Small City Branding Around the World

The Mayor Doesn’t Own Your City’s Brand!

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 election of a new mayor, they had abandoned the strategy. Fortunately, this was not one of our clients.

This discussion brought home to me that from time to time people who are essential to the vitality of a destination brand move on. The result can be that their replacement wants to “do things their way”. It goes without saying that community-based brands have to be built following a highly consultative and transparent process - along with broad buy-in and a shared sense of ownership.

The brand does not belong to any one person or organization. And a new mayor should not be empowered to arbitrarily reject a strategy that community members and key stakeholders contributed considerable blood, sweat and tears in defining. The marketing manager told me that there is now deep cynicism and aversion among stakeholders and staff toward starting a new brand planning process just two years after the last effort.  

The mayor doesn't realize that a place brand is more than the logo he didn't like and it 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 – even if they are Mayor.

Sponsored by: Book:  Destination Branding for Small Cities

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

The Logo Bureaucrats Run Amok in NSW.

Place and destination branding is tricky at the best of times. Among the ever-present challenge is managing the possible influence of politics and the whim of politicians and bureaucrats.

The Sydney Herald reports that the tourism industry, and especially the attractions owned by the Government of New South Wales (NSW) Australia, were blindsided last month by an announcement from the State's Premier (equivalent to Governor) that the state’s government-owned attractions must all ditch their individual logos and replace them with the State Government logo which is the State flower, the Waratah.

These include the world famous Sydney Opera House, Taronga Park, Sydney Olympic Park, the Art Gallery of NSW, the Australian Museum and many more. Each of these enterprises is competing in highly competitive markets i.e. they must have a very strong customer focus.

While logos aren’t brands, they do play a valuable role as identifiers to distinguish entities and provide the foundation for their distinctive visual identity or look. A point of concern in the NSW directive was that the government logo was needed to "ensure consistency across public sector communications and improve the recognition of NSW government projects".

Who do they think is their customer?

Was there any consumer research conducted to test this idea?

What about other elements of their visual identity?

The greatest ‘head-scratcher’ was the statement by the spokesperson that the cost of the exercise would be "minimal" because the ‘Waratah’ was an existing logo and it could do so as part of routine communications updates. Seriously? What about wayfinding systems, websites, brochures, uniforms and vehicles that still have plenty of use? That means there will be multiple designs in use at the same time.

A logo should act as a cue for thoughts and feelings that people hold about the entity. In this case, someone should tell the NSW Premier that NOBODY is traveling to experience NSW government departments and that all of these entities do not share the same brand essence as government departments.

Fortunately, logos are only one part of any marketing toolkit. But this is a very worrying example of bureaucratic interference in the serious business of destination marketing.

What’s the Difference Between Branding and Marketing?

We receive many emails from city leaders, practitioners and students around the world. From time to time we share some of the responses with readers. 

I had 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 e xplain. Can you help me?”

Sharon, your Board members are not alone in their confusion because I often hear discussions 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 your city's competitive and distinctive identity to ensure that its messages and experiences are as distinct, compelling, and rewarding as possible. Most importantly, it’s a promise that must be grounded in truth and reality.

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

We can consider branding as long-term and strategic, while marketing is supposed to be strategic (or at least should be), it is usually short-term and mainly tactical.  Brands are distinctive, where marketing isn’t.

You can consider marketing as being a part of branding. Not the other way around. And marketing alone can’t build your city’s brand. 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.

A City's Brand Strategy Isn’t a Magic Wand!

I recently had a conversation with the president of Midwest DMO at a conference who was being pressured by some of his lodging partners because the community’s brand strategy, which had been revealed three months earlier, had not generated an increase in business for them. While we at TDM didn’t develop this strategy, it did seem to be a fairly robust and credible brand they had launched.

While there may be some short-term increases in visitation, the real benefits of branding won’t be apparent overnight. If this DMO wanted to increase heads in beds, perhaps they should have invested more in their tactical marketing and sales. Even then, it may take time to break through the clutter of competing messages, build awareness and convert interest into actual bookings, unless they are offering deep discounts.

We are living in an era in which some brands like Uber and Air B&B have become household names virtually overnight. On the other hand, others have soared and then crashed just as quickly. Do you remember World Football League, Webvan.com and eToys.com? Cities are different. Their identity and image has usually been established over a very long period, in some cases hundreds of years. They almost always have small marketing budgets, need to overcome generations of preconceived thoughts and opinions, and must mobilize myriad stakeholders, many of whom are competitors, to adopt and use the brand accurately and consistently.

