Brandopia is the world's first weblog dedicated exclusively to destination branding issues - from restaurants to resorts to regions - with a few cities, counties and countries also being featured.
Hope you enjoy the tour, but watch out for some cultural collisions, conflicts and contradictions - the mother-lode of many big brand ideas!
A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers
DES: Blackpool, the English seaside resort in Lancashire, has just launched a YouTube video aimed at attracting visitors from France.
TINA: A brave attempt that's sadly destined to fail - both for the French as well as for the Brits - at home and abroad.
DES: And the main reason?
TINA: The wrong cultural code. You see, the code for Blackpool is: 'Electric-City'.
DES: A code that has powered the most successful British resort for over 100 years.
TINA: But now in this new 21st century, Blackpool needs its code updated.
DES: We discussed this very point during our creative conversation back in May 2007.
"When your destination brand idea is off-code - you're off-track"
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A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers
DES: Back in 2005 we discussed a big brand idea for London's Brompton Road, then one of the worst-performing commercial streets in one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in the city.
TINA: Four years is a long time in destination branding, so we were delighted when Kevin Caruth the founder of Urban Gentry: London tours for the savvy visitor, brought us right up to date with what was happening in Brompton - in 2009.
DES: According to KevinC, Brompton has been very active in positioning the area as a 'design district' especially around the London Design Festival each September.
TINA: He recommends it as "A must for any design buffs visiting London" - "Where you can combine the top end luxe brands with independent, quirky stores."
DES: Music to our ears.
TINA: A destination brand concentrated on a single big brand idea which also has a future-focus.
"First attract with a single branded proposition, then distract with multiple products and experiences ."
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A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers
DES:
Our new French restaurant client has given us one of our biggest destination branding challenges yet.
TINA: Not only are they just 4 months young in a recessionary market, but their primary competitor is formidable - boasting a Michelin star rating and over 12 years experience in the marketplace.
DES: It's time for a bit of marketecture - re-designing the structure of the marketplace's positive perception of the Michelin star rating.
TINA: Somehow, we've got to find the weakness in the strength of the Michelin rating system.
DES: A little bit of research has uncovered a distinct possibility.
TINA: Yes, back in 2004, a whistleblower from within the Michelin organisation, Pascal Rémy, a Michelin inspector wrote a tell-all book in 2004, claiming that Michelin had become extremely lax in its standards. He gave evidence that, though the guide claims to visit all reviewed restaurants every 18 months in order to keep the guide up to standards, they are actually visited about every 3.5 years, unless a specific complaint had been made.
DES:
Throwing some doubt on the gold standard for quality restaurants is a
game we've got to start playing if our client is to make serious
inroads in its marketplace.
TINA: It's now a question of prospects preferring either frequent, consistent, good standards or infrequent, inconsistent, great standards.
DES: Chances are the
'high-end' segment would continue to frequent the Michelin-rated
competitor, while the 'aspirational' segment now has a serious alternative in
the form of our client.
TINA: What's more, it's those very same aspiring customers that we would call upon to do the mystery testing - not just once every year or two - but every time they frequent our client's restaurant.
DES: A year is a long time in the restaurant industry - 3.5 years is even longer - chefs and kitchen staff change, suppliers and their supplies change, even ownership could change.
TINA: It's going to be a tough 'David' vs 'Goliath' bun fight this summer.
'Brand' the Marketect says:
"Often times, simply focusing on a destination's brand strategies isn't good enough. You've got to throw doubt on the market's measurement of performance standards."
Notes: For more powerful marketecture strategies, please read 'The Impossible Advantage' by Bucholz, Wordemann & Wiley
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A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers
DES: It was reported yesterday, that Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, is to invest just under £1million to encourage entrepreneurship in Cyprus as part of a strategy to help bridge the cultural and political divide between the island's north and south.
TINA: We discussed this very subject under a creative conversation titled One-Brand-Two-Brand-Owners.
DES: Sir Stelios clearly understands the brand concept that big brand ideas could be found at the intersection where cultures collide, conflict, contradict and clash.
TINA: He was quoted as saying: "When money talks, people set aside their differences."
DES:
Watch this place as a big brand idea unfolds for this divided nation.
'Brand' the Marketect says:
"Only place pioneers rush in where cultures clash and collide"
A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers
DES: Both of us were saddened at how poor the quality of the destination branding was at last week's Best of British Travel Trade Forum at London's Excel.
TINA: It seems the larger the brand, the worse the branding got.
DES:From country brands such as England, Wales and Scotland to regional brands such as South West and South East England to county brands such as Somerset, Northumberland and East & West Sussex.
TINA: It seems they were all playing the 'come visit us because we've got everything for you branding game' - from heritage and history to landscapes and architecture.
DES: Even our favourite county brand - Kent - seems to be getting a tad bored with its big brand idea: The Garden of England.
TINA: While the state of UK destination branding is pretty desperate, we did however find a rare glimmer of hope.
DES:
Yes, well done the county of Warwickshire, totally focused on its major asset: Shakespeare.
