Small City Branding Around the World

Disney Keeps Living the Brand, While Relaxing Some Grooming Rules

Walt Disney said, “You can dream and create the most wonderful place in the world, but it takes passionate people to make the dream a reality.” Walt recognized that if Frontierland, Main Street, and the Pirates of the Caribbean were going to delight millions of guests it would take dedicated, skilled, trained, and enthusiastic cast members to create the “Happiest Place on Earth”. It would also require that their dress and grooming standards be strictly set and followed for decades.

Most employers impose a dress code to keep things professional around the office. But Disney goes one step further, requiring its staff to maintain what it calls a “clean, natural, polished” look that steers clear of “cutting edge trends or extreme styles.” The company disallows things like visible tattoos or body piercings on its cast members. But now, The Daily Beast reports that Disney is relaxing a little bit by lifting its 55-year ban on beards. The article runs down some of the company’s more unusual rules and regulations for employees. No trendy eye glasses, colored hair, tats, piercings, long fingernails, goatees or moustaches.

I can just imagine the disappointment of some of the seven dwarves, the bad witch in Cinderella, Merlin, Captain Hook and Geppetto if they had to apply for a job through the HR department. And didn’t Walt have a moustache? But then, that’s what makes Disneyland different and I don’t think we would like it as much if everything was the same as in the outside world.

This is all part of the escape that the Disney brand represents, and the cast members are simply living the brand.

New York City Shows the Benefits of Branding Buildings

When I first went to live and work in New York City, I quickly became aware of the branding of buildings and their addresses. I learned that the address of a building was not necessarily where it was situated. This realization helped me make more meetings on time. Whenever possible businesses try to use an “Avenue” address rather than use a less prestigious cross-street address where the building may actually be located. Aligned with this goal of making buildings more attractive is the naming and branding of buildings, including residential buildings. This has elevated branding to being an essential for developers and real estate agents because it provides them with powerful selling tools.

Assigning handles to New York apartment buildings dates back to the late 1800s according to Elizabeth Hawes, the author of “New York, New York: How the Apartment House Transformed the Life of the City (1869-1930).

“I think it was a way of validating the decision to live in an apartment and to give the building a sense of permanence and longevity and breeding,” Ms. Hawes said of structures like the Dorilton, completed in 1902. “It was pretentious, but it was reassuring when people weren’t sure how stable or classy an apartment house was.”

An interesting article in The New York Times explores the concept of the branding buildings.

Shaoxing, China’s Place Branding Pioneer

One of the great bonuses I am receiving while updating my book, Destination Branding for Small Cities, is seeing some of the fascinating brand strategies being developed for cities around the world. One that particularly caught my eye was the pioneering work by Alastair Morrison, CEO at Belle International Consulting in Beijing. Place branding is a relatively new practice for China and Alastair’s brand strategy was developed for the city of Shaoxing.

Shaoxing is an ancient water city with a rich 6,000 year history. Its brand positioning is based on it being a one-of-a-kind place because of its associations with the nation’s ancient and historical times, and its contributions toward various forms of artistic expression, including calligraphy, novels, and Yue opera. It is also famous for its distinctive yellow rice wine. The positioning is captured in the tagline, 'Vintage China'

What particularly attracted my attention was the range of fascinating brand experiences designed especially for the Shanghai expat market. Belle Tourism International Consulting designed and implemented an event titled, 25@100% Vintage Shaoxing Experiences. The experiences inside of this event were designed to immerse participants in the Shaoxing culture and the daily lifestyles of local people. The encounters included the opportunity to be an opera apprentice, cook at a popular restaurant, dream in an imaginary world at the former home of great writer Lu Xun, discover the secrets of tea therapy and glide along the centuries-old canals on a Chinese gondola.

The city has an amazing 6,000 year old cultural tapestry to work with and it will be fascinating to watch how the Shaoxing brand develops in coming years.

All That Glitters Isn’t Always Olympic Gold

One of the first things that I learned in researching tourism strategies in conjunction with the Sydney 2000 Olympics is that the world’s biggest sporting event is not necessarily a boon for all tourism operators or nearby destinations. In fact, it can be an extremely quiet period for them.

Firstly, the “Olympic family” fills many hotels before and during the Games, thus dislocating the normal flow of visitors to the host city, sometimes for months in advance. This includes both leisure and business travelers who will find rooms hard to come by. In turn this can mean that local attractions, restaurants and nearby destinations experience a downturn in visitation. Then during the Games, most of the accommodation is taken by people involved with the event as officials, athlete families, sponsors, media and event attendees. Again, their attention is on the Olympic events, possibly from early morning to late at night. And residents may be inclined to watch the event on television or in public venues rather than visit domestic destinations and local attractions.

