Modern society requires establishing ‘native brand’ as a new value added source because distinctiveimage of a country is useful in improving brand value of a country and in extending it as global brand, which are connected with strengthening inter...
Modern society requires establishing ‘native brand’ as a new value added source because distinctiveimage of a country is useful in improving brand value of a country and in extending it as global brand, which are connected with strengthening international competitive power of a country. Especially, as competition among cities increased and the importance of cultural capital increased for productivity of cities, place marketing strategy has also become active.
This study analyzed positively the culturalzone, one of cultural strategies for local development as a type of place marketing strategies. Based on analyzed results, this study tried to suggest problems and improvements. Based on implications from the analysis, this study also tried to identify the meaning of place marketing through creating the cultural zone.
As regard to the sequence of this study, it first examined overall contents on the policies of Insadong cultural zone, which is the concept and case area for ‘cultural zone’ and ‘place marketing’. Then, the framework for analyzing place marketing was drawn and data obtained bypositive survey was analyzed. Finally, this study examined problems, alternatives for improvement, and implications in the policies of Insadong cultural zone.
Results of this study can be summarized as follows.
First, the image of Insadong cultural zone is in a transitional period from a traditional Korean image to a modern exotic image. The cultural zone has to pursue and build its image based on preexisting traditional culture with consideration of past and present images while broadening its image span. The cultural zone should be considered not static like a museum but dynamic like an ever changing organic body.
Second, the problem regarding products in Insadong cultural zone, which is a major point of the zone’s policy, is that they lack characteristics and attractiveness representing the zone. In order to solve this problem, it is suggested to establish attractive spatial functions through events andfestivals, which can represent Insadong, along with development of products branding Insadong cultural zone.
Third, the problem of target consumers of Insadong cultural zone is the discordance between visitors and actual consumers in the zone. The purposes of visits are evaluated positively in that those are mainly for cultural sightseeing such as artistic exposition compared to tourism and entertainment purpose of visit 10 years ago. However, the politic efforts are in demand to reduce the discordant gap between the actual consumers and merchants by attracting various levels of consumers with traditional culture of Insadong.
Fourth, as regard to the zone’s PR, insufficiency of PR on the roles of cultural zone policy and problems of PR media were examined. In case of merchants, many of them did not know about Insadong cultural zone and a few recognized it. Besides, most visitors did not realize the seriousness of the preservation of traditional culture in Insadong. To complement this matter, the self-motivated independent PR on the policy and desirable direction for Insadong cultural zone is necessary.
Fifth, the problem of organization of the zone is lack of collecting opinions from relevant stakeholders and drawing a consented agreement after discussion. The participation of the stakeholders is essential as the collected opinions from the citizens made the framework of Insadong cultural zone in the past. Therefore, in this study, it is emphasized that a new system and a model, which collect opinions and tries to solve problems of Insadong together, needs to be established.
In summary, Insadong cultural zone, to establish a positive and unified regional image, is in need of readjusting its conceptual image, and of establishing various strategies to brand and commercialize the zone with its new image. To achieve these, this study recommends measures such as the establishment ofidentity of Insadong through preservation of traditional culture and unification to a desirable image, the development of brand products of Korean traditional culture, the development of specialized events and festivals representing Insadong, the narrowing of the discordant gap between visitors and actual consumers, the independent PR on Insadong cultural zone policies and its desirable direction, and the developmentof new system and model to collect opinions from the stakeholders.