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Place branding: Religion in shaping the three-dimensional essence of a city brand through stakeholder engagement

PLOS ONE, 2024

Xiufang (Leah) Li, Abdullah Alahmari, Bruno Schivinski

PLOS ONE, volume 19, issue 1, article e0296162, 23 January 2024

  • Open access
  • 1,253 social media posts
  • Content analysis
  • Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
  • Jeddah and Riyadh
  • Saudi Arabia
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Free full text: the open access article (CC BY 4.0), re-typeset as a clean PDF with the same content as the published version. Please cite the published version.

Keywords
  • place branding
  • city branding
  • religion
  • Islam
  • stakeholder engagement
  • resident engagement
  • government communication
  • social media
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • festivals
  • Saudi Seasons
  • Jeddah Season
  • Riyadh Season
  • Middle East
  • three dimensions of a place brand
  • physical attributes
  • functional attributes
  • brand personality traits
  • individual-level and social-level engagement
  • popularity, virality and commitment indices
  • content analysis
  • case study
  • Holsti reliability
  • Saudi Arabia
  • government social media strategy
  • co-creation of place brands

Religion is a powerful tool for engaging residents in city branding in Saudi Arabia. Analysing 1,253 government posts about the Jeddah and Riyadh Seasons on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, we found the government drew on Islamic values, architecture and events, and residents responded by liking and sharing, especially on Twitter, but rarely by commenting.

Key findings

  1. Government posts focused on what the cities offer. Of 1,253 government posts about the 2019 Jeddah and Riyadh Seasons, 53% (666) built the cities’ functional attributes, such as cultural activities, transport and a clean environment, 32% (393) their personality traits, such as social bonding and religious beliefs, and only 15% (194) their physical attributes (Li, Alahmari & Schivinski, 2024).
  2. Religion ran through all three dimensions. The government highlighted Islamic architecture and calligraphy, Qur’an recitation contests, a competition reviving the Prophet’s call to teach children swimming, archery and horse riding, and prayers during a solar eclipse that postponed festival events (Li, Alahmari & Schivinski, 2024).
  3. Residents liked and shared, but rarely commented. Resident engagement came mostly from likes (popularity) and shares (virality), with commitment through comments at 0.1 to 0.4 on every platform, a low level of engagement the authors link to limits on public speech in Saudi Arabia (Li, Alahmari & Schivinski, 2024).
  4. Twitter was the main channel. Engagement was highest on Twitter (E index 2.0 to 2.7), followed by Instagram (1.3 to 2.5) and Facebook (0.5 to 0.9), with functional attributes and personality traits drawing the most engagement (Li, Alahmari & Schivinski, 2024).

At a glance

Design
Case study with quantitative content analysis of government posts and resident responses about two 2019 Saudi Seasons festivals
Data
1,253 text posts in Arabic from government accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, bought from a social media data provider (Podargos Technologies): Jeddah Season, 8 June to 18 July 2019; Riyadh Season, 11 October to 30 December 2019
Coding
Two trained native Arabic-speaking coders; categories for physical attributes, functional attributes and personality traits of a city brand; reliability on 25% of posts (n = 313), Holsti = 0.86
Engagement
Popularity (likes), virality (shares) and commitment (comments) per post and per 1,000 followers, summed into an engagement (E) index
Ethics
Approved by the College Human Ethics Advisory Network (CHEAN), RMIT University

Figure 1. Framework of religion city branding through stakeholder engagement

Physical attributes:Religious designReligious colourReligious architectureReligious logosReligious figuresFunctional attributes:Clean environmentBusiness opportunitiesCultural activitiesGovernment servicesTransportInternal governancePersonality traits:Social bonding/communityCity brand attitudesIntentionsReligious beliefsReligious valuesReligious ritualReligion city brandingthrough stakeholderengagementSocial developmentIndividual-levelengagementSocial-levelengagement
Redrawn from Figure 1 of the article (CC BY 4.0). Religious elements of a city’s physical attributes, functional attributes and personality traits feed city branding through stakeholder engagement, which, supported by individual-level and social-level engagement, contributes to social development.

Resident engagement (E index) with government posts, Jeddah and Riyadh Seasons

TwitterFunctional attributes, Jeddah2.7Functional attributes, Riyadh2.6Personality traits, Riyadh2.2Physical attributes, Jeddah2.0InstagramFunctional attributes, Riyadh2.5Functional attributes, Jeddah2.0Physical attributes, Riyadh1.3FacebookFunctional attributes, Jeddah0.9Personality traits, Riyadh0.7Physical attributes, Jeddah0.5
Engagement index (popularity + virality + commitment, per 1,000 followers) from Table 3 of the article.

Tables

Table 1. Coding scheme: Brand narrative of the cities on social media
City season Physical attributes Functional attributes Personality traits
Jeddah / Riyadh Religious design Clean environment Social bonding/community
Religious colour Business opportunities City Brand Attitudes
Religious architecture Cultural activities Intentions
Religious logos Government Services Religious beliefs
Religious figures Transport Religious values
Internal governance Religious ritual

Coding categories as printed in Table 1 of the article.

