The Impact of Product Placement on City Image via the Mediating Role of City Branding, Aswan case study
Author(s)
Download Full PDF Pages: 01-23 | Views: 14 | Downloads: 3 | DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23971799
Volume 15 - November 2026 (11)
Abstract
In an increasingly competitive tourism industry, cities must adopt innovative communication strategies to strengthen their image and differentiate themselves in the minds of potential visitors. Product placement has been widely examined in commercial branding; however, its application in city branding and destination image formation remains relatively underexplored.A quantitative explanatory research design was adopted, using a structured questionnaire administered to individuals who had previously viewed films and television dramas featuring Aswan. A total of 272 valid responses were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS to test the proposed conceptual framework and hypothesized relationships.
The findings demonstrated that product placement has a significant and positive effect on city branding, while city branding has a significant and positive effect on city image. Furthermore, the results confirmed the mediating role of city branding in the relationship between product placement and city image, supporting the proposed mediation hypothesis.
The research contributes to the literature on product placement, city branding, and destination marketing by extending product placement beyond its traditional commercial context to the promotion and image formation of cities. The findings provide practical implications for tourism authorities, destination marketing organizations, and policymakers seeking to leverage audiovisual media as a strategic branding tool to strengthen destination image, enhance competitiveness, and attract potential visitors.
The research aims to examine how product placement acts as a strategic communication technique for city branding and image development in audiovisual media. In particular, it investigates the mediating function of city branding and the impact of product placement on city branding and city image. employing Aswan as a case study, the paper tackles the scarcity of research on employing product placement outside of commercial brands in the context of city branding and destination image building.
Keywords
Product Placement, City Branding, City Image, Destination Branding, City Marketing, Place Branding, Media Tourism, Aswan, Egypt
References
Arbale, H., & Mutisya, D. (2024). Book Review: "Research Methods for Business Students" (Eighth Edition) by Mark N. K. Saunders, Philip Lewis, and Adrian Thornhill (Pearson Education, 2019). African Quarterly Social Science Review, Vol. 1 (Iss. 2) , pp. 8-21 .
Kotler, Philip. (1993). Marketing places : attracting investment, industry, and tourism to cities, states, and nations. New York : Free Press ; Toronto : Maxwell Macmillan Canada ; New York : : Maxwell Macmillan International.
Aghbar, S. (2025). THE IMPACT OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT ON BRAND AWARENESS AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS OF AN-NAJAH NATIONAL UNIVERSITY IN ARAB TV SERIES NETFLIX SERIES AS A CASE STUDY.
Ahn, Y.-j. (2022). City Branding and Sustainable Destination Management. Management. Sustainability, 2-4.
Anholt, S. (2006). The Anholt-GMI City Brands Index How the world sees the world’s cities. Place Branding, 18–31 .
Ashworth, G., & Kavaratzis, M. (31 Aug 2010). Towards Effective Place Brand Management. Edward Elgar.
Babacan, E., Baytekin, P., & AcKali, S. (2012 ). Product placement as a rising marketing communication activity: an assessment on television serials. ELSEVIER Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1319 – 1331.
Balakrishnan, B., Md. Shuaib, A., Dousin, O., & Permarupan, P. (2012). THE IMPACT OF BRAND PLACEMENT AND BRAND RECALL IN MOVIES: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM MALAYSIA. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING RESEARCH, VOLUME 5 NUMBER 2.
Baloglu , S., & McCleary, K. (1999). A model of destination image formation. ELSEVIER, 868-897.
Bizjak, B., Knežević, M., & Cvetrežnik, S. (2011). Attitude change towards guests with disabilities: Reflections From Tourism Students. Annals of Tourism Research, 842-857.
Boisen, M., Terlouw, K., Groote, P., & Couwenberg, O. (2017 ). Reframing place promotion, place marketing, and place branding - moving beyond conceptual confusion. Elsevier , 4-11.
Buhalis, D., & Park, S. (2021). Brand management and cocreation lessons from tourism and hospitality: introduction to the special issue. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 1–11.
Chan, A., Suryadipura, D., & Kostini, N. (2021). City Image: City Branding and City Identity strategies. Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, 330-339.
Chea, A. (2024). Product Placement and Consumer Behavior and Attitude: An Analytical Review and Marketing Implications. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 1550-1562.
Corniani, M. (2001). Product Placement and Brand Equity. SYMPHONYA Emerging Issues in Management, 66-82.
Dao, K., Hung, T., & Phi , T. (2025). The Influence of Product Placement on Luxury Tourism: An S-O-R Model Approach. International Conference on Tourism Research, 402-498.
Dastgerdi, A., & Luca, G. (2019). Strengthening the city’s reputation in the age of cities: an insight in the city branding theory. City Territory and Architechture, 2-7.
Dinnie, K. (2022). City Branding: Theory and Cases. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.
Doss, S. (2011). The transference of brand attitude: the effect on the celebrity endorser. Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 1-12.
