Small City Branding Around the World

What’s Involved in Destination Leadership Success?

I was delighted to recently receive a copy of my friend Bill Geist’s new book, ‘Destination Leadership’. I found his last book of the same name to hold so many epiphanies in regard to understanding and responding to the challenges that face DMOs. 

I’m delighted to say that this edition again hits the mark time and again. It makes sense of much of the landscape that DMOs are dealing with. It helps that Bill has several decades experience working with over 200 DMOs to provide him with real world insights.   

‘Destination Leadership’ shows how to build the most effective DMO, structure and Board for today’s destinations. He explores the nexus between economic development and tourism, and how places can orchestrate the greatest synergy from them. I found his advice on creating and managing the DMO Board to be particularly important for successful destination leadership. He also points the way for recruiting the best and brightest to the Board.

This is the ideal book for DMO staff, executives, board members and key stakeholders, as well students, academics and government officials wanting to better understand how to introduce and sustain successful tourism organizations of all sizes.

Will Hudson Yards Totally Disrupt Midtown Manhattan?

A recent article in Institutional Investor is a timely reminder that every place, no matter its size or popularity, must always keep an eye over its ‘shoulder’ for unexpected competitors and threats. Midtown Manhattan would seem to be on an unassailable high with new buildings, iconic tenants, millions of visitors and soaring real estate prices. But, amazingly 60% of Manhattan’s buildings are over 50 years of age making the city’s commercial real estate much older than cities like London and Beijing.

But there is a new city rising on the west side of the Manhattan. Hudson Yards is about to disrupt Manhattan as a place to live, work and play. Hudson Yards is the largest private real estate development in the history of the United States and the largest development in New York City since Rockefeller Center

Hudson Yards will consist of 16 skyscrapers containing new office, residential, and retail space. Among its components will be a huge retail center with two levels of restaurants, cafes, markets and bars, a hotel, a cultural space, performing arts center, a 750-seat school, and huge public open park space. It’s designed as a ‘playground’ for Millennials.

Many iconic commercial tenants are planning to vacant marquee buildings for Hudson Yards. While Hudson Yards will be a significant competitor to Midtown as a trendy and modern alternative for commercial and residential real estate, Midtown will remain a formidable tourism destination because of its iconic attractions and neighborhoods.

This is a great reminder that every place, no matter its size or popularity, must constantly innovate, invest and stay on watch for tomorrow’s unexpected competitor.

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

Which Towns Have The Most Unfortunate Names? And Does it Matter?

The name of a place is the most powerful part of its identity. It has often been said that being introduced to a brand is like meeting a person. Their name is important - it’s how we remember them, make associations, and refer to them. It’s as if there is a filing cabinet in our brains where we keep everything relevant to that name. When we hear London, Paris or Saigon, we recall the many pieces of information, thoughts and feelings large and small, that we have assembled about each over the years, even if we have never been there.

I recall that in a survey a few years ago, Toad Suck, Arkansas, was voted America’s “most embarrassing or unfortunate” town-name, in a global poll. It beat Climax in Georgia, Boring in Oregon (and its namesake in Maryland) and Hooker in Oklahoma in a poll of almost 2,000 people by findmypast.com.

The web site and its global network of partner sites asked users in seven English-speaking countries (U.S., UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) to pick from its own shortlist of 11 unfortunate or embarrassing American town- and place-names. True, it’s not the worst thing you might unearth when tracing your ancestry. But some people are disconcerted to learn that their forebears came from somewhere called, for example, Toad Suck, Roachtown or Monkey’s Eyebrow.”

However, rather than feel embarrassed, residents of many towns with unfortunate names embrace their odd names with pride, have a laugh and use them as a feature to promote their towns. Of course, Intercourse PA has done that for decades. Boring OR and Dull Scotland have proclaimed "Boring and Dull Day in Perpetuity" in honor of the two communities. In today’s stressed and over-worked society the prospect of visiting places that embrace boring and dull might actually have some appeal to it. It might create some interesting economic development opportunities for visionary leaders. Make no mistake though - capitalizing on their unusual names will take more than providing a humorous photo-op with local town signs.

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

Avoid a Place Branding Headache: Don’t Hire a Painter if You Need an Architect

I used to think that positioning was the trickiest part of place and destination branding. However, I now believe that getting the RFP or Expression of Interest, scope of work and agency selection processes right in the first place are probably the most problematic and can most easily send a place branding project off the rails from the start.

Many communities do not fully understand the nuances of place branding and are somewhat tentative and imprecise in how they ask for the services required to undertake the process. Or they have been misled into thinking that all they need is a new logo, tagline or advertising campaign theme. This view has been verified in recent months as we notice a steady flow of poor outcomes for communities. They announce weak or bland positioning and cheerleading taglines that are only designed to make locals feel warm and fuzzy, but are doomed to fail with external audiences.

