MOUNTAINS DON’T SMILE BACK
George Whitfield
Senior Associate,
Tourism Enterprise and Management (TEAM)
15th September 2005
WHAT IS DESTINATION BRANDING &
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
• Most of this presentation will address what
destination branding involves
• But it must also address the question ”Why is it
important?”
• Quite simply, branding allows destinations and
places to compete effectively in the global
tourism marketplace by being relevant,
differentiated and compelling
• A strong brand can also mean the difference
between a slow or a fast recovery from natural
or man-made disasters – an important
consideration in today’s world
IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING
• Brands dictate behaviour
• A brand serves as a standard against which
many issues, especially behaviour, can be
assessed
• Brands force us to put the customer – in our
case, the visitor – first
• Brands simplify choice for consumers. In
today’s time-stared world, making things
easier for people provides a competitive
advantage
BRAND VS. REPUTATION
• Almost all places have a reputation
• Reputations can be positive or negative
and can change on a whim
• Brands are long term, managed perceptions
in the minds of core visitor profiles
• Reputations are passive whereas brands set
out with a purpose and a plan
• Importantly, brands form ongoing
relationships with their customers by
adopting a pro-active role in their lives
PLACE VERSUS EXPERIENCE
• What do we mean by Mountains Don’t Smile
Back?
• We mean that the visitor’s enjoyment of a
place they visit is governed by much more than
just the physical attributes and attractions of
that place
• Great scenery, renowned culture, iconic
monuments and the dramas of history are
important but cannot, by themselves, present
the real experience of a place
• This experience is primarily influenced by how a
visitor is treated and made to feel
PEOPLE, NOT MOUNTAINS, DEFINE BRANDS
• Despite what fanatical climbers say, you can’t
have a relationship with a mountain
• The sea won’t change colour to please you
• Brand experiences and relationships are
created by people
• Mountains don’t smile back, people do
• It is people that make great destination brands
• Meeting and convention planners would do
well to measure the potential experience a
place can deliver for delegates as well as the
size of the convention hall
DEFINING A “BRAND”?
• A brand is, quite simply, a PROMISE
• It is not a name, a slogan, a strapline or a
logo
• These are important expressions of the
brand’s identity – words and symbols of
recognition
• But they are not the brand
• A brand is a promise that is relevant,
differentiated and compelling – a promise
that is delivered consistently over time
BRAND BASICS
• Some people argue that branding countries
and destinations is entirely different from
branding products or services
• This is not the case
• All brands start from the same point – if they
are to be successful
• They do not start with what you have to
offer, they start with what the customer
wants and then tailor what you have to
meet those needs
THE ROLE OF A BRAND
• There are many destinations – as well as
companies and products - that still believe
branding’s role is to act as some kind of
attractive expression for the primary features
and attributes of the place, product or
service
• This is not the brand’s role. This is a superficial
‘paint job’ we call politely: cosmetic
branding
THE BRAND AS CORNERSTONE
• Real brands are based on a thoroughly
researched strategy that finds out what the
customer wants - and provides it
• The strategy culminates in a statement of
intent we call the Brand Promise
• How well you have identified the customer
need and can keep your promise to fulfil it
determines the success of your brand
DIMENSIONS OF THE BRAND PROMISE
• The promise is created in response to what
your chosen visitor audience says it wants
• An intimate understanding of the target
audience is therefore essential
• Your brand promise must serve to differentiate
your offering from anything else available with
sustainable advantage
• Being a “me-too” brand in today’s competitive
world just does not work
DEVELOPING THE BRAND STRATEGY
• A logical and disciplined progression
• Developing a brand strategy requires
immense focus
• No one ever designed a successful brand
that set out to be all things to all people
• Focus on as narrow a definition of a target
audience segment as possible
• Aim to make a big splash with this narrow
audience and the ripple effect will bring in
vast numbers you never targeted
(Hedonism)
DISCOVER THE NEED
• People are motivated by emotion far more
than reason, especially in leisure travel
• It is vital to understand the emotional
fulfilments the audience seeks from their
experience of your destination, not just the
rational component
• Current research techniques are well
equipped to find out what the visitor wants,
but not very good at finding out why
