Destination brands:development,

challenges & cases

Professor Nigel Morgan

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Professor in the Welsh Centre for Tourism Research, @ Cardiff Metropolitan University

Research areas: destination reputation management, brands & development; tourism, place, citizenship & identities. Co-editor of Destination Brands: Managing Place Reputation

Visit our research group at www.uwic.ac.uk/wctr

Our globalised, competitive world where it’s getting harder to

command attention and maintain relevancy.

What is a ‘Destination’?• Described by marketers and tourism professionals as a geo-

political system with its own Destination Management Organisation or DMO.

• Seen by sociologists and cultural geographers as a socio-cultural construction.

• In other words, some treat a destination as a set of attributes and others treat it as a set of cultural and symbolic meanings and contested 'realities'. Both views are right.

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I believe destination or place branding is about creating value. The value that products and businesses receive through direct association with a brand, or the additional value that potential visitors attribute to a place because of its brand image. This is sometimes referred to as the “identity premium.” (Roger Pride, VisitWales)

Destination branding is describing the experience of the place to the consumers and the formation of the experience in terms of the facilities, amenities and other resources that the area can provide. (Malcolm Allen, Placebrands)

Destination branding is a continuing process to create unique tourist experiences and build a sustained image that emotionally bonds with the host community stakeholders and resonates with its targeted markets. (Liping Cai, Purdue University).

Expert Definitions of Destination Branding

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However, it is also about more than simply making a destination more competitive:

Destination branding is about packaging and marketing a set of images to promote a particular destination. There are however consequences that extend beyond marketing, for example, the brand vision can become an instrument for transforming the place and social engineering local cultures.

The branding process also requires mobilising support and cultivating consensus in realising the brand as a place identity. (Can Seng Ooi, Copenhagen Business School)

Expert Definitions of Destination Branding

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A strong brand provides added value, brings a powerful identity benefit, drives consumers’ behaviour, influences their perceptions of reality, opens doors, creates trust and respect and raises expectations of quality and integrity.

In short we are talking about strong place reputations. A strong destination brand must deliver distinctive, compelling, memorable and rewarding experiences to its target audience.

• Who do you think has an effective destination brand?

• The top four according to their peers are:

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1st

2nd

3rd

4th

4th

.

DMO Branding Practice

DMO Branding Practice % Have an official brand strategy 82Have a brand manager 37Have a set of brand values 80Think they have an unique positioning 75Have a brand toolkit 80Developed the brand in collaboration 90Don’t measure their brand’s impact 37Do cooperative branding 37Are tourism-related only 60

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Source: WTO & ETC (2009) Handbook on Tourism Destination Branding

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Source: WTO & ETC (2009) Handbook on Tourism Destination Branding

The mission of any Destination Management Organisation (DMO) is to

promote its destination to a wide range of stakeholders

and audiences

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOJM6cHSqKI&feature=player_embedded

100% Pure New Zealand brand -calculated to be worth around

US$13.6 billion, ranked 21st in the world just behind

Samsung and ahead of Dell.

14Source: http://10yearsyoung.tourismnewzealand.com

But ... destination

reputation is NOT created by

DMOs

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i) Communication - reputation is something you talk about and is produced through storytelling;

ii) Evaluation - reputation is something you critically assess;

iii) Distinction - reputation makes you different.

Destination Reputation is based on three principles:

Creating Differentiation• Whilst places which have strong brands have an easier time

attracting businesses and talent within the knowledge economy, it is difficult to differentiate places.

• Factors such as a place’s environment, its people, entertainment and leisure services and traditions in art and culture are assuming more importance with potential investors and tourists.

What does not work and is NOT branding• Creating a logo and a tagline is NOT building a destination

brand.

• A destination brand has to be rooted in a sense of place, it has to mean something to internal and external stakeholders and be credible and deliverable.

• It is more than marketing, it has to be delivered on the ground.

Examples of Brand Values:

• ‘creative, credible, contrasting, cool’• ‘passion, people, culture, destinations’• ‘indulgent, charming, abundant, vibrant’• ‘welcome, quality, freedom, authenticity, sensuality’• ‘rugged, natural, soulful, liberating’• Real-ness, fusion, can-do-ness’• ‘open, innovative, authentic, caring.

19Source: WTO & ETC (2009) Handbook on Tourism Destination Branding

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Bill Baker (2007) argues that some words have been so over-used that they have lost all their potency and sense of differentiation. He suggests that the most over-used words in branding include:

• Discover (yourself)• Enjoy• Explore• Friendly• Gateway• Historical• Natural• Relaxing• The best, the centre of• Welcoming…

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Today's tourists face a vast choice of destinations;

A handful of major countries attract 75% of the world’s tourists;

Most destinations are niche players competing for the remaining 25%;

Small Destination Marketing Organisations have to deliver maximum value in a noisy & crowded marketplace on restricted budgets.

The Key Challenges inReputation Management:

(1) Leadership;(2) Partnership;(3) Communication & delivery;(4) Relevancy & impact.

LeadershipLeadership is increasingly being recognised as one of the key intangible assets of organizations which, along with their brand, are major determinants of their image and reputation and major components of their intellectual capital.

What remains a cause for concern is the slow development of the leadership skills of elected politicians and officials and the lack of meaningful involvement of leaders from the other sectors of our societies in leading the development of places.

Partnership

Leaders need to use their power effectively to create a genuine partnership of those with a major stake in the reputation of their place.

They need to align, engage and mobilise stakeholders from the private and community sectors in the leadership of their places and the creation and management of their reputation.

Communication

In a world where we’re inundated with advertising and personalised communication, it is vital to build brand relationships; moreover, the power of social media means that today’s tourist can tell the world about your destination’s shortcomings through YouTube or Facebook in a click.

Thus, the interface between DMOs and tourists has completely changed. No longer is the marketing mix about product, promotion, path, pricing, packaging and push. It is the consumer 2.0 marketing mix based on conversations and context, connectivity, collaboration, creativity, collaboration and co-operation.

DMOs face major communication challenges:

• Place reputation is derived from a host of sources, not just tourism marketing.

• DMOs cannot control the place story or the image and they do not ‘own’ the destination.

• DMOs are under pressure especially as a result of the digital revolution and their cost, relevance and value-for-money has come under greater scrutiny.

The global media plays a

powerful role in shaping place

reputation

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Creative Places

Tone

Traditions

Tolerance

Talent

Technology

Testimonies

The Virtuous Circle of Destination Reputation