We have seen situations where advertising, web design and communications agencies have successfully pitched for the development of place branding strategies. Unfortunately, few of these agencies have any tourism, placemaking, community development or city brand planning credentials, but that didn’t stop them from being appointed to their first jobs in the field. Branding is strategic!

Yes, creativity and designs are important. But more important is establishing a strategic guidance toolkit to inform your operations, communications and experience delivery. We have even seen cases where cities have simultaneously issued RFPs for web design and brand planning. Of course, they then merged their requirements and selected what they considered to be the best agency to tackle the combined assignments. That’s right. The painter will design the house as well as paint it!

Here is an article in our Library, (Don’t Hire a Painter if You Need an Architect) provides good advice, which, along with the blog by Derrick Daye of the Blake Project provides some valuable considerations for communities about to start their brand planning.

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

Do Billboards Destroy Community Character?

Project for Public Spaces has highlighted an excellent article in the Planning Commissioners Journal (PCJ) by Ed McMahon, who is a Senior Resident Fellow at the Urban Land Institute. Ed is a nationally renowned authority and speaker on sustainable development, land conservation, and urban design.

In his PCJ article, McMahon argues that billboards are not only unsightly, but damage community character. He also responds to arguments commonly heard in favor of allowing billboards.

McMahon claims that “in a relatively short time, outdoor advertising has gone from from small and folksy to huge and intrusive. We have now entered the era of digital billboards – huge outdoor TV screens wasting energy while degrading the landscape and distracting drivers.”

On a recent drive from Portland to Seattle, I observed the size and attention-grabbing techniques of some of these mega-sized digital billboards. I would add that they may also be a tad more distracting and dangerous for motorists than the passive displays of a few years ago. I think in some cases they are also reshaping the identities of the communities that have these displays along their corridors. I’m with Vermont, Maine, Alaska and Hawaii all of which have banned billboards.

I don’t hate commercialism, I just prefer nature and attractive communities a whole lot more. 

Photo Credit:  Los Angeles Billboard - Flickr photo by Awecelia

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

 

It Takes a Culture of Collaboration to Deliver a Place Brand

Early this year, we conducted a Tourism Assessment Review for a small city that discovered that its tourism performance was declining. This was an attractive small city with an historic downtown that had successfully established a state-wide reputation as a destination for antique shoppers. However, our research soon revealed that in addition to facing increased competition from online antique stores, the city’s antique stores were falling short of the “antiques capital” reputation.

It didn’t take long to realize that antique store owners were disconnected and totally focused on their own businesses, making little or no effort for cooperation and collaboration with other businesses or civic organizations. In fact, most store owners did not speak to each other and simply regarded the others as competitors. It seems that over time stores were sold and new owners came in and rested on their laurels in the belief that the city’s reputation as a favored antiques destination would sustain itself without any effort on their behalf. They didn’t realize that the reputation was created by the totality of antiques-related experiences in downtown.

This assignment carried several lessons for the city’s tourism performance. Firstly, the Internet can be a positive and a negative force for some destinations.  Secondly, sustaining a city’s brand identity, whether it has been formalized in a documented strategy or not, requires a concerted effort to collaborate, innovate and manage the promised visitor experience by everyone associated with the downtown.

Even though a downtown may have attractive architecture and well stocked stores, it’s the attitudes of residents and business owners that determine whether a place has a special sense of place and can elicit a sense of loyalty from visitors.  And once the culture of collaboration is successfully established, there must be a conscious effort to “pass the baton” to the next generation of merchants. As for being competitors, the merchants need look no further than a food court or freeway interchange to see fierce competitors working together to create a bigger “pie” so that they can all get larger slices.

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

 

 

Oregon’s Ice Age Tourism Assets

My destination consulting colleagues and I often remark that residents of a city often don’t see what’s right in front of us when it comes to their city’s hidden tourism strengths. Well, on this occasion I must confess my guilt. A few years ago, I worked on a small project for the Historical Society in Tualatin, the small city where I live outside of Portland, OR. 

My assignment was to determine how the city can take advantage of the locally excavated remains of Ice Age animals such as mastodons and giant sloths, and promote how the great Ice Age Floods shaped the local landscape.

Despite having developed tourism strategies for nations, regions and cities, and even the Olympic Games, this is one of the most surprising and fascinating projects that I have ever worked on – and it’s right in my own backyard. And like much of the local population I had no clue about the Ice Age Floods. 

The Floods were one of the most cataclysmic events ever to happen in North America. They flooded Tualatin to a depth of about 350 feet and resulted in several geological phenomena that are still visible today.

A four state trail named the Ice Age Floods Trail has been established by Congress and will be administered by the National Park Service. As the Trail is developed over the next decade, I’m sure that Ice Age tourism will be a term that we will add to our tourism dictionaries.

