Measuring city brand perceptions via neuromarketing. A systematic literature review

What the paper says

City branding has become an essential strategy for urban competitiveness, yet traditional evaluation methods often capture only conscious and self-reported stakeholder perceptions. This systematic review examines how neuromarketing techniques have been applied to measure stakeholder’s perceptions of city brands, offering insights into subconscious processes often neglected in conventional research. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, two complementary searches were conducted in Scopus and the Web of Science (to July 2024): one on city/place brand perceptions and another on neuromarketing application in city or destination branding. After screening 316 records and removing duplicates, 85 studies were included: 74 addressing city brand perceptions across stakeholder groups (residents, tourists, students, and mixed stakeholders), and 11 employing neuromarketing techniques. Findings show that residents and tourists dominate city branding research, while relatively few studies integrating multiple stakeholders. Neuromarketing studies, using primarily EEG and eye-tracking alongside GSR and fMRI, demonstrated the potential to capture attention, arousal and emotional engagement with city branding stimuli. Together, these approaches suggest that neuromarketing can complement traditional methods, bridging gaps between a city’s projected brand and stakeholders’ authentic, often subconscious reactions. The review highlights methodological gaps, ethical considerations, and practical implications for designing emotionally resonant and evidence-based city branding strategies.