TINA: Its sub-brands - Warwick Castle, Rugby, Coventry and Leamington Spa - all taking a backseat to Shakespeare's birthplace: Stratford-upon-Avon.
DES: Warwickshire has certainly bought into our brand mantra: Find a narrowly-focused big brand idea from your past but which also has a big future
TINA: So Shakespeare Country can't just rest on its quill pen, it now needs to future-focus Shakespeare's great works - from Hamlet to Twelfth Night - by not only making the plays and poems of the Great Bard relevant to contemporary society, but it must also script out a prosperous future.
'Brand' the Marketect says:
"First attract with a single branded proposition, then distract with multiple products and experiences ."
A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers
DES:
Joel Comm's new book - Twitter Power - has finally persuaded us both to join the ranks of the Twitterati.
TINA: Arguably, one of the better tomes on how to leverage this incredible tool, Twitter Power is jam-packed with clever ways to start and dominate a marketplace.
DES: I was particularly interested in Chapter 8: Using Twitter to help build a brand.
TINA: From creating a story to actually writing the tweets.
DES: The examples of three well-known destinations: Starbucks, Whole Foods Market and The Home Depot, were very thought-provoking.
TINA: Starbucks, for example, appears to be using the site as an extension of its customer service.
DES: Tweets are mostly from a customer service representative answering questions in a laid-back style of baristas chatting with their customers in the coffee shop itself.
TINA: Whole Foods on the other hand, uses its site to convey the story of its brand, complete with green background and matching green images.
DES: While the Home Depot offers not only short seasonal tips but also suggests where followers can find solutions to their home improvement projects.
TINA: Finally, Starbucks has a second Twitter account that supports its My Starbucks Idea website by letting followers know what's happening to their ideas, and to thank them.
DES:
Joining the Twitterati is going to be a whole-new experience and adventure for the two of us.
TINA: And with Twitter Power to guide us, I think we're in pretty good hands.
'Brand' the Marketect says:
"Twitter goes way beyond its simple question: What are you doing? ."
A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers
DES:
For inspired big brand ideas, the five islands comprising the Channel Islands are arguably some of the best destinations to study and immerse oneself - in terms of cultural contradictions and collisions.
TINA: Starting off with the fact that none of the islands are really in the English Channel at all but lie scattered along the Gulf of St Malo, their closest point to France being just eight miles from the Cherbourg peninsula.
DES: Also, they are neither sovereign states nor colonies. They're British, but don't belong to the United Kingdom.
TINA: And they are partly within the European Union but partly outside it.
DES: Now they do have their own language, but everyone speaks English.
TINA: However they do 'bow the knee' to Her Majesty's Government in the UK, but loyally toast the Queen of England as 'Our Duke of Normandy'.
DES:
Financially, they have their own banknotes, but deal in Pounds and Pence.
TINA: But they do hold elections, however there are no party politics.
DES: They flourish in a democratic age, while preserving the world's last bastion of feudalism.
TINA: And they attract rich tax exiles who drive Porsches and Jaguars, yet nowhere does the speed limit exceed 40mph (64 kph).
DES: They formed the setting for Bergerac - a popular British TV detective series of the 1980's - yet they have one of the lowest crime rates in Europe.
TINA: And finally, they have a distinct Gallic flavour, yet have an embedded Anglo-Saxon culture.
DES: Welcome to the Capital of Cultural Contradictions, Collisions and Conflicts.
'Brand' the Marketect says:
"Find your big brand ideas at the intersection where cultures collide, clash, conflict and contradict."
A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers
DES:
At last week's glittering Gatwick Diamond Business Awards, celebrity guest speaker, Declan Curry, BBC presenter of the Working Lunch programme, was reported to have let slip his now infamous remark: "Crawley is a dump!"
TINA: Sadly, for this English town near Gatwick Airport, the internal reality is far removed from its external perception.
DES: A couple of years back I recall us having a creative conversation - Crawley: New Town New Culture - as to what Crawley's civic leadership needs to do about its negative image and reputation.
TINA: It seems our comments have fallen on deaf years.
DES: OK Tina, let's see if we can come up with a couple of specifics for the people of this deserving town.
TINA: Well, as it's all about the culture of the people of Crawley and its 'chav-central' identity, I would recommend kicking off with an annual civic event aimed specifically at the youth of the town - the 18 year olds - who are transiting into adulthood, by introducing them to not only their new rights as citizens but also to their new responsibilities.
DES:
A powerful annual ritual to help the next-generation young adults through a difficult and impressionable phase in their lives.
TINA: Then, I would piggy-back on the town's major asset: Gatwick Airport, which has over the years built a positive reputation - worldwide!
DES: Welcome to Crawley-by-Gatwick.
TINA: Inspired by Henley-on-Thames, Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh, Leamington Spa and Stratford-upon-Avon, to name just five places that have associated themselves with their major asset.
'Brand' the Marketect says:
"If changing your negative name proves too politically difficult, simply co-brand with your major asset and bask in its reflective glory.
