Comment

Comment by Steve Chandler on January 13, 2010 at 10:42am

I read Simon Anholt's book. I've never worked on branding a country, but I have taken over 40 different US communities through the task. The principles covered in his book area right on.

Comment by Regina Binder on January 13, 2010 at 9:59am

"Live the Legend" in Peru is a strong brand as well. There, they have been trying to diversify their tourism having over-branded Machu Picchu and suffering the consequences of what I call the check-list tourist. The hook can be an iconic impression, but the brand needs to convey an experience as well.

Comment by Rossitza Ohridska-Olson on January 13, 2010 at 9:40am

In the realm of great branding examples, besides Incredible!India, I also would include "Croatia. The Mediterranean as it once was".

I agree with Paul Barnett that more channels are used, faster a new tagline or logo proliferates. Also, if the shift is very dramatic. The United States required only one year and one President to dramatically shift its image abroad. That still doesn't mean that the country has strong brand for tourism. The USA is rated very low for culture, for example, in spite the great cultural importance that it has for the world. Or in nature, or beaches, etc.

A brand to become successful destination brand (or the way in this group is called "Tourism Brand") it needs:
1. Branding all assets for tourism, not only one aspects
2. Proliferating the brand in all possible channels. See brand Hong Kong - it is from commercials to shopping bags, and from youtube to national carriers, boats, city transportation, "Made in...." labels, etc.
3. Converting all stakeholders, including the local population into brand ambassadors, not only leaving the efforts to the marketers and advertisers. For the USA to become this year brand Nr. one there were millions (from the plazas in Berlin and New York to every single home) of people investing their hope in President Obama and becoming its evangelists around the world.

Comment by Paul Barnett on January 13, 2010 at 7:39am

Vikas, I think "Incredible India" is a very strong brand, not so much for just the tag line, more for the images and campaign work that I have seen as part of the campaign, which photographically gives credibility and authenticity to the claims, and focuses largely on the unique aspects to the country.

In answer to the question, how long does re-branding take and does it recquire a lot of commercials - for sure it is not a quick. How long depends on how well the concept was conceived, how inclusive and well supported it is by stakeholders, whether the reality matches the message being presented and of course communication to establish awareness. The communication should be a broad mix to include some commercials, but these days I think the emphasis should be much more focused on new media and PR as a means to communicating stories, something hard to do in a commercial. As the market has fragmented so much, and people look for different sources of value when travelling commercials are a less effective solution when trying to communicate different messages to different tourist niches. It is far better to narrowcast in a trageted way, than broadcast in a generic way in this situation, especially in terms of value for money. The real importance is in carefully identifying the match between the value that can be offered, which segments to appeal to, and the best way to talk to each group. I also suggest that branding should be ongoing and evolutionary, not re-branding everytime the story gets tired or looses appeal.

Comment by Vikas Tembhare on January 13, 2010 at 3:46am

I am agree with all of you. Being in India as branded destination. A Brand " Incredible India" have been giving the phenomenal growth in tourist arrival.

Another very good example of Korea. As they have re- branded them self third time in 2007 " Sparkling Korea" and still on the top list of international tourist destination.

I would like to understand how much time a brand takes to go for re- branding phase or it is just a perception of the NTO's or Marketing company where lots of commercials involve.???

Comment by Paul Barnett on January 12, 2010 at 7:15pm

WOW - Things are getting off to a great start here - some of the comments sting more than skin after a day on the beach under scortching rays! Guess thats ok if it brings out some truths, so long as everyone is prepared for the heat! But, seriously, lets keep it constructive, positive and professional please, we don´t want actions for slander.

Comment by José Balido on January 12, 2010 at 7:03pm

Speaking of destination taglines, here's a link to some real beauts. I especially like "Austria. At last!" along with "Sicily: Everything else is in the shade" (???) and of course the New South Wales' ever-popular "There's no place like it" (was that last one the same branding company that came up with "There's only one"??).

Comment by Rossitza Ohridska-Olson on January 12, 2010 at 6:49pm

Righ, Jose, not only this, but Andalucia has the weakest branding in Spain. Specially among the locals. It is in need of new positioning, new branding and this hasn't been done even for the Expo in 92, much less now. Go figure. Catalunya brand is the most strong from the regional Spanish ones, I believe. From the cities, Madrid has great brand (Landor's best), but the municipality is doing everything to screw it up and water it down.

Comment by Rossitza Ohridska-Olson on January 12, 2010 at 6:25pm

Regarding Columbia branding: Who invented the tagline? For me, there are only 4 destination branding companies in the world: Landor, FutureBrand, Wolf Ollins, and THR out of Spain. From these 4, only THR has specialists in tourism. Country brands and destination branding projects fail for that reason: they don't register the dynamic of the tourism (domestic and international), TOGETHER with the local perspective. Simon Anholt is a PR person, and is more concerned about the image and the results sometime are disastrous, if you follow his "brilliant" writings for the last 10 years.

Comment by Rossitza Ohridska-Olson on January 12, 2010 at 6:20pm

Congratulation you decided to work with Binder Group. Regina is very smart lady and really has a lot to offer, specially if you consider cultural tourism as place development.

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