The benefits from city branding, if done well, are considerable. The article, “What are the Benefits of Place Branding?” provides more insights into why the benefits of city branding do not materialize overnight. 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 launched, that’s when the hard work really begins.

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

 

 

Welcome Signs Show How Many Places Are Out of Touch

Welcome signs can play an important role in the marketing and branding of cities. They not only provide a sense of arrival, but also communicate a welcome to travelers and can signal that the place is ready for them. They can also serve to convey the distinctive identity of the place and why it may be of interest to prospective visitors and new residents. One of the most famous of course is the iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign which was erected on what was then the outskirts of The Strip in 1959. 

CityLab has assembled a slide show of some of his favorite welcome signs around the USA. I think that Mark must have quite a sense of humor. Some are funny, some interesting, but unfortunately many of them reflect small towns that are totally out of touch with the needs and interests of prospective visitors and new residents.

At a time when places of all sizes are locked in competition for their economic well-being, I found myself looking at many of the signs and asking “who would care?”  The signs reminded me that cities of all sizes in the next decade will have to work much harder at marketing themselves and developing a competitive identity than they have done in the past. Their audiences are becoming more discerning and demanding and their competitors are increasing and becoming more sophisticated. There are so many other choices.

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

Place Branding: What’s the Difference Between Theory and Practice?

I was honored to recently speak at the Inaugural International Place Branding Association Conference in London. This was a very stimulating and informative event with academics and professionals involved in the principles and practices of brand development and brand management for places (cities, regions, nations and destinations).

With such an eclectic audience, the focus of my presentation was on the differences between theory and practice in place branding. To start my presentation, I borrowed from the German statesman Otto von Bismarck who said, “politics is the art of the possible, the attainable … the art of the next best”. I believe that because politics and place branding are so inextricably linked we can easily substitute “place branding” for “politics” in von Bismarck’s statement.

Some of the main points of the presentation were:

1. The #1 challenge in place branding is the lack of understanding and awareness of what it is and how to utilize it successfully.

2. Good theory should be simplified to underpin and improve practice.

3. Our peers are not our clients: We must focus on the practicalities of what will be understood, valued, implemented and  sustainable for our clients.

4. Words have meaning. There needs to be a clearer and better defined vocabulary used by clients, practitioners and academics in regard to place branding.

5. While it may sound great in theory, an overarching brand for a city isn’t always possible. There may be power and budget struggles within the city with no agreement as to who should lead the branding effort. At the same time, there may be different budgets, objectives, customer hot buttons, control and silos in competition to influence the project.

6. Projects may involve balancing many conflicting and competitive interests within the location.

All of these points help validate the view that “place branding is the art of the possible, the attainable … the art of the next best”.

Or you may prefer Yogi Berra’s take, “In theory, there’s no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is!”

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

 

 

Showing Why Nation Branding Matters

The Olympic Games provide an interesting backdrop to observe an alternate competition between nations that isn’t happening on the playing field but in the court of public opinion. It seems that each Olympiad brings ever more intensive efforts to leverage the spotlight to gain recognition and enhance the image of nations in regard to tourism, trade and public diplomacy.

Nation branding and marketing were on display over the past weeks from the Japanese Prime Minister appearing at the closing ceremony to present Japan as cool and tech while dressed as Nintendo’s Super Mario, the Ethiopian marathon runner drawing attention to the persecution of the Oromo people in his country, to the black eye that the reputation of the USA received with the exploits of Ryan Lochte. And not to mention the panorama and iconic views of Rio broadcast to the world.

Nation branding is now firmly on the radar of the esteemed Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Wharton marketing professor David Reibstein has collaborated with U.S. News & World Report to produce the Best Countries Rankings. Reibstein has also produced a series of articles exploring the many facets of nation branding and why it matters. For the report, Reibstein and colleagues surveyed more than 16,000 global citizens on 65 different national attributes.

Just as Nike, Adidas and Puma are locked in brand battles at the Olympics, I am sure that future Olympiads will see more intensive competition between nations building their brands to establish their relevance, reputation and respect as international players.

I can’t wait to see what other costumes Japan’s high profile brand ambassadors will wear in 2020.

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

 

Top 5 Place Branding Books to Read in 2016

 

I was pleasantly surprised and very honored to recently see my book listed as a "must read". Just in time for Northern Hemisphere summer break, Place Brand Observer (PBO) has released a list of the Top 5 Place Branding books to read in 2016. Their list contains books recommended by place brand experts in PBO interviews.