The lesson for me is that sometimes you have to dig deep to find a city’s tourism assets, other times they come as part of a trend or as in Tualatin’s case, a small group of passionate scientists, academics and residents who have a great idea whose time has come.

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

Sponsored by Place Branding Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

 

Fifteen Ways to Protect Your City's Identity

Duke University, Durham

While many places can’t get past believing that their logo or tagline is their brand, Durham has done a stellar job in shaping and protecting its identity and image. The Durham CVB has paid close attention to the ways in which their city brand can be diluted and lose equity.

Total Destination Marketing developed the original brand strategy for the Durham and during the process we quickly recognized that the city had several unique challenges. For instance, the name of the city was frequently bracketed with the nearby Raleigh i.e. Raleigh-Durham and many important locations and organizations within Durham were frequently credited as being in Raleigh.

Reyn Bowman is the former President of Durham CVB and was extremely pro-active in addressing the key touchpoints that were essential to defining and protecting the Durham brand. Fifteen of these have been captured by Reyn in his blog Bull City Mutterings where he outlines steps that Durham NC has taken to protect and shape its identity and image.

Reyn says that his tips “involve some heavy lifting and they aren’t as much fun as just placing some ads or booking some conferences. But they are as much or more important."

"Think of it this way:  A little courage, determination and resilience can substitute for millions of dollars in promotion and advertising.  Think of it another way.  No amount of promotion and advertising can overcome the damage that inattention to these areas can create,” Reyn added.

I couldn’t agree more. It makes little sense to double down on marketing communications when there are serious leakages in brand equity that are going unattended.

Posted by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

 

A Name Change Strengthens Travel Lane County

In 2008, Total Destination Marketing developed the brand strategy for Lane County, Oregon.  This large region embraces the Cascade Mountains, the McKenzie River Valley, stretches of the famed Oregon Coast, as well as the cities of Springfield and Eugene in the Willamette Valley.

Research revealed that Lane County was not readily recognized outside of Oregon and the name did not project it as an attractive destination. I recently caught up to Kari Westlund, President & CEO of Travel Lane County to discuss their name change and how it has impacted their branding and community relations.

Q. Why did you feel it was necessary to introduce a new destination name?

The concept of moving from Lane County to Eugene, Cascades & Coast came from our local stakeholders and customer groups. Our client groups of leisure travelers, convention planners and sports event planners did not know where Lane County or Lane County, Oregon was. Time and again it was not until we would reference Eugene, that clients' would say, "Oh, yes, I've heard of Eugene," or "Oh, yes, that's where the University of Oregon is, right?"

Q. How did you know if you had settled on the most appropriate destination name?

It came from our resident and customer stakeholder group focus sessions during the brand planning research, and the top three were tested by TDM.

Q. Did you encounter any resistance? How did you address this?

Yes, community leaders in Springfield were disappointed. Historically, Eugene-Springfield was commonly used, and our organization was originally the Eugene-Springfield CVB. Even though the immediate transition was from Lane County, they had a sense of loss for Springfield not being included. All community leaders are seeking recognition for their cities, so very transparent conversations leveraging recognition of Eugene for everyone's benefit have taken place since the new brand was launched and will probably continue to take place as we all watch the numbers and economic returns grow. It is a situation where it is logical, and everyone understands it intellectually, but it is still a bit painful emotionally for everyone outside of Eugene.

Q. Why does your DMO name differ from the destination name?

Our lodging tax funding comes from Lane County. We transitioned from the Convention & Visitor Association of Lane County Oregon. We wanted to leave a trail of bread crumbs for residents and customer groups, and we wanted to stay connected to our funder.

Q. What advice can you offer for other cities and regions that are contemplating a destination or DMO name change?

The shorter the better. The clearer, the better. The easier to say and type, the better. Our former name was 27 syllables long, but our new destination name, Eugene, Cascades & Coast also is long, and is difficult to type quickly without a mistake. It does speak clearly to our location and the idea that we have the Cascade Mountains and the Oregon Coast. Shorter and simpler might have been easier to implement, however.

Q. What benefits or results have you obtained because of the name changes?

Stronger destination positioning, increased recognition and increased metrics across measurable response mechanisms.

Q. Has the name change enabled you to accomplish things you would otherwise have not been able to realize?

The process of engaging stakeholders in re-naming the organization and re-positioning the destination was very powerful. We initially set out only to work on our organizational name, but also changed the destination name as well. During the first few years we made many, many presentations to local communities to outline our process, positioning, and brand promise – and how it can work for them. The result is that we are now more connected to our destination stakeholders than ever before.

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The Lane County experience highlights the need to thoroughly engage stakeholders at all stages of a name change process. While there is often no perfect solution, those that are transparent and take the time to engage stakeholders will gain traction much faster than those that simply make an announcement and never get to fully engage stakeholders. They soon learn that it’s hard to win the game when you are starting in negative territory.

