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Three Simple Place Branding Strategies

With place branding strategies, there is nothing worse than getting stuck in meetings that have lost focus. An echo chamber of thoughts and words can quickly turn amazing managers, creatives, and stakeholders into unfocused morass.

Strategy can become too ephemeral: We want to produce goosebumps, OR; We want buildings that make you think “Wow!” Strategy can also become too process oriented: After 3 months, we will analyse the surveys then pat ourselves on the back that we followed a process.

• What if we had a quick toolbox of place branding and experience design strategies that were not too vague and not too process driven?
• What if these strategies could be adapted to local context AND nudge stakeholders in the same direction?
• What if these strategies could support consultants and strategy types to detonate amazingly original campaigns within just the right sandbox?

Let’s look at three Experience Agency place branding strategies.

Connect the Dots

A connect the dots (CTD) strategy is as it sounds. First, we catalogue our place branding assets, from museums to events to natural geography to cultural nuances. Second, we connect these events and places from the stakeholder’s perspective. For example, we trace the “day in the life” of a tourist or a local resident. This top level approach will quickly distill the top experiences that are a “must” visit or a “top” source of pride. There are many advantages to this strategy. Namely, asset gathering and production (videos, testimonials, etc…) is easy to schedule, and planning a visit to these locations becomes a fairly straight forward logistical exercise. The brand promise has, at its most base level, been realized. The big disadvantage of this strategy is the lack of creativity. There is really no opportunity to consolidate communities and build a new foundation for the place brand. There is no real opportunity to evaluate the “lack” of interest, event, or community and “create” a new spectacle, event, or tradition that will become an influential and connected dot.

Foundations First

A foundations first (FF) strategy is preoccupied with looking at human experience foundations. We are talking about FOOD, SHELTER, & LOVE. This strategy works very well at aligning stakeholders and generating pride. It also provides a quick schema that highlights key ingredients you might be missing. There are so many examples of these individual components. The wines and cheeses of France. The teepee of the American wild. The padlocks left by lovers at Italian bridges. Alone, these are not a strategy. They are happen-stance. However, let’s now apply these foundations to a small town or a new commercial development. Big American style developments never use this strategy. Food suppliers are restaurant chains that sign long term rental contracts. Residential and commercial development is micro managed on the supply side and aimed at the economic research of the demand side (not people). Finally, the concept of love is shunned with fear and relegated to the private sphere. Funny how my ideal community or travel destination would include food competitions, cool permanent and temporary structures, and experiences that make me feel young again. It is also important to mention brand promise here also. If enchanting assets make me crave these foundations, but time spent in a place don’t deliver, we have an issue.

Big Problem Solution

The big problem solution (BPS) place branding strategy is concerned with facing issues inherent with the place. The first step is to get all stakeholders to accept the fact that there is a problem. Maybe the weather is atrocious. Maybe the pollution levels are on everybody’s mind. Maybe the overriding place brand is associated with a disaster or travesty. The second step is to galvanize the stakeholders by facing the big problem and finding long-term, creative solutions to engage in dialogue and create a sense of purpose. If local people don’t believe in your place brand, visitors won’t either. Notice how I am also using “face” and “solution” interchangeably. Third, articulate the solution whether it be one project or a host of projects and start collecting “human interest” assets. Essentially, the brand can become the human and social journey from the big problem to the big solution. This strategy also creates strength with stakeholders to achieve easier, more positive results with future place branding and experience design strategies. The difficult part, is having the leadership courage to engage difficult topics. A traditional example of this strategy would be a war museum project. Today, there is really no end to the creativity that can be applied with digital tools and connected networks.
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Want a small, dedicated team working alongside and helping you with your place branding strategies? We are here to help.

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Place Branding and City Branding Conferences 2014

Here is the short list of the conferences coming up. Please email me if you have any other conferences we should add to the list (I know that a few more conferences will launch their information early in the year). Finally, the last conference listed here is our initiative to bring the global community of place branding experts to America as most conferences are now launching in Asia and Europe. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact me. At the very least, please tell us in which PLACE you would like to be for your conference.

