkiye and Africa on linking place branding with regenerative tourism that I had the pleasure to moderate.

The 2024 Yearbook, published to mark TPBO’s 10th anniversary, featured leaders, stories, and insights from across the globe. Its warm reception encouraged us to immediately begin work on the 2025 edition.

This next edition, due for release in February 2025, will be twice the size of the first and feature Sweden as the cover story. With expanded content and deeper insights, it promises to set a new standard in recognising excellence and innovation in place branding.

2. The Lausanne Benchmarking Report

This year also marked the release of our first benchmarking report of its kind, focused on Lausanne in Switzerland. Commissioned by the city itself, this in-depth analysis assessed Lausanne’s performance and potential in key areas of place branding and competitiveness. The project was as intense as it was fun, and we’re proud of the actionable insights it provided for Lausanne’s strategic planning.

This report reflects TPBO’s growing reputation as a trusted partner for custom insights that empower places to enhance their global positioning.

As a bonus, we were able to successfully suggest an agency from our Impact Partner Network to the client, for additional analysis and strategy refinement. Stronger together!

3. Introducing the Impact Story Awards

This year, we proudly introduced the Place Brand Impact Story Awards, in partnership with Brand Finance, created to celebrate the most inspiring place brand initiatives linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. A panel of 15 judges, representing both business and academia, reviewed submissions from across the globe, focusing on creativity, strategic impact, and alignment with long-term sustainability.

Judging just completed this December, and there appears to be a clear winner, along with one highly commended entry. Stay tuned – we’ll share more about these pioneering stories soon!

4. Expanding the Place Brand Observatory

This year, we dedicated significant time to enhancing the Place Brand Observatory, a key resource for understanding and comparing city and country rankings. Designed to support investors, talent, marketers and policymakers, the Observatory provides insights into the performance and potential of places worldwide.

With invaluable input from our resident analyst, Alexander Crawford and almost 30 members of our expert community, we’ve worked on a redesign that will launch early 2025. Among the updates are new visualisations to make the data more accessible and engaging, along with expanded expert commentary to enrich the city and country profiles.

TPBO Correspondents wanted - Want to share your views on specific cities or countries already featured in the Observatory? Contact us for details.

5. Growing the Who’s Who

This year, we continued to expand the Who’s Who of Place Brand Leaders, welcoming a remarkable group of professionals. Among those featured through interviews in 2024 were leaders like Geerte Udo, Alia El Banna, Salma Ghanem, Chris Wade, Mary Harris, Xinxin Liu, Courtney Fingar, Maria Lypiatska, Leonardo Nieto, Mariusz Sagan, Pumela Salela, Jeremie Feinblatt, Jessica Radford, Steve Duncan, and Marc Meeuwis.

We also added professional profiles for Robert Govers , Simon Anholt , Dr Natasha Norman , David Downs , Stu Speirs , Pumela Salela , Adriana Acosta , Sithembile Ntombela maNdaba , Gustavo Koniszczer , the Brand Finance team ( David Haigh , Konrad Jagodzinski , Robert Haigh , Alex Haigh , Artur Bryzghalov, CFA , Danushika, and many more.

Meet the WHO'S WHO

6. Growing the Impact Partner Network

We also strengthened our Impact Partner Network, collaborating with leading agencies shaping the future of place branding. Long-standing partners like INSTID, Anholt & CO, and Brand Finance were joined by newer names like C Studios, Taller 10i9, Trove, and TOPOSOPHY. Their contributions exemplify the spirit of collaboration and innovation at the heart of TPBO’s mission.

Want to join the Impact Partner Network? Contact us!

Looking Ahead to 2025

Looking ahead, 2025 is shaping up to be an equally exciting year. We’ll begin by launching the Place Brand Leaders Yearbook 2025, available at the Global Soft Power Summit and online. We are also looking into custom printing options as it is so much better when printed (advice welcome).

Shortly after, we’ll reveal the winners of the Impact Story Awards, sharing their inspiring initiatives with our global audience.

We’re preparing to introduce more custom reports for cities and countries, will launch our new Rankings Dashboard (part of the new Observatory which will also take shape early 2025), and continue developing our revamped podcast.

And of course we will continue doing what we love the most: showcasing exceptional people and places, expanding our Who's Who and Place Brand Story Collection (did you see the Tilburg showcase? We're big fans of small-medium cities and this one is on a bold mission).

Thank you for being part of our journey. We look forward to continuing to grow and innovate with you in 2025!

On behalf of the team - Gerrit Kruger Alexander Crawford Silvana Fabeiro Nafisa Mahdi Sharfi ágnes Horváth Naveen Abraham

Florian

Dr. Florian Kaefer

Publisher

-- The Place Brand Observer --

Made with Love in Switzerland (& Around the World)