A recent post by Malcolm Allan at Place Matters about the role that airports can play in the branding of places caught my attention. In working with small cities around the world I have been struck by the disconnect between many airports and the destination or city brand of their home area. Passing through some regional airports, with their blank walls and open spaces, its obvious most aren’t making an effort to communicate the strengths and personality of the surrounding region.
On a number of occasions I have waited for my flight home in a very sterile airport of a city where we have been working with an enthusiastic community to develop their brand strategy. Some of our client cities have approached their local airport without success in the hope of working with them to project a stronger local identity in parts of the airport usually without success.
Malcolm Allan spotlighted the opportunities in a presentation at the annual European Regional Airports conference in Madrid. He advocated that airports should be involved in city region brand strategies. He advocates this because airports are a major driver of local economic development in terms of job generation, workforce expenditure, investment in direct business services and indirectly through visitor expenditure. They also have an important role to play in that they are, like rail termini, a "brand gateway". They are a place where visitors get a first "taste" of the brand offer in action and up-to-date information on its offer to reinforce any pre-trip research they may have undertaken.
I am very fortunate that my home airport (pictured) in Portland (PDX) is an exception. It constantly works at being a welcoming gateway to Portland and Oregon through local merchandise, food, wine, culture and art, and displays. Any wonder that passengers vote for it as on of the best airports in the USA.
Bill
Thanks for highlighting my thinking on the role of airports in city branding. On 3 June I will be making a presentation to Oslo Airport and its regional authorities on this subject and a copy of my presentation will be posted on the Placematters web site soon after.
Posted by: Malcolm Allan | May 13, 2014 at 10:37 AM
I agree with you and Malcolm, Bill. Airports often miss a trick by being little more than anonymous retail sheds. Paris CDG has, incredibly, to be the worst example of "destination disconnect" syndrome. Try finding a halfway decent French meal in the world capital of gastronomy's airport - mission impossible. However, their connecting times are so ambitious and internal airport transfers take so long that they do manage to contribute to the city's tourism as a result of the number of times people miss connecting flights, who are then tempted to take the RER into the city to while away the hours before the next available connecting flight.....shrewd or just a commercially happy coincidence?
Posted by: Tom Buncle | May 13, 2014 at 10:48 AM
Nah, Tom! It's a brilliant strategy that isn't immediately obvious to the unsuspecting punters like us. Thanks for your great angle once again.
Posted by: Bill Baker | May 13, 2014 at 08:22 PM
Thanks for your thought provoking work. All the best with your presentation.
Posted by: Bill Baker | May 13, 2014 at 08:23 PM
nice.!
Posted by: sar | July 04, 2014 at 10:34 AM
That is the reason why airports nowadays showcase what a certain city or country can offer to its customers. A nice airport fully equipped with better services ( e.g. air conditioning, escalators, waiting lounges, shops, etc.) is a good shot, a good starting point to every traveller to explore the place. I was truly enlightened by this article. Thanks to you Bill for sharing your big deas.
Posted by: Golla Pitt | July 11, 2014 at 03:24 PM