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Hello!

Giannina's Story

Dr. Giannina Warren is an award-winning Associate Professor and Senior Program Manager of the BA Professional Communications at RMIT University Vietnam. Prior to moving to Asia, she spearheaded and launched the world’s first MA in Place Branding at Middlesex University London UK, and spent 9 years designing and teaching courses in Place Branding to undergraduate students on the BA Advertising PR and Branding.

Before embarking on an MA and PhD in Place Branding in the UK, her industry career spanned two decades in Toronto, Canada as a specialist in visual identity, branding, advertising and public relations in high-impact sectors such as finance, energy, legal, tourism, festivals and economic development. She spent six years at Toronto City Hall, managing city branding strategies, international promotional campaigns for public cultural events, resident engagement programmes and tourism initiatives.

She is an expert in the ‘professionalisation’ of the place branding practice and has developed a new framework for understanding the occupational resources and responsibilities that place marketers perform in their work. This thought leadership has led to publication in a series of 4* peer-reviewed academic journals, including *Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Marketing Theory, Journal of Place Management and Development,* and *International Journal of Tourism Cities.*

An expert in higher education programme delivery and curriculum design, she is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and the former Programme Leader for BA Advertising, PR and Branding at Middlesex University, managing course delivery across four international campuses in London, Dubai, Mauritius and Hanoi.

Her latest research projects examine the role of sustainability discourses and climate action mitigation practices in city branding; identifying the policy platitudes, political paralysis and PR problems that occur at both the global and hyper-local levels of municipal governments in UK and Canada.

Her recent consulting work includes Sidewalk Labs LLC (a subsidiary of Alphabet/Google Inc) on their recent ‘Smart City’ innovation in Toronto, Canada; a major research project on the tourism potential in the regeneration of UK seaside towns for the British Hospitality Association; developing an Ambassador Engagement Programme in conjunction with Tourism Thessaloniki, Greece; and training agency staff on place branding tools and practices for a successful bid representing Destination Canada.

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