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

Whose Place Brand is it Anyway?

Last week I was reminded of the fragility of place brands and how they need to foster deep community roots from the start of their brand planning process. The marketing manager of a small destination marketing organization (DMO) told me that his city had completed a brand strategy during the past two years which had been well received. But with the arrival of a new Executive Director, they had abandoned the strategy. Fortunately, this was not one of our clients.

This discussion brought home to me that from time to time pivotal people who are essential to the vitality of a destination brand move on. They might be the head of the tourism organization, elected officials, board members, staff or key partners. The result can be that their replacement wants to “do things their way”.

For this reason, it’s important from the earliest stages to ensure that there is continuity in understanding, knowledge, energy and support in regard to the brand strategy.  Of course, it goes without saying that community brands for destinations have to be built following a highly consultative and transparent process. The brand does not belong to any one person or organization. And a new Executive Director should not be empowered to arbitrarily reject a strategy that community members and key stakeholders were engaged in for about eight months. The marketing manager told me that there is now deep cynicism among stakeholders and staff toward starting a new brand planning process just two years after the last effort.  

A brand strategy is not the same as an advertising or marketing campaign. The advertising should be designed to reflect the brand and will change from time to time. However, the brand should be based on the enduring essence of the place and not be changed as frequently as an advertising theme. It’s a strategic toolkit and needs to be given the opportunity to develop deep roots, resonance and loyalty.

Importantly, a place brand belongs to everyone in the community to a greater or lesser extent. It should never be established in such a way that it is reliant on one individual.

Sponsored by: The Essentials of Small City Branding

Tourism Really is About Small Businesses

After delivering a presentation recently a city official challenged me on the notion that tourism in his small city was “a business of small businesses”. I quickly convinced him of this obvious fact by reviewing the “mom and pop” motels and restaurants listed in his city’s local visitors guide. How could this escape him?

A few weeks ago while researching the economic value of beaches, I discovered the following quote from Dr. James R. Houston of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “Perhaps Americans do not appreciate the importance of tourism to the national economy because 98% of the 1.4 million U.S. tourism-related businesses are classified as small businesses, and this makes the industry extremely fragmented”, Dr. Houston said. That’s so true!

I am sure that Dr. Houston was referring to the number of enterprises and not the volume of revenue generated. Nevertheless, while many communities and city officials do recognize the value that well planned tourism can bring to them, many are failing to grasp the fundamentals and their communities are leaking buckets of potential income every week.

Tourism is often dismissed because it doesn’t fit with the general thinking about economic development by local officials. It then follows that tourism doesn’t receive sufficient consideration when it comes to government policies, infrastructure and investment. In the future, successful destinations will be those that treat their tourism-related businesses as  components of a series of experiential themes or clusters. Economic development marketers have been using industry clusters for decades.  For tourism enterprises this provides opportunities for increased collaboration, improved visitor experiences, increased profits and more opportunities to build economic growth through expanding existing businesses. It may also help in gaining a stronger, more unified voice and new found political clout.

Sponsored by Rural Tourism Assessments

 

Are You Missing the Customer’s Most Important Question?

At the invitation of a friend I recently sat in on a Chamber of Commerce meeting where one agenda item was the design of their new website and brochure. Once attendees started discussing the merits of the designs, I was immediately struck by how their comments were limited to their personal preferences and own travel behavior, and were not focused on the Chamber's marketing and brand strategy and what will resonate the most with customers. 

One way to check that marketing communications are customer-focused and convey enticing benefits is to not only conduct research, but to also imagine the customer is looking over your shoulder as you prepare the materials. Or has a seat at the meeting. All communications, whether priority subjects, copy, images, video or logo design, must answer the customer’s perennial and most important question, “What’s in it for me?”. Failing to do this is marketing pitfall #1.

Sponsored by Destination Branding for Small Cities.

All Cities are Competing Whether They Like It or Not!

Several months ago while discussing the possibilities of conducting research for the development of a brand strategy we asked the executive director of a Chamber of Commerce, “Which nearby destinations and cities do you consider to be your main competitors?” She replied, “None of them, because we try to get along with all of them.”

This response revealed two unsettling things. First, though it is your customers who determine who your competitors are, this organization did not seem to have a customer focus or realize the power of the customer’s options or ability to choose. Second, the issue is not simply a matter of “getting along,” it is about generating and sustaining income, jobs, and prosperity for the community. 

No corporation would think the way of this Chamber executive, yet many communities forget that their tourism and economic development programs are not operating in a vacuum. They are operating in a dynamic environment frequently dominated by larger players. It is the response to the city’s external competition that draws partners together. Many of them may also be competing against each other, e.g. hotels, but are unified in winning a larger market share for their destination.

No place can afford to feel that they are entitled to prosperity and don’t need to compete. A place that doesn’t compete, develop a distinctive and meaningful identity and have a laser-focus on customers will fade away and become irrelevant.

