Analysing Thematic Continuities and Discontinuities in European Capital of Culture Videos

The title European Capital of Culture (ECoC) represents an opportunity for cities to enhance their brand image in the eyes of their own inhabitants and the whole of Europe alike; in addition, from a socio-economic standpoint, the title is a catalyst for the city’s cultural development and urban revitalization as well as a boost for tourism. For this reason, it is important for cities aspiring to the ECOC title to make sure that their place identity is well-formulated in all their ECOC-related materials and in line with the expectations of ECoC calls. This article will thus explore place branding in relation to 60 videos marketing and communicating 35 ECoCs in the 2007-2025 time period. In particular, by looking at the thematics enacted in the videos, it will analyse how the videos capture ECoCs’ cultural uniqueness and promote cultural diversity, but also combine it with European and (international) perspectives, thus increasing European citizens’ sense of belonging to a common cultural area. The article will highlight the need for corpus-based Critical Multimodal Discourse Analysis and genre analysis in the understanding of the forms and strategies of place branding in the texts under analysis. In addition, it will put forward the need for joint work between place branding consultants, stakeholders and sociosemioticians in an effort to find best practices for place branding. These strategies can be used by sectors of public policy and urban governance to marketise their place branding in various media channels and digital genres with the ultimate goal of attracting tourism and investments.