In the meantime, many tour operators and domestic tourism destinations find that there’s no gold in it for them. The Daily Telegraph reports that a survey by the European Tour Operators Association of 38 different travel companies - responsible for bringing a total of two million overseas tourists to London each year - revealed that bookings for travel during the 2012 Olympics were down 95 per cent year-on-year, while bookings for travel during the rest of the 2012 have fallen by a fifth. The Olympics do however provide an outstanding opportunity for countries and host cities to take advantage of the unprecedented media coverage to add new dimensions to its brand identity. Something that Visit Britain is working hard to achieve.

So Which Place is the Real Center of America?

Often during our brand workshops for a community someone will say, “this is the best place to live, work and play” or “we’re the center of everything”. Some would even like that line to be the city tagline. I find it a really confusing line because every place can be called the center of something – it just depends on your perspective and the relevance of the things that surround the place. 

‘The Los Angeles Times’ reports that the Center for Land Use Interpretation has an exhibit at its Culver City CA headquarters titled, “Centers of the USA”. The display focuses on all the places in the United States, nine in all, that claim to occupy the center of the country. I guess these are the places that truly are “the center of everything” – in the American context …. or are they?

The exhibit shows that there’s the geographical center (near Belle Fourche, SD) the population center (Plato, MO.) and the “geodetic” center (a few miles outside Osborne, KS.), pinpointed using a method that corrects for the curvature of the earth.  Now there’s even a Google center: the point you reach if you call up a map of the U.S. on the search engine and zoom straight in as far as you can go. Depending on your browser, that’ll take you to one of two other towns in Kansas. And then of course there are other places that simply claim the honor.

I can just imagine fight this must be creating amongst T-shirt vendors. Although, “Osborne Kansas The Geodetic Center of America” does have a ring to it!

Image Credit: Center for Land Use Interpretation

What About Main Street, Mr. President?

I just read that President Obama will be visiting Disney World in Florida today to announce an important tourism strategy. For me, this is good and not so good news. Firstly, I think that it is terrific that he is recognizing tourism and seems to be giving it more than just lip service. On the other hand, I just wish that he wasn’t doing it at Disney World.  Don’t get me wrong. I think that Disney World is great. I was there with my family over the Christmas break and we had a great time.

If we look at tourism using the principles of the “Occupy Movement” (in a nice way), then Disney World is definitely in the 1%.  One of the perennial problems that the tourism industry must combat is a fundamental lack of understanding of what it’s about. For the residents of so many small cities, their first thought when you mention “tourism” is of a Disney theme park and not the potential benefits to their own community.

The reality is that tourism is increasingly important to small communities across the country as an efficient generator of income and jobs.  So from my selfish perspective, I would have liked the President to have made the announcement in one of America’s fabulous Main Streets to bring attention to tourism's contribution to small communities. But I guess that wouldn’t generate the attention (or controversy) of a visit to a Disney theme park! And Main Street in the Magic Kingdom doesn't count!

What’s the Difference Between Branding and Marketing?

We receive many emails from city leaders, practitioners and students around the world. I have decided to start sharing some of the responses with readers of this blog. 

My first is an email from Sharon at a chamber of commerce on the East Coast of the USA, “Some members of our Board are confused about the difference between branding and marketing a city. I am finding it hard to explain. Can you help me?”

Sharon, your Board members are not alone in their confusion because I often hear dicussions where the terms “branding” and “marketing” are mistakenly used interchangeably. They shouldn’t be. There are distinct differences.

City branding provides a framework for organizing, differentiating and focusing around the city's competitive and distinctive identity to ensure that its messages and experiences are as distinct, compelling, and rewarding as possible. Most importantly, it is a promise that must be grounded in truth and reality.

Marketing comprises the processes and actions for communications, product development, pricing, and promotions directed toward facilitating transactions with end customers. It involves conveying the brand strategy elements such as positioning, personality, core experiences and tone of voice.

On one hand, branding is long-term and strategic. Marketing is supposed to be strategic (or at least should be), but it is usually short-term and mainly tactical.  Brands are distinctive, where marketing isn’t.

Marketing is a part of branding. Not the other way around. And marketing alone can’t build your city’s brand. Branding requires that you orchestrate the on-brand actions by a wide variety of stakeholders and partners to ensure that you deliver the promise that has been made.  In essence, marketing is what enables you to communicate your brand messages or promise to customers, while branding relates to your competitive identity and how you keep the promise.