The role of PlaceBrandObserver.com is to build bridges between place branding thinkers, shakers and doers, and to provide useful information, research insights and examples of credible, authentic place brands and responsible, sustainable branding, promotion and positioning of cities, regions, countries, nations, and destinations. In a nutshell they're a great source of information on place branding.

The books they listed are:

Top 1: Rethinking Place Branding: Comprehensive Brand Development for Cities and Regions. Edited by Mihalis Kavaratzis, Gary Warnaby, Gregory Ashworth (2014, Springer)

Top 2: Nation Branding, Concepts, Issue and Practice, Edited by Keith Dinnie (2nd Edition, 2015, Routledge)

Top 3: Destination Branding for Small Cities, By Bill Baker (2012, Creative Leap Books)

Top 4: Places: Identity, Image and Reputation, by Simon Anholt (2009, Palgrave MacMillan)

Top 5: Marketing Places, By Philip Kotler, Ronald Haider, Irving Rein (2002, Free Press)

Now to catch-up on my reading!

Posted by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

Chattanooga Leads with Frontline Destination Training

When we conduct a brand audit or tourism assessment 9 times out of 10 participants identify a destination weakness as being the lack of knowledge of the local area by front-line hospitality staff. Despite how many DMOs recognize this as a problem, so very few ever do anything about it.

This week I was delighted to see the great work being undertaken by Chattanooga Visitors Bureau and Phil Bruno at Treat ‘em Right.

Not only has Chattanooga recognized the importance of front line destination training, for 25 years the Chattanooga Visitors Bureau has sponsored a live training event for workers to kick off the summer season.

In early June, 2100 ticket takers, servers, desk clerks and more attended four 60 minute sessions presented by Treat 'em Right Seminars. That's 25% of the 8200 tourism related jobs in the city!

There are so many benefits to a program like this: more satisfied visitors, longer stays, increased revenue, wider dispersal of visitors, increased return visitors and not to mention a stronger cross-selling network between tourism industry partners. 

Well done, Phil Bruno and Chattanooga!

 Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

 

Google Trekker Brings Oregon Destination Brand to Life

 

I recently posted about how the importance of place brands has not diminished because of the myriad new digital communications platforms. However, the ways that places go about branding has changed. This is perfectly demonstrated by our client Travel Lane County (Oregon) in marketing their destination region, Eugene, Cascades & Coast.

Several years ago we developed the brand strategy for Eugene, Cascades & Coast. Since then, Kari Westland and her team have been really inventive in the ways they have gone about building the destination brand.  

The Eugene, Cascades & Coast brand is founded on the county having Oregon’s most accessible adventure experiences where you can easily find yourself hiking to spectacular waterfalls or endless public beaches, kayaking white water or ocean estuaries, cycling through wine country or on Oregon's best trails.

Travel Lane County is constantly introducing innovative ways to bring the brand to life. Their latest initiative is Google Trekker which harnesses the latest technology, similar to Google's "street view” to make the destination’s abundant pedestrian trails accessible to viewers around the world. The Google Trekker is a backpack system crowned by rotating cameras capturing 360-degree views. The images are stitched together creating a visually immersive experience. When backpacking wasn't an option, they strapped the Google Trekker camera to boats, horses and bicycles.  

Another new initiative is Pinot Bingo. This is a fun, interactive way to tour South Willamette Valley Wine Country. It's easy to play. Visit a winery. Ask them to stamp your bingo card in their numbered space. When you bingo card is full redeem it at the Adventure Center for your prize. I wonder how this can be combined with Google Trekker.

I can't wait to see their next innovations to bring the Eugene, Cascades & Coast brand to life.

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

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Benefits of a Brand Audit: The Case of the Poorly Fitting Suits

I have been reading a case study about Malaysia as a destination with global appeal in the book, "Stop Advertising Start Branding: How to Build the Brand That Will Build Your Business" by Marcus Osborne. I was quickly struck by how a comprehensive brand audit can not only fine-tune a destination's brand positioning and platform, but can directly contribute toward major cost savings and efficiency.

The case in point was when Malaysia had been spending about US$7 million per year advertising itself as a shopping destination to the Middle East. The advertising was generating prospective Arab shoppers who went to the stores in Malaysia with pockets full of cash only to find that clothing sizes were too small.  Many visitors from the UAE and Saudi Arabia had been suitably impressed by the design and quality of the clothes on offer, but they had almost all returned home without buying any of this merchandise. The items they liked were designed to fit Malaysians - and both men’s and women’s clothes were too small for the bigger-build of the Middle Eastern visitors.

