7 words and a logo: Does a brand shape a destination?

by Alvaro HIDALGO

Our two last blog entries were centred on anticipating the consequences derived from the now rapidly escalating financial turmoil. By turning this entry to academic issues, we wish to provide some respite to the now omnipresent “crisis talk”. Hence, it focuses on the subject above and brings some comments on the “Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Marketing and Management” Conference held in Istanbul June 19-24, 2011: Destination Development, Marketing & Management.

Destinations are far more multidimensional than consumer goods and other types of services. To be effective, positioning theory suggests that reaching the minds of busy consumers requires a succinct message focussing on one or a few brand associations. Nowhere is this challenge better highlighted than in the development of a seven word slogan that encapsulates a destination’s diverse and often eclectic range of natural resources, built attractions, culture, activities, amenities and accommodation. (1)

As it is, there is an overwhelming amount of choices available to satisfy any consumer’s need or dream and, in such a competitive marketplace, the viability of destinations depends on the ability to develop effective marketing and management strategies (2), among which differentiation is one crucial element to attract clients to a destination.(3)

Setting and developing marketing strategies and conveying such differentiation becomes an overpowering challenge to Destination Management Organizations.

DMOs’ difficult task is to be in both sides of the table. On the one hand they must set rules for a policy and business strategies by involving institutions and individuals. On the other they must draw support from the different stakeholders so that the brand will be both accepted and communicated through both official and unofficial publicity and products, resulting in a unique and consistent destination brand positioning (4).

So…. How to transmit the qualities of a destination, to attract the types of clients appealed by the different facets of what the destination is, “targeting a multiplicity of geographic markets to attract a wide range of segments”(1) … and all in less than 7 words and a logo?

There are countless studies on destination branding, brand equity assessment models, precise definitions and discussions on the difference between destination image and brand personality. But such analyses are not confined to lecture halls. On the contrary, their assessment will have implications in advertising, promotion and positioning of a city or destination (5).

 
Consistent positioning is of the utmost importance since, unless a place can come to stand for something, it will have little chance of being remembered long enough to compete for any of this precious attention. Indeed, most people spend no more than a few seconds each year thinking about a destination, a city or a country on the other side of the world or about. So, unless that city or destination always seems exactly like itself every time it crops up, there is little chance that those few seconds of attention will ever add up to a preference for its products, a desire to go and visit the place, an interest in its culture. (6) (7)

In this sense, the use of Celebrities has been a traditional way of creating awareness.

Indeed, we already knew that they create destinations -Prince Rainiero & Grace Kelly made what Monaco is now- and their successors -HRH Prince Albert- contribute to create awareness in recently established ones  http://bit.ly/qyUI6N

Now, we have empirical models to analyze Celebrities’ impact (8).

But if attracting customers is already difficult, to grab the attention of the most sought after “creative class” (9) becomes of paramount importance. They, as a group, create trends, build and enhance the characteristics of a city or a destination, and their power of influence lasts much longer than any advertising campaign. Bringing them in and being capable to retain them is a nonstop challenge, even more fierce in these days in which companies and full organisations can and are run remotely.

To retain these customers, destinations need to constantly defeat concurrent alternatives, updating themselves and proving they are in the pinnacle of the pyramid by -among other things- bringing the firms that prove and show their status. Only certain destinations and locations can receive and sustain certain brands and, by fostering their establishment, the destination crosses a threshold that separates it from the rest.

Thus,

Academics say: In this 21st century, cities and destinations compete on their brand and will develop in line with it. They are competing on the value that they provide in terms of physical and service offer, their heritage, their ambitions and their character (6).

In essence, they compete to offer “Power, Beauty and Soul”…

                        …in a way, only 4 words and a brand suffice to shape a destination.

For more information please contact FIRSTLOGIC Consulting
http://www.first-logic.com

References:

(1) TOURISM DESTINATION BRANDING COMPLEXITY
Dr Steven Pike. (2005). Tourism destination branding complexity. Journal of Product &Brand Management. 14(4): 258-9

(2) DESTINATION BRAND PERSONALITY AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS: A COMPARISON OF FIRST-TIME AND REPEAT VISITORS
Ahmet Usakli , Nevsehir University , Turkey
Seyhmus Baloglu, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA

(3) LONG-TERM COMMUNICATION EFFECTS OF TOURISM MALAYSIA MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS ON THE AWARENESS AND PERCEIVED DESTINATION IMAGE DIMENSIONS AMONG POTENTIAL TOURISTS FROM THE GULF COUNTRIES (GC)
Ashraf Mohammad Teehi Alfandi and Azilah Kasim
Tourism and Hospitality , College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia Kedah, Malaysia

(4) DESTINATION GOVERNANCE AND INTERNAL BRANDING AS ANTECEDENTS OF DESTINATION BRAND DEVELOPMENT: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON EDINBURGH
Ilenia Bregoli, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milan, Italy
Giacomo Del Chiappa Università degli Studi di Sassari Sassari, Italy

(5) EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DESTINATION IMAGE & BRAND PERSONALITY OF A TOURIST DESTINATION – AN APPLICATION OF PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES
Girish Prayag Faculty of Law & Management, University of Mauritius

(6) CITY MARKETING AND PLACE BRANDING: THE CASE OF CAPPADOCIA
Elem Yalçın and Burçak Çebeci Perker
University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences,Istanbul, Turkey

(7) PLACE BRANDING Some Important Distinctions in Place Branding. , Simon Anholt (2004)

(8) SELECTING THE ‘RIGHT’ CELEBRITY ENDORSER: LATENT MEAN STRUCTURE ANALYSIS
Robert van der Veen and Haiyan Song
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,School of Hotel and Tourism Management,

(9) THE RISE OF THE CREATIVE CLASS. Richard Florida, 2002.