See the full article here.

What’s the Role of Airports in City and Destination Branding?

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.

Is Destination Branding Obsolete in the Digital Age?

After a keynote presentation a few months ago, the CEO of a Chamber of Commerce approached me and said, “I enjoyed your presentation, but isn’t branding cities obsolete?” He went on to say that because of digital media, and particularly sites like TripAdvisor and the new digital power of consumers it make branding obsolete. I was reminded of this conversation while reading a blog, “A Cure for Digital Myopia” by David Cooperstein in Forbes magazine.

The issue of relevance in regard to tourism organizations, Chambers of Commerce, economic development agencies and yes, destination and city branding, is increasingly being discussed. Do I think DMOs* will become irrelevant or obsolete? In quite a number of cases the answer is probably yes, many are going to become obsolete. Actually, many of them have been irrelevant and obsolete for decades because they have done little to move the favorability or preference for their cities or generate sustainable ROIs. To be among the “survivors” DMOs will certainly have to adjust to many new realities. It doesn’t necessarily mean they will become obsolete.

I’m not going to bang the drum too much here about how DMOs need to change or they will go the way of the dodo bird. This subject has been covered at length by DMAI and others who have been advocating that DMOs dramatically change their business models. However, I do think it’s important to stress that destination branding is not obsolete or irrelevant for destinations. I might reconsider when I see Coca Cola, Toyota, or Starbucks shutting down their brand departments. Destination branding isn’t easy. Many efforts have not been done well and more focus is definitely needed on using it as the destination’s strategic guidance system. Quite simply, it’s not just an add-on.

The first challenge in adopting this approach is to understand what branding really is, what it isn’t, how it works and how to use it most effectively. Unfortunately, some still can’t get past thinking of a brand as little more than a logo, tagline and or an advertising campaign.  They don’t consider its role as the guidance system for communications, unifying stakeholders, product development and where possible orchestrating the experiences that make the place distinctive.

While the Digital Age has bought many new tools and opportunities, the fundamentals and principles of branding haven’t changed. And it certainly hasn’t become obsolete. But how you go about brand management has changed. Branding has become a whole lot more exciting because thinking in terms of a “digital platform” and not simply in the terms of media or digital media, opens a new world for your destination.

Destination managers now have the opportunity to connect with customers at many more communications and experience touchpoints than ever before to influence visitor satisfaction, loyalty and word of mouth (social media). In this environment, the relevance of DMOs should center on their role as “destination management organizations” influencing all aspects of the relationship with visitors, not simply focusing on sales and communications.

Over the coming weeks, I'll be exploring the benefits, role and challenges of destination branding in the Digital Age in an ongoing series of posts and articles. I’m also looking forward to your thoughts and comments.

*Destination Marketing Organization or in some countries, Destination Management Organization

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

 

 

Confront Reality if You Want a Better City Image

I recently spoke with the CEO of a small chamber of commerce on the East Coast. She said they wanted to “create a new city brand and change their city image in the next six to twelve months.” Rather than outline how we may be able to help them achieve their goals, I instead focused on managing their expectations and what a brand can and cannot do for them.

I explained that branding can, and does, bring short-term benefits but the true value and rewards of branding are long-term and cumulative. After all, it probably took decades to shape the current image and identity of her city. Successful place branding is achieved from many small victories, again and again. A city’s image is the result of thousands of influences and influencers over an extended period. On the other hand, a Grand Slam approach to branding a city on the basis of one big ad campaign is a sure fire way to blow the budget with little long-term impact. True success will only come from the consistency of messages and the delivery of outstanding experiences from many sources hitting their mark again, and again, and again.

Big budgets and better communications alone will not turn around the city’s image if its reality is standing in the way. It could be unattractive public spaces, crime, outdated infrastructure or lack of cooperation between businesses and among government officials that is holding the place back. Today, city branding can engage urban planners, architects, elected officials and placemaking specialists as readily as businesses, tourism and economic development marketers.

The benefits of city branding are considerable, however they will not materialize overnight because it will take time for the brand to gain traction within the community, among key partners and with key markets. From the outset, you must be sure that the objectives are clear and realistic, programs are well funded and that there is an understanding of what branding is and isn’t. This includes ensuring that no one expects a magic wand. And when the brand strategy is finally revealed, that’s when the hard work really begins – and it will take much more than a great ad campaign!

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

Successful Place Branding: Don’t Forget Honesty and Accountability

During recent months I have conducted brand coaching seminars for small cities in USA, Canada and Australia. These sessions usually attract a wide range of interesting and challenging questions from participants. Interestingly, at the end of my presentations in all of these countries I been approached with a surprising number of questions or comments relating to intrusions and interference that had over-ruled or heavily influenced the defining of their city’s branding and tourism marketing. These seminar attendees lamented that they were compelled by city officials to introduce strategies that were deeply flawed and frequently failed once launched.

