Place branding strategies contribute to policy decisions that shape a city. Little research, however, investigates how place marketers influence the decision-making of those higher up in the value chain. Drawing upon Bourdieu's theory of cultural intermediation, we identify where these professionals exhibit influence in a city branding endeavour and what impact they have on policy decisions. We report results of semi-structured interviews with senior place marketers at 13 cities around the world and find that policy decisions are influenced in unofficial, hidden and non-systemic ways, including identifying and working with key stakeholders behind the scenes, playing politics, and applying a promotional lens to policy endeavours. We discuss these findings and their implications on theory and practice.

地方品牌战略有助于塑造城市的政策决策。然而，很少有研究调查场所营销人员如何影响价值链上层的决策。借鉴 Bourdieu 的文化中介理论，我们确定了这些专业人士在城市品牌建设中的影响力以及他们对政策决策的影响。我们报告了对全球 13 个城市的高级场所营销人员的半结构化访谈结果，发现政策决策以非官方、隐藏和非系统方式受到影响，包括在幕后识别关键利益相关者并与其合作、玩弄政治，以及将宣传镜头应用于政策努力。我们讨论了这些发现及其对理论和实践的影响。