Escalas, J. (2004). Narrative Processing: Building Consumer Connections to Brands. JOURNAL OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY, 168–180.
Eshuis , J., & Laura Ripoll . (2025). Conceptualising place branding in three approaches: towards a new definition of place brands as embodied experiences. Journal of Place Management and Development, 61-79.
Eshuis, J., Klijn, E.-H., & Braun, E. (2014). Place marketing and citizen participation: branding as strategy to address the emotional dimension of policy making? International Review of Administrative Sciences, 151–171.
Etikan, I., Musa, S., & Alkassim, R. (2016). Comparison of Convenience Sampling and Purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 1-4.
Gannon, M., Rasoolimanesh, S., & Taheri, B. (2021). Assessing the Mediating Role of Residents’ Perceptions toward Tourism Development. Journal of Travel Research, 149–171.
Gerbner, G., Gross, L., Morgan, M., & Signorielli , N. (1986). Living with Television: The Dynamics of the CuItivation Process. Hillsdale, New Jersy : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Ghanem, H., Negm, E., & Arslan, M. (2024). Measuring the Impact of Product Placement Dimensions on Consumers’ Brand Recognition. Open Access Library Journal, Volume 11.
Goldsmith, R., Lafferty, B., & Newell, S. (2013). The Impact of Corporate Credibility and Celebrity Credibility on Consumer Reaction to Advertisements and Brands. Taylor and Francis, 43-54.
Gong, T., & Tung, V. (2022). THE EFFECT OF MOVIE AND TELEVISION PLACEMENTS. Tourism Management, 2-20.
Govers, R., & M. Go, F. (2010). Place Branding: Glocal, Virtual and Physical Identities,Constructed, Imagined and experienced, R. Govers, F. Go.Palgrave MacMillan (2009).,. elsevier, 1-2.
Guo, F., Ye, G., Hudders, L., Lv, W., Li, M., & Duffy, V. (2019). Product Placement in Mass Media: A Review and Bibliometric Analysis. Journal of Advertising .
Hakala, U., Lemmetyinen, A., & Kantola, S.-P. (2013). Country image as a nation-branding tool . Marketing Intelligence & Planning Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 538-556.
Hankinson, G. (2005). Relational network brands: Towards a conceptual model of place brands. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 109-121.
Holsanova, J. (2020). Uncovering scientific and multimodal literacy through audio description. Journal of Visual Literacy.
Homans, G. (1958). SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AS EXCHIANGE. American Journal of Sociology, 597-606.
HUDSON, S., & RITCHIE, J. (2006). Promoting Destinations via Film Tourism: An Empirical Identification of Supporting Marketing Initiatives. JOURNAL OF TRAVEL RESEARCH, 387–396.
Indriani , E. (2024). Social Media in City Branding Strategic: Empirical study in Solo City, Indonesia. International Journal of Social Science and Human Research, 1511-1522.
Karytsas ©, S., Vardopoulos ©, I., & Theodoropoulou ©, E. (2019). Factors affecting residents’ attitude toward. AN INTERNATIONAL MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF, 01-39.
Kato, T., Ikeda, R., & Koizumi, M. (2024). Side effects of city branding: differences in brand image and loyalty factors from the perspective of residents in 21 Japanese cities. Urban, Planning and Transport Research, 1-17.
KAVARATZIS, M., & ASHWORTH, G. (2005). CITY BRANDING: AN EFFECTIVE ASSERTION OF IDENTITY OR A TRANSITORY MARKETING TRICK? Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 506-514.
Kim, A., Truong, P., & Hoang, D. (2025). The Influence of Product Placement on Luxury Tourism: An S-O-R Model Approach. the 8th International Conference on Tourism Research, ICTR, 402-410.
Kowshik.N, Rao, L., & Yadav, M. (2023). A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN TRADITIONAL MARKETING AND DIGITAL MARKETING. International Journal of Novel Research and Development.
Krejcie, R., & Morgan, D. (1970). Determining Sample Size for Research Activities. Educational and psychological measurments.
Kyriazos, T., & Stalikas, A. (2018). Applied Psychometrics: The Steps of Scale Development and Standardization Process. Psychology, Vol.9 No.11.
Levitt, H., Bamberg, M., Creswell, J., Frost, D., Josselson, R., & Suárez-Orozco, C. (2018). Journal Article Reporting Standards for Qualitative Primary, Qualitative Meta-Analytic, and Mixed Methods Research in Psychology: The APAPublications and Communications Board Task Force Report. American Psychological Association, Vol. 73, No. 1, 26 – 46.
Li, S., Liu, M., & Wei, M. (2021). Host sincerity and tourist environmentally responsible behavior: The mediating role of tourists’ emotional solidarity with hosts. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 100548.
Lowe, B., Petrovici, D., & Chan, F. (2015). Antecedents of product placement effectiveness across cultures. Emerald Insight, 5-24.