Place branding and marketing demand honesty and objectivity. Success calls for the city to be customer-focused, strategic, open-minded, and imaginative in order to reveal its brand in ways that will generate positive feelings, respect, and loyalty among target audiences.  It must be crystal clear about what it is, what it does, why it is interesting, and why it should matter to its key audiences.  In other words, success takes brutal honesty and reality-based decisions!

To the annoyance of many city leaders, the commonly held view of their city may be out of sync with what they personally see as its strengths. Successful place branding demands a consultative and community effort which ensures that the reality experienced by its customers must match the brand promise being conveyed by the city and its partners. When a brand strategy is shaped by the whim of an official it’s not likely to generate local support and enthusiasm – and quite possibly miss its target by a mile!

An added problem with city officials heavily influencing the nature of the brand is that in four years a new mayor, city manager or councilor might continue the cycle by changing the brand strategy to mirror their personal view. When we think of accountability in the branding and marketing of cities, we frequently think of the staff directly responsible for marketing. This accountability should also extend to mayors, councilors and city managers because when it comes to the city identity and image, they are playing with public funds, not to mention the city’s economic well-being in the form of income, jobs and new businesses.

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

22 Immutable Laws of Place Branding (And a Few More)

I really admire the work that Ed Burghard of The Burghard Group is doing at Strengthening Brand America to advance the thinking in applying private sector branding principles to the field of place branding. His latest contribution is to take on the challenge of translating the landmark 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al and Laura Ries into a place branding context.  

I agree with Ed’s 22 Immutable Laws of Place Branding, but because it’s the season for giving, I would like to add two more Laws of Place Branding. These concern circumstances that are possibly more related to place branding than private sector branding and may have been missed from the original treatise.

23. The law of consultation. A place brand should not be defined behind closed doors by a select few. It must be defined and built through collaboration and consultation with multiple, diverse (and sometimes non-traditional) stakeholders to engage, inspire and generate future support and on-brand actions.

24. The law of future generations. The long-term vitality and success of a place brand requires that there be continuity in understanding, knowledge and energy in regard to the brand strategy.  The concept of “passing the baton” to the next generation of elected officials, brand managers and partners must be integral to the original brand strategy.  Without this attention we have seen the brand investments made by some cities become diluted and gradually fade away.  Usually, all that remains is a lonely logo searching for meaning.

Given the nuance and challenges of branding places there are probably other laws we can add to the list. But for the moment, if we pay attention to these we will be strengthening the way in which these brands are defined and managed. Would you like to add more?

What is Brand Equity and Its Relevance to Destinations?

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

This email is from Akshar at a regional tourism office in India, “I have seen the term ‘brand equity’ used in regard to consumer brands, but can this term also relate to destinations and other places?”

Akshar, just as brand equity has relevance to consumer products, it’s also important to destinations and places. Another term for ‘brand equity’ is ‘brand value’. Over time, successful places add to their value by generating positive awareness, respect and loyalty through the ways they present themselves. It’s not hard to find places that are much better known and have more positive reputations than others. These could be considered to be places that have strong brand equity.

I like to think of brand equity as like owning a bank account in the minds of target audiences. We could refer to good news, enticing images, and positive experiences as deposits in the bank. But bad news, poor marketing, and sub-standard experiences are like withdrawals from the account. To be strong and resilient, a brand must have sufficient equity on deposit to counter negative occurrences.  And bad weather, a natural disaster, scandals or bad experiences do happen, even to good places.

The bottom line is that the real power of a place brand is in the thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and memories that exist in the minds of its consumers. While building brand equity takes time, it is fundamental to destination branding.

What Are Twenty-Five Essentials for Downtown Tourism Success?

In recent years the travel and tourism industry has proven to be one of America’s most productive engines for economic growth and job creation. At a time when leaders at all levels are searching for solutions to sluggish growth, unemployment, increased competition, and continued economic challenges, tourism is proving to be a valuable investment.

But its benefits are bypassing many communities because they are unable to present themselves as a viable destination.

When it comes to generating or consolidating community employment, it’s important for leaders to note that most tourism jobs cannot easily be outsourced. While jobs in other industries may have been shipped overseas, the tourism jobs tied to downtowns, Main Streets, historic and cultural precincts and natural areas can no more be outsourced than the attractions themselves. A study by McKinsey Global Institute casts tourism in a positive light and predicts as many as one in seven new jobs over the next decade will come from travel and tourism.

There is a great opportunity for convention & visitor bureaus, chambers of commerce, tourism offices and local government to capitalize on this important trend if they adopt the right community-wide approaches for tourism management in downtowns and small cities. Importantly, success in tourism takes more than an ad hoc approach. Decades of developing Tourism Readiness Reports has shown us that highly successful downtowns and small cities are organized and consistently display the twenty-five characteristics outlined in this article.

