Confraternities as Instruments of Place Branding
Constructing the Andalusia Brand
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62161/sauc.v12.6178Keywords:
Brotherhood marketing, Place branding, Andalusia brand, Cultural identity, Intangible heritage, Territorial communication, Cultural tourismAbstract
Beyond their religious dimension, Andalusian confraternities (cofradías) constitute a strategic asset in territorial brand construction within the framework of place branding. This study, based on ten in-depth interviews with experts in place branding and cultural communication, analyses their contribution to Andalusian identity, their role in symbolic management, and the risks and opportunities associated with their integration into branding strategies. The findings indicate that these confraternities strengthen the sense of belonging and project an image that is both authentic and emotionally resonant, combining tangible and intangible heritage. Identified risks include folklorisation, political instrumentalisation and social exclusion, while opportunities relate to international positioning linked to cultural and spiritual tourism. The study concludes that their strategic incorporation must be grounded in ethical, inclusive and participatory governance, ensuring the preservation of their authenticity and their value as a living cultural expression of Andalusia.
Downloads
Global Statistics ℹ️
|
0
Views
|
0
Downloads
|
|
0
Total
|
|
References
Anholt, S. (2010). Definitions of place branding – Working towards a resolution. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 6(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2010.3
Anholt, S. (2011). Beyond the nation brand: The role of image and identity in international relations. Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy, 2(1), 6–12. https://surface.syr.edu/exchange/vol2/iss1/1/
Anholt, S. (2024). Place branding: Has it all been a big misunderstanding? Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 20(1), 4–6. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41254-024-00369-y
Bassols i Gardella, N., Hiriart Pardo, C. A., Galán-Otero, M. L., y Lacarrieu, M. (2025). Thinking heritage places in Latin America: Frameworks and reflections on historic urban areas. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 20(2), 155–170. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2024.2403450
Berraquero-Rodríguez, D., y Cristòfol, F. J. (2025). La Macarena bajo la lupa estratégica: Gestión cofrade con las 5 fuerzas de Porter. Cultura Digital, 3(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.23882/cdig.25156
Boisen, M., Terlouw, K., Groote, P., y Couwenberg, O. (2018). Reframing place promotion, place marketing, and place branding – Moving beyond conceptual confusion. Cities, 80, 4–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.02.019
Cadena SER. (2025, 19 de febrero). La Macarena: marca líder en religiosidad y actividad cultural. Recuperado de https://cadenaser.com/andalucia/2025/02/19/la-macarena-marca-lider-en-religiosidad-y-actividad-cultural-radio-sevilla/
Cristófol-Rodríguez, F. J., y Berraquero-Rodríguez, D. (2025). Marketing cofrade en Andalucía: Análisis prospectivo a través del método Delphi. Revista Española de Estudios Socioculturales (REA). Recuperado de https://revistascientificas.us.es/index.php/REA/article/view/27518/24783
Cristòfol, F. J., Berraquero-Rodríguez, D., y Cruz Ruiz, E. (2025). Holy Week brotherhoods and social media marketing: A systematic review. Vivat Academia. Revista de Comunicación, 158, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.15178/va.2025.158.e1583
Cristòfol, F. J., Berraquero-Rodríguez, D., Zamarreño-Aramendia, G., y Alves, P. F. (2025). Innovation and competitiveness in the territorial brand of the Algarve: A comparative analysis of its social media communication and web content. Tourism and Hospitality, 6(2), 88. https://doi.org/10.3390/tourhosp6020088
Cristófol, F. J., Segarra-Saavedra, J., y Cristófol-Rodríguez, C. (2023). Uso de Twitter y repercusión en medios de comunicación de la Semana Santa andaluza ante la suspensión de las procesiones provocada por el COVID-19. Ámbitos. Revista Internacional de Comunicación, 62, 143–160. https://doi.org/10.12795/Ambitos.2023.i62.08
De San Eugenio, V. (2013). Fundamentos conceptuales y teóricos para marcas de territorio. Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles, (1575). https://doi.org/10.21138/bage.1575
Eshuis, J., y Edwards, A. (2013). Branding the city: The democratic legitimacy of a new mode of governance. Urban Studies, 50(5), 1066–1082. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098012459581
Eshuis, J., y Ripoll-González, L. (2024). Conceptualising place branding in three approaches: Towards a new definition of place brands as embodied experiences. Journal of Place Management and Development, 18(1), 61–79. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-11-2023-0109
Fuentes Farías, F. J. (2024). La condición inmaterial del patrimonio edificado. Perspectivas emergentes desde las categorías de paisaje urbano histórico y de patrimonio cultural inmaterial. Apuntes: Revista de Estudios sobre Patrimonio Cultural, 37. https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.APU37.cipe
García Pérez, E. (2024). La religiosidad popular y el fenómeno cofrade moderno en Sevilla: su capacidad socializadora y la cuestión de la secularización. Encrucijada. Revista de Estudios Andaluces. Recuperado de https://grupo.us.es/encrucijada/la-religiosidad-popular-indiana-las-cofradias-de-andalucia-a-america/
Ginesta, X. (2020). The role of a city council in a place branding campaign. Sustainability, 12(11), 4420. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114420
Ginesta, X., Cristòfol, F. J., De San Eugenio, V., y Martínez-Navarro, J. (2024). The role of future generations in place branding: The case of Huelva City. Politics and Governance, 12, Article 7730. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.7730
