The purpose of this study is to examine the contribution of a social institution in public information to local branding construction in the decentralization system in Indonesia in the post-reform era. Decentralization has implications for the emergence of local actors in public information management known as KIM or Community Information Group. As a social communication institution, KIM manages communication and information both top-down and bottom-up between government agencies and the local citizens. This research also discovers that KIM activists perform the Public Relations function in local branding construction. In this study, branding was considered as a communication activity that was crucial in the formation of co-creation and co-production in the local government area instead of an effort of marketing activities.
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