Also, I wanted to send a shout out to all the consultants and editorial teams and social media content marketers that are keeping us all aware of place branding developments. You are all part of a growing movement that is really taking shape. Yes!

Here is the short list:

http://tendensor.com/tpa/npbc2014/
“April 23, 2014 marks the date for the Nordic Place Branding Conference 2014 – one of the most important events in the Nordic region for professionals working on place branding and place attractiveness. This year’s conference features inspiring speakers who will present a number of internationally recognised cases about place branding, destination marketing, talent attraction and investment promotion from the Nordic countries and beyond. For the fifth consecutive year, the Nordic Place Branding Conference will be held at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Sweden, making it easy to fly in for the day to attend. Participants will benefit from first-hand insights, advice and inspiration from practitioners who will be sharing experiences that can be applied to other cities or regions.”

http://chaire-anmt.sciencespo-aix.fr/en
“Operated by Sciences Po Aix in partnership with the CoManaging consultancy and founded by the French local authorities, the “Regional Attractiveness & Place Marketing” chair is the first “regional chair” dedicated to attractiveness and new regional marketing practices throughout the world. It has a strong focus on innovation and follows an operational approach to regional marketing, addressing all attractiveness issues, whether increasing the ability of territories to develop and promote their offers or attracting new stakeholders and capital.”

http://myplacemybrand.com
“Welcome to MYPLACE MYBRAND Summit 2013, the world’s largest congregation of the sense of place industry, with diverse delegates and audiences consisting of leaders, experts, practitioners, consultants, governmental officials, academicians and other stakeholders. The atmosphere will be energising, challenging and inspiring. The Summit theme “Embracing the Asian Century” highlights that the rise of Asia is an opportunity of our lifetime to promote promote sustainable sense of place initiatives. The Summit will showcase that place making and place branding activities are inextricably linked to biodiversity, people and economy. At the Summit you will have firsthand about new perspectives and ideas that are providing new approach for place making and place branding. Working with communities and governments, and across sectors and country borders, the Summit will demonstrate that it is possible to bring about the changes necessary for a positive future of our place – village, town, city, state, country, region and our world.”

http://destinationbranding.org
“The overall theme for DBM-V is “BUILDING ENDURING PLACE BRANDS” which draws upon the myriad challenges many destinations and communities now face in a moment-obsessed, social-media savvy world and where originality and lasting authenticity of place brands becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. How can place brands last longer? What makes place brands enduring? In order to overcome the ephemeral nature of tourism marketing and destination branding campaigns, destinations need to build on place-branding strategies that respect community identity and values but at the same time deliver lasting value and strong impact through the immense social media clutter and an instant-messaging culture. If your current practice, interest, or research touches upon this or other related theme, we invite you to join the stimulating discussion and debates that DBM-V will stage for this purpose. See you in Macau!”

http://placebrandingconference.com
“The Experience Agency is establishing a multi disciplinary task force focused on collaborating with various public and private institutions based in America to establish a western centric place branding, place making, city branding, and destination branding conference. This conference will have the aim of defining and articulating advancements in the American context. It will also invite place branding professionals from the rest of the world to share and collaborate in the American context. Universities and governments, both local, regional, and country will be involved in sponsoring the Place Branding Conference. Beyond the typical call for papers and expert presenters, this conference seeks to provide attendees with place branding experiences. Please contact organizers for more details.”

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What does Lego tell us about a Google office?

On a recent trip to NYC, I was given permission to take a few pictures of the Lego area on the 4th floor of Google’s Chelsea office.

So what does lego tell us about this place? Let’s extend some brand characteristics of Lego to uncover the answer: Creative; Youthful; Full of possibility; Fun, Building; Imagination, and; Colourful. The only immediate disconnect stems from the impacted spheres of influence: Google covets digitally networked worlds while Lego is “dumb” matter crafted by brains and hands, young and old.

Lego tells us that a Google office is creative, youthful, fun where imagination is aimed at building. The colourful aspects of lego seem to meld with Google’s brand rather seamlessly.