• You can leap-frog your competitors if you
understand the emotional triggers that
determine the preferences of your visitors
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE THROUGH
DIFFERENTIATION
• Your castle, your forest, your coastline or your
“unique” history are not likely to set you apart
• This is as true of the attributes of different
Caribbean islands as it is of regions and subregions across the British Isles
• There is a vast sameness across much of what
places and destinations offer
• The job of branding is to break through this in a
meaningful and compelling way that responds
to a visitor’s needs
DEFINE THE EXPERIENCE
• The way to effectively differentiate and
achieve competitive advantage is through
the experience the visitor is offered
• The only way of knowing what this
experience should be is by listening to the
customer
• Minutely analyse each facet of their
experience with visitors and ask how it could
be made better (Saturn, Couples)
EXISTING PERCEPTIONS
• Few destinations today start from zero in
developing their brand
• It is important to recognise what can
influence current perceptions - both
positively and negatively - and how these
sources of perception can often be used to
advantage
• It is also helpful to analyse where synergies
exist between the different sources
SOURCES FOR BRAND PERCEPTIONS
• These can be summarised under seven
headings:
1. Tourism
2. Exports
3. Foreign and Domestic Policy
4. Inward Investment
5. Culture, Heritage and Sport
6. Citizenry
7. Threats And Disasters
TOURISM
• Since it is the job of tourism enterprises to get
the place noticed, this category is often
highly visible, if only through the combined
spending of associated segments like
airlines, hotels, tour operators and the tourist
board itself
• Sadly, individual agendas often result in
poor synergy of messages, fragmentation
and exaggerated over-promising
EXPORTS
• Frequently a major source of emotional
associations and imagery for places, regions
and countries
• Can legitimately lead destination brand
strategy if appropriate… “Swiss precision”,
“German engineering”, Italian fashion”,
“French cuisine”
• A powerful national or regional image is one
of the most valuable gifts a place can give
to its exporters – provided that the products
live up to the place’s reputation and vice
versa
FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY
• Destinations are often judged first by how
they are seen to conduct their affairs, both
internally and on the international stage.
• It is possible for a restrictive or despotic
regime to remain a popular tourism
destination (Cuba)
• But for a place like Canada with its inclusive
domestic agenda and role as peacekeeper
abroad, tourism has fertile ground in which
to flourish
INWARD INVESTMENT
• A strong brand perception will give places a
better chance of getting on the shortlist for
inward investment
• But this is over-simplified
• More often, the agendas of modern
industrial efficiency thought to attract
business investment appear at odds with the
‘softer’ tourism image for holidaying visitors
• This presentation will address the
misunderstanding associated with this
apparent conflict
CULTURE, HERITAGE AND SPORT
• These aspects of how messages are sent out
can endow a place with dignity, richness,
trust and respect abroad while they
contribute to the quality of life at home
through pride and a sense of national or
regional identity
• They are especially important where tourism
is viewed primarily as an economic driver
CITIZENRY
• Its citizens are the most important
ambassadors a destination can have
• They are an even more constant and
believable channel of communication than
politicians and high profile public figures
• The people who live in a place can
communicate the complexities and
contradictions of its image far more
effectively than any other channel
• Passionate citizens make positive change
happen
THREATS AND DISASTERS
• Threats and disasters are an ever present
reality for every tourism destination
• The extent to which threats, whether from
man or nature, serve to deter tourism is
almost invariably a function of how travellers
perceive such threats are being handled
• As with foreign and domestic policy, the
media watches, interprets and reports
• A lot of places fail to realise that their brand
values, i.e. the rules that govern the
behaviour of the brand, are of paramount
importance in such scenarios
DELIVERING THE BRAND
• Delivery is the most important element of the
brand promise
• The delivery determines whether you have
kept your promise, exceeded the visitor’s
expectations and created a bond of trust –
the basis for a relationship
• Delivery depends on people
• Many brands fail here because they don’t
involve the brand delivery community with
the brand promise
BRAND BEHAVIOUR
• Brands are built by the behaviour of those who
come into any kind of contact with the
customer, through many channels
• No brand can just say what it promises. It will
not be believed.
