Branding Rally: Place Branding

It amazes me the level of talent that flows over and through Branding Strategy Insider. So it just makes sense to try and harness the current and rally this exceptional group.

This is the first Branding Rally in which we will analyze real-world branding issues and share ideas for the greater good. My hope is that we'll pool our experiences and all will be better for it.

The focus of this rally is Place Branding. Specifically Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Ed Roach is the resident branding expert and is in the early stages of discovering who Windsor's target audiences are and what can be owned in their minds.

Ed and I are hoping to hear from you as well as Eli Portnoy, Marcia Hoeck, and Alan Williamson.

I think a good place to start is to share our process. Brad and I have some experience in this area with Tampa, Florida and are in the place branding process with a few other cities.

Typically we begin with a brand audit which ideally includes a full research component. We talk to all of the most important target audiences. Depending upon the scope of the project, this usually includes current and potential residents, current and potential businesses, tourists, conference/event planners, etc. 

With this insight we move to the brand positioning phase where we lead key stakeholders through a unique and highly facilitated discovery process designed to build consensus around what the brand stands for and why target audiences would choose it over competing brands.

This phase includes a pre-workshop questionnaire to gain input from a broader group of stakeholders and influencers. This is important to gather additional insights and to rally those that will not be invited into the workshop which is best conducted with a group of 6 to 12 participants.

On the day of the workshop we discover the brand's most important target audiences, the brand's essence, competitive frame of reference, brand promise and brand personality. Key to the exercise is identifying the most unique and compelling benefits (functional, emotional, experiential and self-expressive) that the municipality can own and deliver to its target audiences.

We believe that the primary brand benefit chosen should deliver against these objectives:

-The benefit is extremely important to the target audience(s).
-The municipality has unique, sustainable competencies (and strategic intent) in delivering against the benefit.
-Competitors are not delivering against the benefit (nor would it be easy for them to do so in the future)
-Any benefit chosen is unique, compelling, motivating, understandable and believable.
Ideally, the brand tries to 'own' only one or two key benefits, as that is all decision makers in the target audience will remember.

As an integral part in this process it is imperative that we ensure that the brand has selected the most powerful benefits to own and that it has developed the proof points and reasons to believe for those benefits.

The strongest place brands are positioned to be relevant, unique and compelling and are built by community leaders, stakeholders, and organizations that promote the competitive advantage by speaking with a unified voice. Economic Development Organizations, Convention and Visitor Bureaus, Chambers of Commerce, and Government bodies are all in synch with each other when communicating the brand promise.

The community delivers on the promise because it's who they really are.

The output of the Brand Positioning Workshop serves among other things as a guide to brand communications. It is condensed in a one-page brand positioning statement (which is also known as a USP, Unique Selling Proposition) that reveals brand essence, brand promise and brand personality.

The Results of the Workshop:

-Focus leadership team
-Inform and rally community stakeholders
-Guide branding, and external communication efforts
-Underlie brand identity (including tag line)

Perhaps the most visible is the tagline.

The tagline should capture the essence of the brand's promise in an economy of words. It should be magnetic to target audiences, communicate the brand position, be unique, easy to pronounce, easy to remember, and be defendable.

We commonly see two approaches to tagline development for municipalities in transition.

A. Credibility Approach: The tagline recognizes and communicates that the brand is in a process of growth. The tagline celebrates the transformation, builds momentum to see it through and is magnetic to target audiences.

B. Visionary Approach: The tagline communicates the emotional benefit of living in the city after its transformation, and is magnetic to target audiences.
In some cases articulating the brand positioning with a transitional tagline followed by a related, yet definitive tagline can work.

A critical step that some make: they skip strategy and head straight for tactics (logos and taglines). You must first discover your brand's positioning. 

What are your thoughts on Place Branding and the process? What challenges have you encountered? What advice can you give the Windsor community stakeholders?

Comments

[ED ROACH]

Edward, the collaboration between the academic and private sectors you refer to is actually happening. Most of it I believe is automotive related though. Great input - thanks.

Thanks also for the Northern Ireland link, I felt it was right on the money and reinforced all of our positions here in this Brand Rally.

The opening of the article emphasized a situation most places seem to take when they announce their re-branding efforts, namely the launch of a new logo and tagline. As much as I like parts of Detroit's new branding efforts, this is exactly what they did. (At least from what I read in Crains Detroit Business) It is as though they view image as everything and structure as secondary (if it's mentioned at all).

Since both you and Marcia are from Ohio, your knowledge of Windsor adds another dimension to this discussion here.

Marcia, I think that you would appreciate Eli's suggestions which are outside of the automotive arena. I assume you read all the comments here, so you probably appreciated his concern that we may be focusing too heavily on automotive.

When Windsor does head down the road to addressing it's brand, many of these discussions will be excellent observations to consider. The most critical step as I see it, will be the make up of the branding team. These individuals will set in motion a vision that reflects their particular touch point in the community. As advocates of the brand, their selection must be very strategic so that buy-in is consistent through out the entire community and unconstructive criticism is minimized. I'm sure it can never be eliminated - politics being what it is.

[Marcia Hoeck]

One thing I forgot to mention -- I know Ed Roach professionally, we've collaborated for four years, and I know his branding process. It's excellent and it works.

His insights on branding and his knowledge of Windsor make him the ideal person for this project. The city of Windsor would be lucky to have him -- I hope they haven't begun this project without involving him.

[Edward Burghard]

I offer the following link to a paper authored by Simon Anholt discussing the definition of place branding. I believe you will find it thought provoking.