I have added this place branding post to the case study area for the following reasons: In Google’s case, this is not a pure place branding strategic model. Google is not viewing place branding as a profit center. Thus, this place branding example falls into the corporate HR umbrella or, more likely, as part of the interior design budget. From the HR perspective, this is an excellent choice because the brand association is implicit AND was likely cultivated at a young age. No need to force a corporate ethos with emails and meetings when you are surrounded by the right brand messages. A great example of place branding that works for all stakeholders.

Just for the record, I was told that “yes”, kids did regularly play in the lego area!

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This is not just editorial chutzpah. Place branding must include the participation of the audience or it will flounder.

They, for our purposes, are the people who are foreign to your place. They are not your community. They are not your citizens. They do not navigate your place on a regular basis. They may or may not have a conceptual experience of your place.

For example, on a recent trip to NYC to attend the Wisdom 2.0 Conference at Google, I travelled through some outdoor advertising promoting some kind of France exposition. Clearly, some French government or pseudo government agencies were paying for some media buying to promote… and this is where we get to the crux: The sampling of billboards included the promotion of France Aerospace and France Tourism… in effect slices of French economic output. Bluntly put, this is navel gazing. Media buying and target profile problems aside, this example of place branding makes no effort to include the experience of the intended audience. Why not elicit engagement through active and sensual words like “Taste” the best of France or “Fly” the best of French aerospace? This identifies an example of failure at the point of contact. Obviously, there is also a more elaborate discussion regarding the experience at the expo. A solid understanding of strategic fundamentals orchestrates the entire experience.

The strategic lesson is simple: Generate place branding campaigns that engage the audience enough to care.

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Build a team of people that represent each one of your consumer profiles (place consumption) and move them through the space. In… or on… each area, ask them what they would like to “see”. Make sure they are all standing – that will keep the discussion moving along quickly. In one day, your place branding guerillas will provide your 80% (Fibonacci). You will also uncover tensions between your different consumer profiles.

For example, really want to affect effective urban planning? Get a mom with litte kids, a delivery truck driver, a marathon runner, a commuter cyclist, and a skateboarder together for the day. Feed them sandwiches. Then walk through a neighbourhood and get their perspective. Now you have the future.

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There is a place I know. It’s just over there. It’s a great place if you know how to deal with the people. But the real story of the place begins with that time when something happened. In fact, it may be happening again soon. I often see pictures of the place. Everytime I see these pictures or talk with friends about the place, I am reminded of a few things: My personal experience with the place; what all my friends know about the place; and what I can and can’t say about the place. I have an instinct and a feeling about the place. Some places are scary. Some places are prized. Some places don’t speak my language. The most important moments in my life are tied to those places. Some places have no formed opinion; just a general awareness. Some places are part of my social language: When I get together with my best friends, we always talk about that place and laugh. When my colleagues and I talk about that place, we always groan. Some places are political. Some places are religious. Some places are scientific. Many people have also started linking me or my business to that place. It has become part of my narrative and my experience.

If a place were a product, the narrative above would loosely resemble a customer profile. The big difference, of course, is that a place is not actually a thing. It is the formulation of thoughts and feelings generated by individuals and reinforced by the broader social context; everything from media to language to schools and beyond. Just to be clear; If a tree falls in the forest with no witnesses, it does not matter if it made a sound. Yes, places are “consumed” by people, but the ideas about a place exist in the fickle human mind. Lest we forget, all these opinion formulations are in a state of flux on multiple levels. For example, a positive association with a group of friends talking about Las Vegas can become a general positive association. Thank you Dr. Pavlov and all of science’s lab rats for this proof. Hosting the grand pageantry of the Olympics provides another large scale example. It serves to refresh the place concepts to billions of us via media and establish a new dominant concept for millions of younger thinkers. Places are thoughts and are thus conditioned.

Another key path on our quest for a definition, heads away from the individual experience toward the social or ethnocentric. Is the big rock in the field a place? Of course not. What big rock in what field? Is Stonehenge a place? Of course. Why? In order for a place to exist, it must continue to reside in the collective experience of a group. I am tempted to push this characteristic even further. I propose that in order for a place to exist, it must be big enough that people can visualize themselves with other members of their social group in that place. As strange as this may sound, you would probably call the moon a “place” but you would not call a small asteroid a place even though they may be travelling at the same speed through space. Although both are equally uninhabitable, there is a sense that with the appropriate space suits and shuttles you could be standing on the moon with your mom. Places are ethnocentric. Places are consumed on the human scale with other humans.