 

What Are the Seven Keys to Strong Community?

Kaid Benfield recently presented an interesting blog in Atlantic Cities in which he outlined the seven keys to strong community which were created by his colleague Scott Doyon at Place Makers. I agree with the article as far as it went, but would also include the economic dimensions because without them the livability aspects might not be viable.

Here are what he identifies as the seven keys to stronger community:

1. Good governance
2. Walkable, connected, mixed-use character
3. Parks and gardens
4. Partnerships
5. Programming
6. Neighborhood-responsive schools
7. Tree culture

While the list is focused on the sense of community rather than communities in general, I think that pro-active economic development is an essential ingredient. This should focus on the retention and generation of businesses and jobs that are conducive to sustaining community livability. 

Integral to economic development is place branding which directly contributes to increased effectiveness and efficiency in how cities compete and present themselves. Branding enables the place to focus on their differentiating strengths to establish their competitive identity and generate the economic activity to optimize the seven keys.

What Can Disney Teach Us About Urban Planning and Managing Visitor Experiences?

Disney theme parks can be instructive for us when it comes to designing and managing city precincts for the enjoyment of visitors. Disney simultaneously offers both good and bad examples of what to do – and not do. An interview in Smart Planet with Jennifer Gray, an historian of modern art and architecture, provided many interesting perspectives, and provoked some heated reactions in the comments from readers.

Gray says, “In recent years Disney-urbanism has colonized authentic cities. Urban entertainment districts such as South Street Seaport in New York, Quincy Market in Baltimore, and Harbor Place in Baltimore are good examples. South Street Seaport conveys the impression of a once-active seafaring culture, but without the messiness of a functioning seaport – the smell of fish, working-class dockhands, clamoring fish mongers. Instead we find national retail and restaurant chains like The Gap and McDonald’s.” But having lived in New York, I know that South Street Seaport is for the tourists, because as locals we know that it has lost its authenticity and is a ‘Disneyfied’  experience.   

Whenever I visit a Disney theme park with my family, it doesn’t take long for me to be in trouble because I am slowing everyone down. I am easily distracted observing the streetscapes, public spaces, architecture, trash bins, garden maintenance, crowd calming techniques, and even the trash collectors on roller-blades (they add to the sense of fun and can cover more territory!).

There are many aspects of Ms. Gray’s interview that I disagree with, however I always value fresh perspectives on the work of Disney because no other individual has had a greater impact on managing visitor experiences - whether we like all of his work or not.

Can Place Branding Save Our Struggling Downtowns?

I was interested to read the blog in DRUM by Scott McCubbin. Scott summarized the observations of several keynote speakers at the British Consortium of Shopping Centres Conference.

England was once known as a nation of shopkeepers. As Scott observes, this moniker has been replaced by the image of a nation of closed shutters, rusted padlocks and “To Let” signs.  So many of the speakers at the conference raised issues and solutions that mirror those we often find in small cities and downtowns in the USA and Canada.  These typically involve addressing the impact of big box stores on the outskirts of town, cross-community consultation, developing an attractive destination appeal for visitors and residents and creating a distinctive brand identity. 

“The question isn’t how can high streets be saved, but which ones should we save?” was the grim conclusion by Justin Taylor of property consultants, Cushman & Wakefield.

What if Nike Took Over the Selling of Your Town?

I live a few miles from Nike World Headquarters just outside of Portland, Oregon. So Nike is a frequent subject of conversation around here and sometimes we take for granted the brilliance of what they do on the global stage. Recently, there was no stage more imposing than the London
Olympics where Nike was not an Olympic sponsor but had to rely on ambush marketing to gain visibility and project its brand. If you saw any of the Olympics, then you will agree that it was near impossible to miss the neon shoes worn by 400 of the world’s best track and field athletes. That was the brilliant work of Martin Lotti and his team at Nike.

Lotti, Nike's global creative director for the Olympics, told Creativity that his role was to focus on the Nike products that 3,000 Olympic athletes wear on and off the field, from design to deployment.  Painting Nike's Flyknit shoe Volt, as that vivid neon-green-meets-highlighter-yellow color is called, was Mr. Lotti's way to create a kind of "Team Nike." Before London 2012, the company matched the color of the shoe to the color of the individual athlete's uniforms. It looked pretty, but it blended in. This year, hundreds of athletes across different national federations wore the same color, what Mr. Lotti called "the easiest way" to make a splash. This approach further underscored for me the power of simplicity and how it can cut through to make brands memorable and effective.

In the same article Mr. Lotti said he believes good Nike products have four elements: (i) performance, (ii) emotion (a Team USA insignia over the heart, for example), (iii) environment, and (iv) aesthetics. It really struck me that these are among the key elements that we always encourage our clients to address through their own brand management.  This led me to consider, “What if Nike took over the branding and marketing of a city like yours”? What do you think would happen?