Scotland Launches Year of Culture Advertising Campaign

VisitScotland has launched a new television ad to mark the start of a year-long celebration of the nation’s culture and creativity. The video, voiced by television historian Neil Oliver, is part of VisitScotland’s Surprise Yourself campaign which the organization said generated additional tourism income of £90 million for the Scottish economy last year.

The ad features everything from fireworks at the Edinburgh International Festival to a Northern Lights display, a performance of Macbeth and a Robert Burns storytelling session. And not a set of bagpipes or kilt in sight!

Frank Gehry Weaves More Architectural Magic for City Brands

Bilbao (Spain) is a Basque port city that has a long history stretching from medieval times. But it was  Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum that enabled the city to gain international acclaim. This was the result of city leaders wanting to reposition the place as a second-tier world city - a bold objective for a city that was regarded as a rust belt city. The engagement of Gehry, a stunning new museum and $110 million later, Bilbao has enjoyed a Cinderella-like transformation.

Atlantic Cities magazine has an interesting interview with Gehry and his views on the urban impact of his architecture and how architects can play a stronger role in creating better cities. Gehry says, “The professionals that know my work consider me a contextualist because I spend a lot of time thinking about the environment that I’m working in. I try to respect the neighboring buildings, and not to overpower them or talk down to them. You might not like the building that’s next to you, but it’s there. You don’t criticize the building, but in your actions make a continuum. So I try to do that”.

Gehry's next iconic building will be the stunning Guggenheim designed for Abu Dhabi due to open in 2015. This will be after the Louve’s opening in Abu Dhabi in 2013. No doubt the Gehry magic will work for the repositioning of Abu Dhabi as well.

Is Tourism’s Huge Impact Going Unnoticed?

My colleague Peggy Bendel sent me an interesting article by Rob Gialloreto, president and CEO of Tourism Victoria, in which he makes the case for more action and investment in tourism. While he makes the case in Canada, the same could be argued in many other countries. He states, “Recent research shows the 2010 travel and tourism impact in Greater Victoria at $1.89 billion – in a weak tourism year. But reports like this, while valuable, don't tell the whole story”.

“In today's tough political climate, many different sectors in B.C. continue to put forward remarkable economic impact numbers which, if ever combined, would likely triple our provincial gross domestic product - on paper, at least” Gialloreto adds.

The positive impact of tourism on the economy during these tough economic times has also been highlighted in reports by the U.S. Travel Association.  But as Gialloreto says, “Public funding for tourism continues to plummet even though the return on investment includes things like job creation, support for small business, and stimulation of foreign spending. Tourism continues to be what it has been for years - a vital economic driver that needs support, understanding and, most importantly, action”.

Image: Chemainus B.C. Canada

A Mixed Bag of 2011 City Taglines

The Atlantic Cities has an interesting take on some of the city taglines and slogans that were announced during 2011. Some make sense and seem to be an important element in a comprehensive brand strategy, while others are real head scratchers that seem to be a clever line in search of strategy.  Some are aimed at a addressing a specific problem, e.g. Downtown Las Vegas’ effort to establish its own identity in the shadow of The Strip. Others could apply to just about any other city. While others might cause us as outsiders to exclaim, “So what. What’s in it for me?”  I sense that a number of them are feel good lines for locals and are not part of a brand strategy aimed at projecting the competitive identity of the place for external audiences.

Apocalypse Tourism. Really?

Happy New Year!

In recent years there has been a drumbeat of fear, even on The History Channel, about the coming “apocalypse” caused by the ending of the Mayan Calendar on December 21, 2012.  No doubt that drumbeat will only accelerate in coming months as people see ways to capitalize on the fear generated by the approach of December.

The enterprising national tourism offices of Central America have announced that they are not letting the chance go by without inviting visitors to experience the Mayan sites throughout the region.

In recent weeks I was on a Caribbean cruise with my family and one of our excursions was to the Mayan ruins at Tulum (Mexico). We had an excellent guide who fielded all kinds of questions, including plenty about the ending of the Mayan Calendar.  He repeatedly told us that the Mayans believe that life never ends as it’s a cycle of renewal. He also said that the Mayan Calendar is never-ending and that the ending of the calendar in December also marks the start of a new calendar. What a relief! 

So that’s one less thing we have to worry about in 2012. Now we have to concentrate on the economy. And seeing that it won’t all end in December, I had better get back to writing my book.

So rest easy my friends, and have a great doomsday-free 2012!