Somewhere between the taxonomy of places and the mind of humans, one finds place branding. However, I am not sure we are using the right definition for the overlying title. Have we not just described the anthropological relationship with place or maybe we are working on the “social science” of places? Surely, the term “brand” has commercial and strategic connotations. It’s a sharp art controlled by media empires to support the profit motive, is it not? From toys to cars, products are supported by brands to trigger emotional responses and purchases. Over time, brands become the central core from which new products and services are launched. Brand equity and good will can, in themselves, become the key assets of large mergers and acquisitions. Can we use the term “brand” to apply to something that can be consumed but not necessarily purchased? Can we use the term “brand” when there are clearly temporal and social limits?

Our quest for a definition leads through the only ongoing debate within the nascent place branding community (It’s the only one I can find): There are not enough resources to significantly impact the “branding” of places OR branding can only be referred to in the context of assets that are commercially owned. Can we really consider Paris, a large European city for the sake of this example, in the scope of place branding? It has all the characteristics of a powerful brand. Untold movies, songs, and urban myths in every language define the place with words of “love” and “light”. Sensual reference points such as the iconic Eiffel Tower and accordion music pervade the perspective of billions. All experienced marketing and communication professionals understand that part of an effective brand is the ongoing self referencing dialogue about the brand in targeted market segments. They understand that they do not always control this dialogue, but they are ready with PR consultants and contingency plans should facebook or twitter go squirrely. But what about Paris? What about Auschwitz? What about Sochi? What about Burning Man? What about Kyrgystan? Is there really a line in the sand between places where brand can be controlled and where they can’t? If the place is too large to impact, is it best to ignore place branding strategy and simply rely on outdated tourism and economic models? Is the new ease with which we can reach international audiences via the internet counterbalanced by the flood of information and advertisers across these channels? Is it really impossible to launch a viral campaign about Paris in China? I believe we should include all places under the place branding definition. I see the tendency to focus on “city” branding and “country’ branding. I understand the need to define the area of expertise in line with the intended customer audience. All good. But the broader definition allows “place branding” to become the tool box of the possible, not of what type of municipality I am targeting with my sales team.

Place branding is the [please select what makes you feel more comfortable: art / science / innovation / term / strategic perspective] describing the dominant individual and collective conditioned attitudes concerning physically conceivable areas that can be consumed with others.

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Do you remember what your teacher taught you in grade 7 geography? Do you remember the key ingredients necessary to create a REAL map? I will review these today and also outline the link between maps and place branding. For a map to be a map, it must comply with these basics:

• Maps need a directional rosette
• Maps need a scale
• Maps need a title
• Maps need a logical palette

OK. But where does the map reside? Is the medium really the message? Maps can reside in the following mediums:

• maquette (models)
• print materials
• wall signage
• digital maps accessed from mobile or computer
• geotags attached to digital map services
• digital screen presentations
• outdoor sculptures
• integrated networks with no human interaction

OK. But who is processing the information and for what purpose? Interestingly, direct human consumption of map data is on the wane. As more and more network services establish more and more complex market value chains, the line between who (or what) consumes the data and for what purpose becomes blurred. For example, a typical use of map data in a mid sized company might follow these general lines: Map information is stored in databases that are analysed by algorithms that dictate logistical allocations sending alerts to manager dashboards where all pertinent information is presented (including a real time map showing the location of an asset via gps). Here is a quick list of who and why:

• web services
• databases
• GPS
• SAAS
• humans (any possible stakeholder)
• other organizations
• corporate decision making
• route finding
• network chain of services
• logistics
• analytics
• algorithms
• risk analysis
• travel planning
• resource location

OK. Map information is critical to our world and integrated into all our cutting edge technology and processes. What are the implications for place branding?

• Map information needs to be pushed to the decision makers at any key moments
• Branding a place is increasingly being done over networks (from geotagged photo social networks to co-relation algorithms).

For more key impacts related to maps and place branding, contact us today.

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