• It must earn the trust of its audience by
delivering on its promise consistently, across all
visitor touch points, all media and all
communication
• It is called delivering the brand values or to
“behave as you say you are”
MANAGING BRAND BEHAVIOUR
• Sometimes cited as insurmountable
obstacle for destinations
• Lack of central authority that can ensure
compliance
• Leadership by example and effective
communication throughout the brand
community can overcome much of this
• Use the brand expression as a call to action
• “I ♥ New York” created pride in their city by
its citizens and they delivered what their
brand promised
CONFLICTING AGENDAS
• Resolving apparent conflict between a “soft
and cuddly” tourism image and the hardnosed, industrially proficient imagery preferred
by inward investment and even business
tourism interests
• A place’s industrial infrastructure or convention
facilities can never form the basis for any
brand strategy whose first objective is to
attract holiday visitors
• Infrastructure and facilities are the price of
entry for non-tourism agendas – they get you
on the list
POWERFUL BRAND VALUES DIFFERENTIATE
• Facilities need the backdrop of a powerful
place brand to beat the competition
• A brand succeeds by exceeding the
expectations of its audience; in other words,
by how it behaves in delivering the brand
promise
• The non-tourism agendas must know what
their specialised markets’ expectations are
• They must behave in ways that exceed
these expectations
BESTCITIES.net
• One of the best practice examples Dr. Carter
quoted last year was “BestCities.net”
• This global alliance of convention bureaus
measures its performance against 32 service
standards which seek to ensure: reliability,
assurance, innovation, empathy and
responsiveness
• These could be core values for any tourism
destination’s brand promise
• There need be no conflicting agendas when
you understand the customers and their needs
OTHER CHALLENGES FOR PLACE BRANDS
• Lack of central control to ensure consistent
“brand behaviour”
• It isn’t control that is needed but leadership,
involvement and communication
• Even major corporations can’t “control”
brand behaviour, but they can instil it as
part of corporate culture, willingly adopted
and enthusiastically practised
LEADERSHIP
• Brands involve change that generally only
the top person can authorise
• Brands involve behaviour and this must be
modelled from the top down
• Some of the greatest brands echo the
values of their leaders: Virgin, The Body Shop
• Presidents and Prime Ministers must be the
brand champions for national brands
INVOLVEMENT
• People everywhere support ideas far
more readily if they feel they have had
a hand in creating them
• Involving the brand community
responsible for delivery is vital
• Form alliances for input, not
committees for approval
COMMUNICATION
• It is impossible to behave in line with a set of
brand values if you don’t know what they
are, or to keep a brand promise if you don’t
know what it is
• In brand development projects, scarce
communication funds would often be better
spent at the outset to educate the
community than to promote to the visitor
CHALLENGES – ASSET POVERTY
• Some destinations believe they cannot
compete because they don’t have the right
physical assets, attractions and scenic
features
• Countries rarely believe this but smaller
destinations, cities and regions can feel they
have little to offer on the global stage of
competition
• Often, the real problem lies in concerns over
established negative perceptions built
through prior associations
CHALLENGING ASSET POVERTY
• Since the prime asset of any place or
destination is people, there are few that can
truly claim asset poverty
• Even apparently ruinous infrastructure and
supply line failures such as occurred in the early
days of tourism’s resurgence in Cuba proved no
barrier to rapid tourism growth
• Cubans welcomed visitors with infectious
curiosity, enthusiasm and genuine delight.
