Abstract
City branding brings immense benefits for megacities to gain international prestige in an increasingly competitive global arena. City publicity films, as an effective method for selling the city through online dissemination, could reach and influence a wider audience. However, the deployment of different semiotic resources in the branding discourse in city publicity films remains under-explored, and in particular, the role of cultural attributes in the construction of meaning in the discourse of city branding through linguistic and nonverbal modalities remains unknown. This paper, drawing on theories of systemic functional grammar and visual grammar, examines the multimodal discourse of publicity films of Beijing and London in terms of representational and interactive meanings achieved through various semiotic resources. It is found that, in verbal and visual discourse, both films share similarities regarding enhancing persuasiveness via emotional branding but exhibit differences regarding how to achieve persuasiveness through different semiotic resources that co-construct meaning. The Beijing publicity film blends functional and emotional values while the London publicity film is prone to being more functional. In addition, possible reasons for the differences observed are discussed.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all the editors, especially the Associate Editor Catherine Schwerin for her comments and editing work for this manuscript.
Funding: This study is funded by Teaching Reform Project of NWPU2018; Higher Education Research Fund of NWPU (G2018KY0207); Philosophical and Social Science Project of Hainan Province (HNSK(QN) 16-131).
References
Ahmad, Muhamad Fazil, Zulhamri Bin Abdullah, Ezhar Bin Tamam & Jusang Bin Bolong. 2013. Determinant attributes of city brand personality that influence strategic communication Canadian Social Science 9(2). 40–48.Search in Google Scholar
Balakrishnan, Melodena Stephens. 2009. Strategic branding of destinations: A framework. European Journal of Marketing 43(6). 611–629.10.1108/03090560910946954Search in Google Scholar
Baldry, Anthony & Paul Thibault. 2006. Multimodal transcription and text analysis. A multimodal toolkit and coursebook London: Equinox.Search in Google Scholar
Baldry, Anthony (ed.). 2000. Multimodality and multimediality in the distance learning age Campobass: Palladino.Search in Google Scholar
Bateman, John. 2008. Multimodality and genre: A foundation for the systematic analysis of multimodal documents New York: Macmillan.10.1057/9780230582323Search in Google Scholar
Blain, Carmen, Stuart Levy & Brent Ritchie. 2005. Destination branding: Insights and practices from destination management organizations. Journal of Travel Research 43(4). 328–338.10.1177/0047287505274646Search in Google Scholar
Bochner, Stephen. 1994. Cross-cultural differences in the self concept: A test of Hofstede’s individualism/collectivism distinction. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology 25(2). 273–283.10.1177/0022022194252007Search in Google Scholar
Boland, Philip. 2013. Sexing up the city in the international beauty contest: The performative nature of spatial planning and the fictive spectacle of place branding. The Town Planning Review 84(2). 251–274.10.3828/tpr.2013.14Search in Google Scholar
Brandt, Céline & Charles Pahud De Mortanges. (2011). City Branding: A brand concept map analysis of a university town. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy 7(1). 50–63.10.1057/pb.2010.37Search in Google Scholar
De Chernatony, Leslie. 2006. From brand vision to brand evaluation. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.10.4324/9780080459660Search in Google Scholar
Dobers, Peter & Anette Hallin. 2009. The use of Internet in building the brand of Stockholm: the capital of Scandinavia. In Mila Gascó-Hernandez (ed.), Information communication technologies and city marketing: Digital opportunities for cities around the world, 265–294. New York: Hershey.10.4018/978-1-60566-134-6.ch013Search in Google Scholar
Ekinci, Yuksel & Sameer Hosany.2006. Destination personality: An application of brand personality to tourism destinations. Journal of Travel Research 45(2). 127–139.10.1177/0047287506291603Search in Google Scholar
Fetscherin, Marc. 2010. The measurement and determinants of a country brand: the country brand strength index. International Marketing Review 27(4). 433–451.10.1108/02651331011058617Search in Google Scholar
Gertner, Rosane, Karen Berger & David Gertner. 2007. Country-dot-com: Marketing and branding destinations online. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 21(2). 105–116.10.1300/J073v21n02_08Search in Google Scholar
Gibbs, Raymond. 2006. Metaphor interpretation as embodied simulation. Mind & Language 21(3). 434–458.10.1111/j.1468-0017.2006.00285.xSearch in Google Scholar
Giovanardi, Massimo. 2011. Producing and consuming the painter Raphael’s birthplace. Journal of Place Management and Development 4(1). 53–66.10.1108/17538331111117160Search in Google Scholar
Grossmann, Igor & Ethan Kross. 2010. The impact of culture on adaptive versus maladaptive self-reflection. Psychological Science 21(8).1150–1157.10.1177/0956797610376655Search in Google Scholar PubMed
Grossmann, Igor & Jinkyung Na. 2014. Research in culture and psychology: past lessons and future challenges. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science 5(1). 1–14.10.1002/wcs.1267Search in Google Scholar
Guijarro, Moya & Pinar Sanz. 2008. Compositional, interpersonal and representational meanings in a children’ s narrative: A multimodal discourse analysis. Journal of Pragmatics 40(9). 1601–1619.10.1016/j.pragma.2008.04.019Search in Google Scholar
Halliday, Michael Alexander Kirkwood. 1985. An introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold.Search in Google Scholar
Halliday, Michael Alexander Kirkwood. 2000. An introduction to functional grammar. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.Search in Google Scholar
Halliday, Michael A. K. & Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen. 2014. An introduction to functional grammar. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203783771Search in Google Scholar
Hagan, Susan. 2007. Visual/verbal collaboration in print. Complementary differences, necessary ties, and an untapped rhetorical opportunity. Written Communication 24 (1). 49–83.10.1177/0741088306296901Search in Google Scholar
Hays, Stephanie, Stephen John Page & Dimitrios Buhalis. 2013. Social media as a destination marketing tool: Its use by national tourism organizations. Current Issues in Tourism 16(3). 2111–239.10.1080/13683500.2012.662215Search in Google Scholar
Kaplan, Melike Demirbag, Oznur Yurt, Burcu Guneri & Kemal Kurtulus. 2010. Branding Places: Applying brand personality concept to cities. European Journal of Marketing 44(9). 1286–1304.10.1108/03090561011062844Search in Google Scholar
Kavaratzis, Michalis. 2004. From city marketing to city branding: towards a theoretical framework for developing city brands. Place Branding 1(1). 58–73.10.1057/palgrave.pb.5990005Search in Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen. 1996. Reading images: The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Kress, Gunter & Theo van Leeuwen. 2006. Reading Images: The grammar of visual design (2nd edn.). London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203619728Search in Google Scholar
Kress, Gunter. 2003. Literacy in the New Media Age. London: Psychology Press.10.4324/9780203299234Search in Google Scholar
Kress, Gunter & Theo van Leeuwen. 2002. Color as a semiotic mode: Notes for a grammar of color. Visual Communication 1(3). 343–368.10.1177/147035720200100306Search in Google Scholar
Hofstede, Geert. 2001. Cultures consequences (2nd edn.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.Search in Google Scholar
Hofstede, Geert. 2005. Cultures and organizations: Software of mind. New York: McGraw Hill.Search in Google Scholar
Lau, Ivy, Sau-lai Lee & Chi-yue Chiu. (2004). Language, cognition, and reality: Constructing shared meanings through communication. In Mark Schaller & Christian Crandall (eds.), The psychological foundations of culture 77–100. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Search in Google Scholar
Law, Rob, Shanshan Qi & Dimitrios Buhalis. 2010. Progress in tourism research: A review of website evaluation in tourism research. Tourism Management 31(3). 297–313.10.1016/j.tourman.2009.11.007Search in Google Scholar
Lemke, Jay. 2002. Multimedia semiotics: Genres for science education and scientific literacy. In Mary Schleppegrell & Cecilia Colombi (eds.) Developing advanced literacy in first and second languages: Meaning with power 21–44). London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Search in Google Scholar
Lim, Fei Victor. 2007. The visual semantics stratum: Making meaning in a sequential series of visual images. In Terry Royce & Wendy Bowcher (eds.), New directions in the analysis of multimodal discourse 195–213. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.Search in Google Scholar
Lucarelli, Andrea & Per Berg. 2011. City branding: A state-of-the-art review of the research domain. Journal of Place Management and Development 4(1). 9–27.10.1108/17538331111117133Search in Google Scholar
Machin, David. & Andrea Mayr. 2012. How to do critical discourse analysis: Multimodal introduction. London: Sage.Search in Google Scholar
Matthiessen, Christian. 2007. The multimodal page: a systemic functional exploration. In: Terry Royce & Wendy Bowcher (eds.), New directions in the analysis of multimodal discourse 1–48. New Jersey: Erlbaum.Search in Google Scholar
Mohammed, Jabreel, Huertas Assumpcio & Antonio Moreno. 2018. Semantic analysis and the evolution towards participative branding: Do locals communicate the same destination brand values as DMOs? PLOS ONE 13(11). 1–29.10.1371/journal.pone.0206572Search in Google Scholar
Morgan Nigel & Annette Pritchard. 2004. Meeting the destination branding challenge. In Nigel Morgan, Annette Pritchard & Roger Pride (eds.), Destination branding 59–79. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.Search in Google Scholar
Morgan, Niger & Annette Pritchard. 1999. Building destination brands: The cases of Wales and Australia. Journal of Brand Management 7(2).102–119.10.1057/bm.1999.44Search in Google Scholar
Murphy, Clare & Emily Boyle. 2006. Testing a conceptual model of cultural tourism development in the post-industrial city: A case study of Glasgow. Tourism and Hospitality Research 6(2). 111–128.10.1057/palgrave.thr.6040050Search in Google Scholar
Ng, Carl Jon Way.2018. Performing brand identity: Situating branding in discursive-ideological landscapes. Consumption Markets & Culture 21(2). 147–170.10.1080/10253866.2017.1369970Search in Google Scholar
Nisbett., Richard. 2003. The geography of thought: How Asians and Westerners think differently...and why. New York: The Free Press.Search in Google Scholar
Nisbett Richard, Kaiping Peng, Incheol Choi & Ara Norenzayan.2001. Culture and systems of thought: Holistic vs. analytic cognition. Psychological Review 108(2). 291–310.10.1037/0033-295X.108.2.291Search in Google Scholar
Northover, Jim. 2010. A brand for Belfast: How can branding a city influence change? Place Branding and Public Diplomacy Special Issue: Places for People in a Turbulent World 6(2). 104–111.10.1057/pb.2010.9Search in Google Scholar
Norris, Sigrid. 2004. Analyzing multimodal interaction: A methodological framework. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203379493Search in Google Scholar
O’Halloran, Kay. 2000. Classroom discourse in mathematics: A multi-semiotic analysis. Linguistics and Education 10(3).359–388.10.1016/S0898-5898(99)00013-3Search in Google Scholar
O’Halloran, Kay. 2004. Multimodal discourse analysis: Systemic functional perspectives. London: Continuum.Search in Google Scholar
O’Toole, Michael. 1999. Engaging with art: A new way of looking at paintings. Perth: Murdoch University.Search in Google Scholar
Pang, Kah Meng. 2004. Making history in From Colony to Nation: A multimodal analysis of a museum exhibition in Singapore London: Continuum Press.Search in Google Scholar
Peel, Deborah & Greg Lloyd. 2008. New communicative challenges: Dundee, place branding and the reconstruction of a city image. The Town Planning Review 79(5). 507–532.10.3828/tpr.79.5.4Search in Google Scholar
Philo, Chris & Gerard Kearns. 1993. Culture, history, capital: A critical introduction to the selling of places. In Gerard Kearns & Chris Philo (eds.), Selling places: The city as cultural capital, past and present 1–32. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Search in Google Scholar
Pike, Steven. 2009. Destination brand positions of a competitive set of near-home destinations. Tourism Management 30(6). 857–66.10.1016/j.tourman.2008.12.007Search in Google Scholar
Riza, Müge, Naciye Doratli & Mukaddes Fasli. 2012. City branding and identity. Procedia: Social and Behavioural Science 35. 293–300.10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.02.091Search in Google Scholar
Rosch, Eleanor. 1991. The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience Cambridge: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/6730.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Royce, Terry & Wendy Bowcher (eds). 2007. New directions in the analysis of multimodal discourse Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Search in Google Scholar
Sassen, Saskia. 2004. Local actors in global politics. Current Sociology 52(4). 649–670.10.1177/0011392104043495Search in Google Scholar
Shweder, Richard. 1991. Thinking through cultures: Expeditions in cultural psychology Cambridge: Harvard University Pres.Search in Google Scholar
Stephan, Gramley & Kurt-Michael Patzold. 1992. A survey of modern English. New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Simon, Steven. 2000. The impact of culture and gender on web sites: An empirical study. ACM SIGMIS Database 32(1). 18–37.10.1145/506740.506744Search in Google Scholar
Thibault, Paul.2000. The multimodal transcription of a television advertisement: Theory and practice. In Anthony Baldry (ed.), Multimodality and multimediality in the distance learning age 311–385. Compobasso: Palladino.Search in Google Scholar
Uz, Irem. 2014. Individualism and first person pronoun use in written texts across languages. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 45(10). 1671–1678.10.1177/0022022114550481Search in Google Scholar
Xiang, Zheng & Ulrike Gretzel. 2010. Role of social media in online travel information search. Tourism Management 31(2). 179–188.10.1016/j.tourman.2009.02.016Search in Google Scholar
Yoo, Boonghee, Donthu Donthu & Sungho Lee. 2000. An examination of selected marketing mix elements and brand equity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 28(2). 195–211.10.1177/0092070300282002Search in Google Scholar
Zavattaro, Staci. 2010. Brand Obama. Administrative Theory and Praxis 32(1). 123–128.10.2753/ATP1084-1806320108Search in Google Scholar
Zenker, Sebastian & Suzanne Beckmann. 2013. Measuring brand image effects of flagship projects for place brands: The case of Hamburg. Journal of Brand Management 20(8). 642–655.10.1057/bm.2013.6Search in Google Scholar
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