Unless the Malaysian garment-makers and retailers were prepared to manufacture and carry stock specifically intended for sale to overseas purchasers, the idea of targeting long-haul shoppers from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States was simply never going to work.

The moral is to do thorough research with open-ended questions and carefully match your end products and experiences with target market needs before investing in efforts to demonstrate brand capabilities. And, of course, initiate outreach to key local stakeholders to get their buy-in and input. In this case, the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers who had failed to convince its members to manufacture larger clothing to meet the needs of foreign visitors who may be arriving in large numbers.

It’s a great reminder that a brand is nothing more than a valued and distinctive promise that must be consistently delivered. The Malaysian experience also demonstrates that when it comes to international destination marketing and branding, one size cannot fit all. No pun intended!

Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Best Selling Book: Destination Branding for Small Cities

Kindle Version of Stop Advertising Start Branding

The Keys to Measuring Place Branding

My colleague, Dr Florian Kaefer at Place Brand Observer wrote an interesting article on evaluating place brands which has been published by fDIntelligence (Financial Times).  Florian presents techniques for a variety measures to monitor and evaluate place branding.

I particularly liked the comment by Mr Boisen from the University of Groningen who said, "in place branding we deal with the overall perception of the place, and there are many factors that influence this perception. A lot of these factors are external, and often beyond the influence of organizations in charge." To simply measure the success of a city brand in terms of bed nights and changes in revenue can distract from the underlying issues influencing demand.

In my book, Destination Branding for Small Cities, I presented some of the criteria and methods to consider when evaluating the brand, beyond the normal visitor performance measures. These include:

Brand adoption by stakeholders: Review commercial, government, cultural and community organizations to gauge the extent of their adoption of the brand - beyond the logo and tagline use. Consider the content and accuracy of brand elements in publications, websites and other communications.

Community pride and brand support: Conduct a survey of residents, businesses, tourism, government organizations. Repeat every two years.

Co-operative support: Track the level of participation in the city’s cooperative marketing.

Customer profiles: Assess shifts in customer profiles and source markets.

Customer satisfaction: Conduct ongoing customer surveys to monitor satisfaction with your experience delivery.

Brand consistency: Review the appearance and content of all marketing materials that project the city including those produced outside of the area, e.g. tour operators, websites.

Media coverage: Monitor the media for use of desired brand messages.

Stakeholder feedback: Survey key stakeholders, partners, and city messengers to review and monitor brand development issues.

Attitudes toward the city: Monitor shifts in customer attitudes, perceptions, and image of the city.

 Produced by: Total Destination Marketing

Recommended 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.

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

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.

 

Why Brands Matters More Than Ever In the 21st Century

From time to time we hear some people say that in today’s Digital Age brands are now irrelevant. We usually find that their understanding of a brand extends little beyond a logo and an advertising campaign.  In a recent edition of Forbes, David Cooperstein debunked this notion and highlighted why brands matter. He said, “I think we are at the beginning of a new brand journey. This is one that reacquaints the brand with the business strategy, elevates the CMO and marketing team to the level of business strategist, and reconnects sight, sound and motion but in a digital context, and creates differentiation beyond the campaign. I feel good vibes from brand and creative folks that they get the need to reinforce their brand across all touchpoints, and that advertising is merely one part of the process.”

While place branding is being successfully adopted around the world, there are some who still mistakenly regard it as a fad. In examining their critique, I often find that they don’t really understand the concept. They particularly don’t consider its benefits in providing a strategic framework.

I really like the perspective that my friend Malcolm Allan at Colliers International in London gave in my book on this observation. “Place branding is a relatively new discipline and its small but growing band of adherents and practitioners have often been received with disdain and disbelief by people from established professions in town planning, economic development and tourism, numbers of whom regard it as a passing fad, just a new way of sexing-up traditional approaches to city planning, marketing and place making. As a qualified practicing town planner and economic development professional for over thirty years, I see it very differently. For me the key word is strategy as in place, city or development brand strategy. I have often been struck by the power of major lasting brands to meet the changing needs of their customers whilst remaining true to their purpose and values – they provide a much needed (and proven) strategic guidance system.”

I know that when cities and other places recognize the power of a brand strategy they are then able to be more competitive and enjoyable. Achieving this takes a strategic guidance system that reaches across the city and takes a holistic view of its relationship with customers.

 

TDM can help: Place Branding

 

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.

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.