People forgot that their toilet didn’t work and
that there were no eggs for breakfast
INTRODUCING ASSET ADVANTAGE
• Where there is genuinely a poor
inventory of natural or built physical
assets, other strategies can still enable
the development of superior brands
• “Introduced” assets are an obvious
route. Examples are numerous from
urban regeneration projects to trans
Atlantic yacht races, annual festivals
to sporting spectaculars
BRAND BENEFITS
There are enormous benefits for multiple
constituents when a place or destination has a
strong brand. Here are just a few:
Marketplace Advantage. First and foremost is
the obvious ability of a well conceived brand
to ensure competitive superiority
Tourist confidence. Visitors know what to
expect. They anticipate the positive rather
than fearing the worst
MORE BENEFITS
Home Pride. The local people who have been
involved in the creation of a brand promise,
believe in it and want to make it work exhibit
pride – pride of ownership, pride in where they
live, pride that others want to visit them, pride in
the part they play in delivering the brand
promise
A Positive Outlook. Even after 9/11, New Yorkers
still love New York. Their brand has embedded
itself deep into the New Yorker personality.
There was a spirit of cooperation and shared
identity long before the terrorist atrocities
THE BRAND AS BLUEPRINT
• The brand must be the core driver in any
tourism strategy
• Using the brand strategy as the driver avoids
many pitfalls of internal dissension and
disparate agendas
• It puts the emphasis on the market place
and satisfying what the customer wants which is a powerful argument
A BLUEPRINT DEFINES THE STRUCTURES
• Use the brand strategy, promise and values
as a yardstick against which all other
decisions are measured
• This will help determine all future decisions
from the style and nature of infrastructure
development to planning approvals for
accommodation and leisure facilities
• The destination brand is at the core of what
a place does, how it is perceived and how it
achieves visitor devotion and constituents’
enthusiasm
OTHER ELEMENTS OF A STRONG BRAND
• Too brief an overview to cover all aspects of
place and destination branding
• There are many other advantages and
requirements
• Just a few are listed in the following slides
MANAGING THE VISITOR RELATIONSHIP
• Called CRM in other contexts
• Collects, analyses, mines and uses data on
visitor profiles, behaviour, attitudes and
value
• Uses the measure of lifetime value of the
customer in place of immediate sales
volume or visitor numbers
• Recognises that the visit is only the first step
in a long term relationship
BRAND ARCHITECTURES
• Attack brands, umbrella brands, slip-stream
brands, challenger brands are just so much
jargon in the marketing lexicon
• If a place can identify a narrow target segment
whose needs, both emotional and rational, can
be met and exceeded by a relevant,
differentiated, compelling and deliverable
promise then the place can define a brand
• The real job of brand architecture is to align
potentially disparate audience segments and
the promises being made to them to avoid
marketplace confusion and fragmentation
BRAND IDENTITY EXPRESSSION
• This is often all that marketers think branding
is about
• The brand expression comes at the end of
agreement to the brand strategy
• It is exceptionally important that it be
executed well and in line with the brand
promise
• If a slogan or strapline is used it should
endeavour to talk about the visitor
experience, not the place
• Ensure that it is unique to your destination
THE BRAND AS CONTEXT
• An over-arching brand for a place or region
creates a context for future growth
• A brand as blueprint is not an unbreakable
rule, it is a set of values
• Keeping in touch with the satisfied (hopefully
devoted) visitor base enables the brand to
evolve accurately in line with visitors’ desires
• In the corporate world, brands are now
viewed as prime assets. They appear on the
balance sheet and enhance the value of
their corporate owners
THE BRAND AS ASSET
• In the case of destinations, the value of the
brand is both its ability to motivate visitors
and its inspiration for local pride and
achievement
• Properly communicated and understood, a
brand can be the fulcrum for community
action, self-esteem and entrepreneurial
motivation
• It has been said that a powerful brand
identity is the most valuable gift a country or
place can give to its citizens, industries and
businesses
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
George Whitfield, Senior Associate, TEAM
For further information:
GeorgeWhitfield@team-tourism.com
+44 1822860189
15th September 2005