*p* < 0.1, \* *p* < 0.05, \*\* *p* < 0.01, \*\*\* *p* < 0.001.

#### **6. Discussion and Conclusions**

This study explored the role of musicals on city brand images in New York and London. The findings of this study showed that younger consumers were found to have more favorable visit intentions in New York and London. Regarding the effects of SNS, Instagram positively influenced visit intention in New York, but Twitter negatively influenced visit intention in New York (H1a). We could not find significant effects of SNS on visit intention in London (H1b). Among the three

musical orientation dimensions, sensation-seeking orientation influenced visit intention in New York (H2a) and London (H2b). Broadway familiarity positively influenced visit intention in New York (H3a), but West End familiarity was not related to London visit intention (H3b).

This study has some academic implications. It is found that musicals could be important antecedents of city branding. This result supported the roles of entertainment content on city marketing [15,16]. It is accepted that traditional advertising and marketing are not sufficient to build city brand equity, and cultural products of cities can be precious elements of city brand equity [2]. This study supported the proposition that the musical industry plays an important role in place and city brands. Musicals are an essential business in New York and London, and this physical element can be regarded as a part of city brand equity.

SNSs showed influences as distribution channels of musical information, and it was similar to the results found in the previous literature illustrating the effects of SNS on city branding [16,33]. It is well known that traditional media have lost their power, and SNSs seem to replace traditional media [20]. Online communication has already become the dominant way of facilitating interpersonal and mass communication. The findings of this study also support the novel roles of SNSs as information providers. The information delivered by SNSs could cultivate perceptions of travelers and lead them to behavioral intention. The more people use musical information, the more likely that they have visit intention. However, the roles of Instagram and Twitter are different. Instagram positively influenced visit intention of New York, but Twitter showed negative influences. It is because of the different characteristics of SNS. Instagram is used for self-presentation, and Twitter is used for information seeking [23]. These different characteristics might involve the influences of SNS.

Another finding is that place familiarity is linked to city branding, and it is in the same line of thoughts of the previous literature [44]. However, it is also found that the roles of Broadway and the West End influence city branding differently. Even though the West End is the birthplace of the musical, associations of musicals and London are weak compared to New York. It stems from the gap of existent brand power between New York City and London. New York has a strong background in various cultural products or content industries. New York is the center for broadcasting and advertising, along with musicals, and also is famous for financial services. On the contrary, London has limited associations as a cultural destination for Korean tourists. It is true that London has strong brand power, but this brand power is not built on musicals.

This study provides a couple of managerial implications. Cultural products can be used as tourist attractions for cities. For example, European cities are famous for classical music. Museums also can attract tourists to historical or natural exhibits. However, we could not find the role of the musical in the city brand of London. It is recommended for brand managers of London to build more strong associations with musicals performed in the West End. Broadway is a symbol of the musical that leads to images of New York, but the West End is as well known to international consumers or visitors. Branding the West End is an urgent task to utilize cultural images of a musical city. Successful case studies could give insightful implications.

Small cities also learn the managerial implications of cultural marketing for cities that do not have enough cultural resources. It is difficult to foster a cultural industry in a short period. In this case, cultural festivals can be an alternative option. A city can develop a cultural festival related to the city's image. The Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland is the representative case. The Munich Beer Festival is another successful case of cultural events. Well-made regional festivals could build favorable city images and even attract visitors to the city.

Another implication is the effect of individual SNS services. SNSs are now major marketing communication tools for companies and public organizations, but the selection of individual platforms needs to be strategically considered for cities. Instagram positively influenced visit intention to New York, but Twitter showed negative influences. This might be because Twitter lost its influence on entertainment content users. In this regard, information channels should be managed strategically to

communicate with musical consumers regarding trips to musical cities. Particularly, media management of Instagram could be fruitful for marketing managers.

In sum, this study showed entertainment industries could be important elements of city branding. Particularly, the concept of orientation was suggested, and this study found specifically to be a motivation of musical influencing city visits. Additionally, roles of familiarity were supported academically, and effects of SNS content should be used in terms of practical strategies.

This study has a few limitations. The homophily phenomenon of the sampling issue could be mentioned because we used only musical fans. This could be an obstacle for generalizing the result of this study. In addition, we could not find antecedents influencing the city brand of London. Even though London has unique characteristics, a weak association between musicals and London is unexpected. Future research exploring significant elements influencing the brand of London is necessary. Further, other entertainment industries other than musicals need to be investigated in terms of city or place branding. This study used only Korean consumers, and future studies dealing with more generalizable international samples will be also fruitful.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.W.; Methodology, J.W.J.; Data Curation, J.Y.L.; Writing Original Draft Preparation, J.Y.L.; Writing Review & Editing, J.W.J.; Project Administration, J.W.J.; Funding Acquisition, J.W. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**


© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