Morgan , N., Pritchard, A., & Pride, R. (2004). Destination Branding: Creating the Unique Destination Proposition. University of Wales Institute, Cardiff Oxford : Elsevier Ltd. .
Morrison, A., & Coca-Stefaniak, J. (2024). City branding and sustainable urban development. Cheltenham, UK: Edward : Elgar Publishing.
Nunkoo, R., & Fung So, K. (2016). Residents’ Support for Tourism: Testing Alternative Structural Models. Journal of Travel Research, 847–861.
Park, C., & Young, S. (1983). Types and Levels of Involvement and Brand Attitude Formation. Retrieved from The association of Consumer Research: https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/6133
Perwitasari, D., & Paramita, E. (2020). PRODUCT PLACEMENT ON KOREAN DRAMA AS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR BRAND POSITIONING (CASE STUDY: LANEIGE). Jurnal Muara Ilmu Ekonomi dan Bisnis, 145-155.
Qu, H., Kim, L. H., & Hyunjung, H. (2011). A model of destination branding: Integrating the concepts of the branding and destination image. ELSEVIER, 465-476.
Questioning a “one size fits all” city brand Developing a branded house strategy for place brand management. (2017). Journal of Place Management and Development, 270-287.
Ramadania, R., Reswari, R., Rahmawati, R., Rosyadi, R., Purmono, B., & Afif, M. (2025). City identity in tourist intention: mediating role of city branding and tourism city value resonance. Cogent Business & Management.
Riza, M., Doratli, N., & Fasli , M. (2012). City Branding and Identity. ELSEVIER, 293-300.
Rossiter, J. (2014). ‘Branding’ explained: Defining and measuring brand awareness and brand attitude. Journal of Brand Management, 533–540.
RUSSELL, C., & BELCH, M. (2005). A Managerial Investigation into the Product Placement Industry. Journal of Advertizing Research, 73-92.
Schivinski, B., Li , X., Alahmari, A., Nguyen, Q., Czarnecka, B., & Loureiro, S. (2025). City branding’s influence on social media engagement: the cool factor. Journal of Product & Brand Management Emerald Publishing Limited, 99-115.
Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (June 2016). Research Methods For Business: A Skill-Building Approach. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.
Seo, J., & Kim, B. (2020 ). The “Hallyu” phenomenon - Utilizing tourism destination as product placement in K-POP culture. Tourism Economics, 719–728.
Sharma, A., Nicolau , J., & Mas , F. (2022). The effect of movie and television placements. ELSEVIER.
Shi, D., & Phakdee-auksorn*, P. (2025). From Screen to Destination: Exploring the Determinants of Film Tourists’ Revisit and WOM Intentions. Tourism and Hospitality.
Shi, S., & Musa, R. (2024). Impact of Destination Branding Aspects Including Brand Identity, Brand Positioning, and Brand Communication on Customer Acquisition in the Tourism Industry: The Context of Jiangxi China. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2285-2299.
Sidiropoulos, D. (2024). City Branding and Video Production: The Case of Greek Semi-Urban Centers. International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development , 1-19.
Soba, M., & Aydin, M. (2013). Product Placement Efficiency in Marketing Communication Strategy. International Journal of Business and Management, 1-6.
Social Media in City Branding Strategic: Empirical study in Solo City, Indonesia. (March 2024). International Journal of Social Science and Human Research .
Souchleris, K., Sidiropoulos, G., & Papakostas, G. (2023,). Reinforcement Learning in Game Industry—Review, Prospects and Challenges. Applied Science MDPI.
Stefan, R. (2012). The Experiences of Film Location Tourists. Bristol (UK) and Blue Ridge Summit (USA): Channel View Publications.
Su , L., Li , M., & Swanson , S. (2024). The influence of organizational interpersonal climate on the belonging, well-being, and citizenship behaviors of tourism practitioners. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 419-431.
Wang, N., & Mustafa, H. (2024). An Overview of Marketing Strategies for CityBrandCommunication in the Context of Globalisation: AnAnalysis of Effective Paths to EnhanceaCity’sInternational Image. Review of Communication Research.
Weaver, A. (2007). Product Placement and Tourism-Oriented Environments: an Exploratory Introduction. International Journal of Tourism Research, 275–284.
Williams, K., Petrosky, A., Hernandez, E., & , Jr., R. (2011). Product placement effectiveness: revisited and renewed. Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 1-24.
Zahrah, F. (2023). City Branding Dimensions, Strategies, and Obstacles. JURNAL BINA PRAJA Journal of Home Affairs Governance, 101–109.
Zenker, S., & Martin, N. (2011). Measuring success in place marketing and branding. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 32 – 41.
Zenker, S., Braun, E., & Petersen , S. (2016). Branding the destination versus the place: The effects of brand complexity and identification for residents and visitors. Tourism Management, 15-27.
Zhang , K., Chen, Y., & Lin, Z. (2020). Mapping destination images and behavioral patterns from user-generated photos: a computer vision approach. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 1–16
Cite this Article: