Re branding Amman: a ‘lived’ city's values, image and identity

 THE INTERRELATIONS OF CITY 
BRANDING AND BRAND IMAGE 
Branding and image are visual symbols 
that convey an encoded message of the 
city ( Holcomb, 1999 ). Although the terms 
‘ branding ’ and ‘ image ’ have been used in place 
marketing literature interchangeably ( Speaks, 
2002 ; van Synghel, 2002 ; Vermeulen, 2002 ; 
Kavaratzis, 2004 ; Kavaratzis and Ashworth, 
2005 ), there is a distinction that is worth 
noting. According to Cova ( Cova, 1996, 
p. 20 ), ‘ Branding endows a product with 
a specifi c and more distinctive identity ’ that 
is ‘ not achieved through tangible aspects of 
the product ’ . Instead, this identity emerges 
from the perceived ‘ values ’ associated with 
‘ intangible ’ factors such as packaging, name, 
presentation and brand personality ( Cova, 1996, 
p. 20 ). Moilanen and Rainisto (2009, p. 6)
consider this ‘ perceptual ’ dimension of the 
brand as ‘ the sum of all tangible and intangible 
elements, which makes the selection unique 
[ … ] A brand is a
promise
of something ’ . As 
a marketing exercise, branding generates an 
augmented product whose added values inform 
its various functional benefi ts ( Kavaratzis and 
Ashworth, 2005, p. 510 ). Branding highlights 
the intangible values of cities; ‘ Nightlife for 

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