Building a brand identity in a network of Cruise Baltic's destinations: A multi-authoring approach

This article examines the process of building a brand identity in the cruise sector based in the Baltic Sea region. The stakeholders in this multicultural case network, which carries the brand name Cruise Baltic, are involved in developing a network of destinations as a corporate brand. The single-case study takes a supply-side approach describing the dynamic process of building a brand identity. Qualitative data were gathered from the narratives of the actors in the network. The research results show how the process of building a brand identity becomes apparent in the networking, cooperation and communications among 10 countries and the 44 partners involved. This evolutionary process could be described in terms of temporal phases on the one hand, and according to the different levels of cooperation between the actors on the other. Three episodes are distinguishable in the process: the initial, the integrative and the identification phases; and three levels of cooperation: the functional, the relational and the symbolic.