Table 2. City branding: Jeddah and Riyadh

Dimension Category Jeddah: Twitter Jeddah: Facebook Jeddah: Instagram Riyadh: Twitter Riyadh: Facebook Riyadh: Instagram Total posts
Physical attributes Cafe’s design 11 7 9 27 19 15 194 (15%)
Religious architecture 13 2 7 20 2 10
Religious colour 2 2 3 3 4 3
Religious logos 2 1 1 15 2 3
Religious figures 5 0 1 4 0 1
Functional attributes Clean environment 12 14 8 19 8 6 666 (53%)
Business opportunities 1 2 3 0 3 4
Cultural activities 107 41 52 181 67 87
Transport 19 5 3 6 5 5
Government Services 5 3 0 0 0 0
Personality traits Social bonding/community 14 17 19 27 25 30 393 (32%)
City brand attitudes 32 9 8 11 48 85
Intentions 0 0 0 2 0 0
Religious beliefs 11 8 4 13 2 7
Religious values 3 0 0 6 4 2
Religious ritual 2 0 0 2 1 1

Number of government posts in each category, Jeddah Season and Riyadh Season 2019 (1,253 posts in all). Values as printed in Table 2 of the article, where the totals read “194 (%15)”, “666 (%53)” and “393 (%32)”.

Table 3. Resident engagement with the cities of Jeddah and Riyadh

City Platform Followers Dimension P index V index C index E index
Jeddah Twitter 139,000 Physical attributes 1.5 0.3 0.2 2.0
Functional attributes 2.0 0.6 0.1 2.7
Personality traits 1.6 0.4 0.1 2.1
Riyadh 320,000 Physical attributes 1.2 0.7 0.1 2.0
Functional attributes 1.7 0.8 0.1 2.6
Personality traits 1.5 0.6 0.1 2.2
Jeddah Facebook 55,000 Physical attributes 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.5
Functional attributes 0.5 0.3 0.1 0.9
Personality traits 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.6
Riyadh 84,000 Physical attributes 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.5
Functional attributes 0.6 0.2 0.1 0.9
Personality traits 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.7
Jeddah Instagram 129,000 Physical attributes 0.8 0.4 0.2 1.4
Functional attributes 1.6 0.1 0.3 2.0
Personality traits 1.3 0.3 0.4 2.0
Riyadh 108,000 Physical attributes 0.9 0.3 0.1 1.3
Functional attributes 1.7 0.6 0.2 2.5
Personality traits 1.2 0.2 0.1 1.5

Popularity (P) = (likes / posts) / followers × 1,000; virality (V) = (shares / posts) / followers × 1,000; commitment (C) = (comments / posts) / followers × 1,000; engagement (E) = P + V + C. Values as printed in Table 3 of the article.

The question

Religion shapes daily life and policy in the Middle East, yet place branding research has mostly looked at religious architecture rather than at how religion engages the people who live in a city. Taking Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah and Riyadh Seasons as a case, we asked how government actors use religious factors to engage residents in branding Saudi cities on social media, how residents respond, and what this means for empowering residents in city branding through religion.

Implications

Practical implications

Cities in religious societies can build their brand personality around shared values and beliefs, such as the Islamic values of tolerance and justice, and weave them into the physical and functional sides of the city brand. To move residents from liking and sharing to genuine conversation, governments and pro-government actors should communicate ethically on social media, above all on Twitter, by responding to users’ reactions, comments and questions.

Theoretical implications

The study proposes a framework of religion city branding through stakeholder engagement, which links religion with the three dimensions of a place brand (physical attributes, functional attributes and personality traits) and shows in particular how religious factors shape a place brand’s personality. It suggests that religion can drive engagement at the individual level, but that moving engagement to the social level, where it builds resources for social development, should be reassessed in a context of power asymmetries between government and citizens.

Limitations and future research

  • As a case study of Saudi Arabia, the findings may not generalise to other countries; larger samples within and beyond the Middle East are needed.
  • Only two festivals in two cities were analysed; branding outside these periods may differ.
  • Only government and resident content was examined; future work could study corporate stakeholders, influencers and NGOs, using surveys or interviews.

Questions this paper answers

How does religion help brand a city?

In Saudi Arabia, the government used Islamic architecture, Qur’anic teachings, religious competitions and rituals in its posts about the Jeddah and Riyadh Seasons, and residents engaged most with posts about the cities’ functions and personality, such as cultural activities, social bonding and religious values (Li, Alahmari & Schivinski, 2024).

Which social media platform worked best for city branding in Saudi Arabia?

Twitter. Resident engagement with government posts was highest on Twitter, followed by Instagram, with Facebook the least effective (Li, Alahmari & Schivinski, 2024).

Did residents talk back to the government on social media?

Rarely. Engagement came mostly from likes and shares; comments, the highest level of engagement, were scarce on all three platforms (Li, Alahmari & Schivinski, 2024).

What are the three dimensions of a place brand?

Physical attributes (what the place looks like), functional attributes (what it offers, such as services, transport and activities) and personality traits (the values, beliefs and character people associate with it).

Key concepts

Place branding
Building and managing the identity, image and meanings of a city, region or country as a brand.
Stakeholder engagement
Involving groups such as governments and residents in shaping and promoting a place brand, from individual responses to collective, social-level participation.
Physical attributes
The visible features of a place brand, such as architecture, design, colours and logos.
Functional attributes
What a place offers, such as a clean environment, business opportunities, cultural activities, transport and government services.
Brand personality traits
The human-like character, values and beliefs associated with a place brand.
Popularity, virality and commitment
Engagement indices based on likes, shares and comments per post, scaled by followers; their sum is the engagement (E) index.

Open science and materials

Study materials

Coding scheme
The full coding scheme for the three dimensions of the city brand is in Table 1 below.
Data
The coded data are openly available on Figshare: https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/CA_DATA_xlsx/24798561 (as given in the article’s data availability statement).

How to cite

Li, X., Alahmari, A., & Schivinski, B. (2024). Place branding: Religion in shaping the three-dimensional essence of a city brand through stakeholder engagement. PLOS ONE, 19(1), Article e0296162. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296162

Open access under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licence.

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