Place brands across U.S. cities and growth in local high-technology sectors

•Place brands are conveyed in travel guides describing cities.•Latent Dirichlet allocation of travel guides highlight five place brand dimensions.•Revitalization, Gastro, Local Center, Vibrancy, and History comprise place brands.•Vibrant place branding is associated with local high-tech growth.•Revitalization and History brands have had less growth in high-tech sectors. This study examines place brands in U.S. cities and their relationship to high-technology industry growth from 2010 through 2016. It uses latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) to measure the multiple dimensions of place brands manifesting in travel guide descriptions in over 100 U.S. cities. Findings highlight five dimensions of cities’ place brands: Revitalization, Gastro Hubs, Local Centers, Vibrancy, and History and the Arts. Cities with a more prominent place brand of Vibrancy have experienced more growth in both tech employment and tech establishments from 2010 through 2016. This study has three major contributions. First, it illustrates the value of LDA in comparative research on place brands. Second, it suggests that cities’ place brands are dynamic combinations of five dimensions which collectively produce a unique local brand. Third, the study suggests that Vibrancy is the most effective place brand dimension in attracting tech investment and fostering growth.