Govers, R. (2011). From place marketing to place branding and back. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 7(4), 227–231. https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2011.28
Govers, R. (2013). Why place branding is not about logos and slogans. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 9, 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2013.11
Govers, R., y Go, F. M. (2009). Place branding: Glocal, virtual and physical identities, constructed, imagined and experienced. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-24702-4
Guo, L. (2025). Assessing the impact of intangible cultural heritage cognition on sense of place among urban residents. Lifestyle Journal. Recuperado de https://sdgsreview.org/LifestyleJournal/article/view/3992
Källström, L., y Siljeklint, P. (2024). Place branding in the eyes of the place stakeholders—Paradoxes in the perceptions of the meaning and scope of place branding. Journal of Place Management and Development, 17(1), 74–89. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-12-2022-0124
Kavaratzis, M. (2008). From city marketing to city branding: An interdisciplinary analysis with reference to Amsterdam, Budapest and Athens [Tesis doctoral, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen]. University of Groningen Research Portal. https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/from-city-marketing-to-city-branding-an-interdisciplinary-analysi/
Kavaratzis, M. (2024). Place branding “in colours bold”. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 20(1), 25–28. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41254-024-00375-0
Kavaratzis, M., y Ashworth, G. J. (2010). Place branding: Where do we stand? En G. Ashworth & M. Kavaratzis (Eds.), Towards effective place brand management: Branding European cities and regions (pp. 1–14). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781849806398.00007
Kavaratzis, M., & Hatch, M. J. (2013). The dynamics of place brands: An identity-based approach to place branding theory. Marketing Theory, 13(1), 69–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593112467268
Mabillard, V., Pasquier, M., y Vuignier, R. (2024). Place branding and marketing from a policy perspective: Building effective strategies for places. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003286189
Qiu, Q., Liang, X., y Zuo, Y. (2023). “Intangible cultural heritage” label in destination marketing toolkits: Does it work and how? Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 56, 272–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2023.06.025
Reynolds, L., Doering, H., Koenig-Lewis, N., y Peattie, K. (2023). Engagement and estrangement: A “tale of two cities” for Bristol’s green branding. European Journal of Marketing, 57(9), 2432–2458. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-08-2021-0602
Reynolds, L., Peattie, K., Koenig-Lewis, N., & Doering, H. (2024). There’s a time and place: Navigating omni-temporality in the place branding process. Journal of Business Research, 170, 114308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114308
Satish, K., Ginesta, X., y De San Eugenio, V. (2024). Football and nation branding: A case study of Saudi Arabia’s strategy for global football recognition. AdComunica, 27, 27–52. https://doi.org/10.6035/adcomunica.7776
Shakya, M. S., y Vagnarelli, G. (2024). Creating value from intangible cultural heritage—the role of innovation for sustainable tourism and regional rural development. European Journal of Cultural Management and Policy. https://doi.org/10.3389/ejcmp.2024.12057
UNESCO. (2003). Convención para la Salvaguardia del Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial. https://ich.unesco.org/es/convenci%C3%B3n
UNESCO. (s. f.). Cultura de la sidra asturiana (España) [Ficha de inscripción]. Recuperado de https://ich.unesco.org/es/RL/cultura-de-la-sidra-asturiana-01959
UNESCO. (s. f.). What is intangible cultural heritage? UNESCO. Recuperado de https://ich.unesco.org/en/what-is-intangible-heritage-00003
Vera Solorzano, J. D., y Mendoza Mendoza, B. E. (2024). Sostenibilidad y valoración del patrimonio cultural inmaterial de Manabí: Estrategias de fortalecimiento. Turismo y Patrimonio, 23, 127–147. https://doi.org/10.24265/turpatrim.2024.n23.07
Zenker, S., Braun, E., y Petersen, S. (2017). Branding the destination versus the place: The effects of brand complexity and identification for residents and visitors. Tourism Management, 58, 15–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.10.008
Zhang, J. (2023). Scale transformation of place brands: A visual study of Xinhepu, Guangzhou. Humanities & Social Sciences Communications. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02328-z
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and transfer to the journal the right of first publication and publishing rights

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Those authors who publish in this journal accept the following terms:
-
Authors retain copyright.
-
Authors transfer to the journal the right of first publication. The journal also owns the publishing rights.
-
All published contents are governed by an Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Access the informative version and legal text of the license. By virtue of this, third parties are allowed to use what is published as long as they mention the authorship of the work and the first publication in this journal. If you transform the material, you may not distribute the modified work. -
Authors may make other independent and additional contractual arrangements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the article published in this journal (e.g., inclusion in an institutional repository or publication in a book) as long as they clearly indicate that the work was first published in this journal.
- Authors are allowed and recommended to publish their work on the Internet (for example on institutional and personal websites), following the publication of, and referencing the journal, as this could lead to constructive exchanges and a more extensive and quick circulation of published works (see The Effect of Open Access).







