Place-branding in Salvador (1986–2016): city meanings and public policies

Abstract

This article analyzes the construction of Salvador’s place brand (1986–2016) as a multisectoral public policy, aiming to explain the causal mechanisms that shaped continuities and ruptures across successive municipal administrations. A case study design was combined with process tracing , reconstructing processual sequences from official documents, normative acts, communication pieces, media records, and mayoral speeches. The results point to three recurrent mechanisms: the centrality of intersectoral coordination in ensuring coherence between programs and messages; path dependence, leading to the reuse and resignification of frames by subsequent administrations; and the activation of policy windows and external recognitions to re-anchor meanings of the city. The analysis concludes that the place brand is the product of institutional and communicational arrangements rather than merely promotional efforts, and that variations in the city’s image result from the combined activation of these mechanisms under specific conditions of governmental capacity and political context.