A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers
DES: Evo Morales, the Bolivian leader, ate a coca leaf in front of delegates at a UN summit this week to underline his demand that the raw ingredient of the cocaine drug should be allowed for medicinal purposes.
TINA: A former coca farmer, President Morales brandished the leaf stating that the coca leaf was not cocaine and part and parcel of a culture.
DES: You may recall that a few months back in 2008, Red Bull, the energy drink company, launched its new cola drink touting its natural flavours were derived from the Coca leaf and the Kola nut.
TINA: A perfect opportunity to co-brand product with place - Red Bull Cola with Bolivia.
DES: Some of our place pioneering readers are probably wondering what all this has to do with Bolivia's country brand strategy?
TINA: Well, they simply need to re-visit our creative conversation: Bolivia - Coca Country or Cocaine Country?.
'Brand' the Marketect says:
"Co-branding a product with a place, is one of the most powerful brand building strategies available."
A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers
DES: According to the Indonesia-based Bedrock Asia branding agency, when you ask non-Indonesians - Americans and Europeans - 'Where is Indonesia?' and 'Where is Bali?', the answers may somewhat be surprising: 'Bali is an island/country near Australia and Singapore'. Also, 'Bali is not in Indonesia'.
TINA: While Brand Bali is well-positioned and narrowly-focused as a leisure destination and is considered Indonesia's leading resort, Brand Indonesia, itself, sadly, remains unfocused - one of the primary reasons why its tourism numbers lag way behind its Asian neighbours such as Singapore and Thailand. (See Footnote: Algarve and Portugal).
DES: While the Jakarta and Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005, and the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, have all contributed to shrinking visitor numbers, Brand Indonesia needs a powerful future-focused big brand idea - a narrowly-focused cultural concept - to kick-start its journey towards the top five Asian destination brand table.
TINA: And using superlative adjectives such as 'Incredible India' and 'Surprising Romania' is a non-starter.
DES: Tina, let's drill down into some of Indonesia's key strengths which might unearth some big cultural ideas.
TINA: As the world's largest archipelago - some 17,000 islands - Indonesia is blessed with a plethora of cultural diversity, offering cultural conflicts, contradictions and tensions - a rich minefield of potential big brand ideas.
DES: In fact, Indonesia is also the world's largest Muslim state with cultural tensions not just between Christians and Hindus, but also between 'moderate' Muslims and 'extreme' Muslims.
TINA: Brand Indonesia would do well to re-visit our creative conversation on branding the Czech Republic if it is to make its slogan 'Unity in Diversity' an economic and social reality - throughout the world.
'Brand' the Marketect says:
"Trying to build a destination brand using superlative adjectives is like trying to put up an advertising poster without glue."
Footnote:
Algarve and Portugal
The Algarve region, by narrowly focusing on its golf resorts, has now become a bigger brand than unfocused Portugal - the country it's located in.
A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers
DES: Last month, Eastbourne, the English south-coast resort launched an advertising campaign on London's Underground system asking Londoners to once again 'change your view' about the town's 'retirement resort' image. Using strap lines such as 'Meals-on-Wheels' under images of youthful rollerbladers, the poster campaign lasted a mere four weeks.
TINA: We did discuss the futility of this very same brand strategy last year, but sadly, Eastbourne's hearing aids seem to have been turned off when it comes to this important branding issue.
DES: Even this summer's hot teen movie, set in Eastbourne - Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging - pokes fun of its residents promenading on their mobility scooters.
TINA: So what is good ol' Eastbourne to do?
DES: It simply needs to revisit our creative conversation by clicking here.
'Brand' the Marketect says:
"Trying to change brand perceptions using advertising poster campaigns is usually a marketing mission impossible"
A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers
DES: Tourism Australia are pinning their hopes on a new period film - Australia the Movie - starring Nicole Kidman as an English aristocrat in the Outback at the start of the Second World War.
TINA: Australia the Movie continues to re-inforce the rough, tough, macho image of the country just as its media predecessors have done in the recent past - Crocodile Dundee and sequel. Also the TV reality hit show: I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here. Not forgetting the endless Aussie beer commercials - many of them set within an Outback context.
DES: Now compare and contrast Tourism Australia's recent brand strategy of trying to show the country in 'A Different Light'.
TINA: Trying to compete against film and TV genres is usually a marketing mission impossible.
DES: You only have to witness Oz's falling visitor numbers from its biggest markets - Japan, UK and New Zealand - all three's stats have been heading south since 2006.
TINA: A trend which started before the Australian dollar reached a 25-year high in August 2007.
DES: Clearly Brand Australia should accept its Outback position in the minds of its key markets but use its sophisticated city brands such as Sydney and Melbourne and its lifestyle state brands such as South Australia and Western Australia, if it needs to show itself 'in a different light' to the rest of the world.
TINA: Then and only then will this once great destination brand start to reverse its declining visitor trend.
'Brand' the Marketect says:
"Trying to change brand perceptions is one of the most difficult of marketing challenges especially if you're trying to compete against the global media genres."