Destination Branding is Difficult and Calls for a Different Approach (Part Two)

This is the second part of the blog I posted Monday. When discussing the differences in branding places and consumer products with friends in advertising agencies, they frequently maintain that there is no difference between the two. To some extent they are correct. However there are differences that have a profound influence on the process. These relate to the complexities of ownership, consultation, decision-making, and product development.

A city has many faces and identities. For instance, it may be known as a destination for medical services, culture, education or shopping as well as being home for residents, each with different levels of political, financial and community support.

While a corporate brand may need approval by a marketing team or Board, a city or downtown brand usually requires endorsement by several public organizations in which the players may never see completely eye-to-eye. Another problem for many city brands is that important leaders frequently do not have strong marketing or branding credentials, nor do they have a customer-focused perspective. Yet they can exert considerable influence over the process and end result. A place brand must overcome enmity and rise above politics. Support from political leaders is vital and their understanding must be nurtured because they may not readily recognize the direct relationship between decisions they make on a daily basis and the reputation and attractiveness of the city.

These community-based brands must withstand a level of public debate that consumer brands rarely endure. A city brand must stand the test of time, public debate, political scrutiny, media
questions, and the analysis of marketing partners and residents. The best way to insulate the brand from this scrutiny is to generate buy-in and involvement through an open consultative process.

Place branding usually requires an approach that is more conciliatory and inclusive than that found with most consumer products. For instance, being very specific with the positioning may unintentionally alienate some locals and cause controversy. Conversely, diluting the brand to the point where it pleases everyone results in losing its strongest competitive edge and ends up being seen as weak and irrelevant.

Additionally, unlike a consumer product such as a soft drink, cities are not discrete or independent entities. A city is much more complex and cannot be reformulated or terminated if it is not popular or is under-performing. Even the prospect of changing the name of the city can prove difficult.

Project leaders who are aware of the differences between the branding of places and consumer goods are in a much better position to adapt to these challenges when they become evident. Their
presence should not represent a barrier, but a need for further fine-tuning – and a lot of patience!

This is an extract from Destination Branding for Small Cities – Second Edition.

Destination Branding is Difficult and Calls for a Different Approach (Part One)

I really agree with the comments by Jonathan Bernstein, executive director for brand strategy for Interbrand Singapore in the Cebu Sun Star, who said “Out of all the brands that need to be developed, destination branding is the most challenging.” He added, “Many people confuse a brand for a logo, a tagline or an advertising campaign. With products, companies only need to show the economic value for the consumer. But with places are much more complex.”

He explained so many things influence a destination, such as heritage, history, food and the people while there are many things beyond the control of the destination’s brand developers.

For Bernstein, a brand is a reputation. “Everything you do will build or take away from your reputation.” Bernstein said a brand helps to hold everything together and will serve as a guide for the long-term, medium-term and short-term direction a place wants to take.

I have advocated in my book, Destination Branding for Small Cities – Second Edition that place branding is about establishing a framework for prioritization and should contribute directly to increased effectiveness and efficiency in how cities and downtowns compete and present themselves. It enables places to focus on their differentiating strengths and leverage the combined power of stakeholder resources to establish their competitive identity. However, it is not easy getting to this point. Despite the many successes there are some failures that could have been avoided had participants recognized that branding places is very different to branding consumer products.

The path to revealing a place brand usually involves a multitude of stakeholders and departs from that generally followed for branding corporate products and services.  One reason for the variation is the composite nature of places which are a compilation of many independent and competing businesses, products, and experiences that are owned and managed by many different organizations with no single management team or custodian.

Part Two will be posted Wednesday.

Night Economies: What’s The World’s #1 24-Hour City?

I always thought that because Frank Sinatra sang, “I want to wake up in a city that doesn’t sleep”, it inferred that New York City was the #1 place for night owls. Well it seems that New York is well down the list in a study of the world’s 24-hour cities by Marion Roberts, a professor of urban design at London’s University of Westminster and author of Planning the Night-time City. 

The BBC reports that Cairo was ranked the “most 24-hour” city of all. Next came Montevideo, Beirut, six Spanish cities (Malaga, Zaragoza, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville) and Buenos Aires. London was ranked 17th, Paris 18th and New York 32nd.

Roberts identifies many of the benefits and challenges of managing the night economy of cities. She says, “In the UK, Europe and Australia, a lot of their ‘24-hourness’ has been about extending entertainment and this has disadvantages for city center dwellers unless carefully managed. However, it does generate more jobs, activities and social solidarities.” This is a subject that cities worldwide will increasingly have to address.

Cairo might be the #1 night-time city, and it’s a great place, but I can’t imagine Frank Sinatra belting out, “Cairo – the city that never sleeps!”