Abstract
Japan has seen a growing trend toward establishing regional brands that promote both tourism and local products. Studies have distinguished between two types of regional brands: regional product brands and regional spatial brands. These studies suggest that creating a mutual enhancement loop between the two may be an effective strategy. However, such a relationship remains hypothetical. Therefore, this study explores the potential interrelationship between regional product brands and regional spatial brands through in-depth interviews with 10 consumers of the Itoshima City brand in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Itoshima City, known for its agricultural products, actively promotes both types of regional brands. This study applied Keller’s (2008) Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) pyramid model to analyze the perceptions of the two brand types and used the laddering method to understand their interconnections. Our analysis was unable to identify a mutual enhancement loop in our respondents’ evaluations of regional product brands and regional spatial brands, which contradicts the hypothesis. However, we found that the evaluation of regional products was influenced by the perception of the region’s space, and vice versa.