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:F7xNx63-1lwJ:www.earthspeak.com/Download%2520articles%2520Dec%252006/Editor%27s%2520Foreword%2520to%2520Volume%25201%2520Issue%25202%2520of%2520Place%2520Branding%2520-%2520Simon%2520Anholt.pdf+anholt+place+brand+defined&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us&client=firefox-a

[Eli Portnoy (The Brand Man Speaks!)]

Sorry for being out of the loop for a few days, but I am now up to date with all comments. Great dialogue here.

Ed Burghard brought incredible insights into this matter and I greatly appreciate his expertise and thought processes.

Leading by influencing is the only way to go given the diversity of stakeholders and the strength of their opinions and convictions as concerns their "hometown" environment.

Authenticity is key as well. Too often with branding in general, not just place branding, entities want to create images for themselves that are fantasy, beyond aspiration, and illogical when they take on a branding assignment.

I am also glad to read that some of us are concerned about the "obvious" automotive direction....which still may be a good one...but to assume that it is may leave out forgotten, undiscovered, ignored elements of Windsor that as Marcia has pointed out may be valuable to the exploration/exploitation process.

Finally, with place branding, I believe, one does not have the luxury to focus on one target group vs. another. Place Branding inherently is about diversity and many audiences have to be addressed for the marketing effort to ring true and work long term.

In the world today tourism is as important (if not more so) than non-tourism business development especially if non-tourism business is negatively impacted as with the Detroit area automotive industry. As I may have mentioned earlier, there is great risk using the "company town" philosophy for Place Branding.

After years of pursuing tourists in Downtown Orlando, our process helped stakeholders realize that the downtown area needed to address the needs of locals first, tourists second since there was no way the area could successfully compete with Disney and Universal a few miles to the south. This combined with the luck of a societal shift from burb to urban living in general in this country helped get Downtown Orlando's brand focused and re-built.

Eli

[Edward Burghard]

In principle I agree with Eli's point that there are multiple segments that need to be addressed when creating a robust and sustainable place brand.

However, I would suggest that in practice the limiting nature of budgets require prioritization of the segments for investment. This need for prioritization is reasonably straight forward when branding a consumer product where ROI can be used as a guide; but, a fairly thorny issue when the currency of politics is applied.

Strip the politics from the equation and the rank order of prioritization for investment can be based on a forecasted economic portfolio impact considering both wealth creation and quality of life.

In the case of Orlando (and frankly many other cities across the nation), I would hypothesize that the place branding investment choices made did not adequately assess the economic portfolio risk of over focusing on the tourism industry. Similarly, in Detroit the risk of preferrentially focusing on the automotive industry to the exclusion of creating a balanced economic portfolio was problematic.

In my experience, the principles of sound management of your own investment portfolio apply to managing a place brand's as well. These principles offer a reasonable guide to effectively prioritizing segments.

It always comes down to having a penetrating level of insight into the interdependancies of your choices, understanding the portfolio risk profile, implementing strategies to mitigate the risk, and proactively managing the portfolio with an eye toward long-term health.

Effectively managing the place brand's core assets (industries plus amenities) as a portfolio will help keep the brand promise relevant and sustainable.

I hope this perspective is a helpful addition to Eli's point that in place branding it is important to understand the implications of your segment prioritization choices.

[Eli Portnoy (The Brand Man Speaks!)]

Ed B:

I agree with your post although I think you will agree it is nearly impossible to eliminate the political nature of Place Branding to be able to prioritize the segments for investment. Some community voices are more powerful than others and the Place Branding effort must be sensitive to that pressure.

As concerns Orlando, no professionally directed Place Branding project "created" the tourist focus...Disney arrived 25 plus years ago (secretly I might add) and took control of the then sleepy town's identity.

Place Branding became a need as the "company town" orientation (Orlando=Disney) was notably presenting a myopic view of the "real" Orlando. This positioning hindered more diverse business development, including efforts to bring in higher paying jobs given the predominately low paying service job economy.

Although not perfect conditions, Orlando has come a long way and is succeeding in growing beyond Disney and tourism into a mini-high tech and medical research center and the Downtown area has exploded with new development.

Eli

[Steve Wright]

This is a fantastic initiative and a great idea in terms of enlisting the expertise of folks who have been down this road before.

As someone who was intimately involved in the development of the Canadian Tourism Commission's 'Canada. Keep Exploring" destination branding project and in Toronto's 'Toronto Unlimited" I have to echo the cautionary notes on rushing too early to a tagline.

Canada Keep Exploring was extremely well received by stakeholders at large. Toronto Unlimited met with significant resistance. You can argue the merits of the two brands, but from an insider's perspective, the major contributing factor was the way in which the two brands were launched.

Both projects used similar methodologies (which were no unlike the process mentioned earlier in this blog). But when it came time to launch the brand, the CTC took an iterative approach while Toronto launched everything at once.

With the CTC, we first launched the Brand - meaning the important and meaningful bits that helped people understand how we wanted to position Canada as a tourism destination. It took more time, and many meetings to communicate the logic behind the brand, our promise to consumers, and most importantly, the brand and consumer insights that had led us to the positioning. But over time, the Brand in its truest sense gained momentum and our biggest problem became an ethusiastic industry clamouring for the "pretty bits" - the logo, tagline and visual identity. When we later launched those pieces, the reaction was overwhelmingly positive, because our stakeholders understood them in context - they hadn't been allowed the visceral reaction to a logo and tagline without context.

On the Toronto project, we launched with the logo and tagline. All the other pieces of brand definition were there, but it was simply too easy for everyone to fixate on, and take pot-shots at, the logo and tagline. Most damaging, we made the mistake of launching the brand as though we were announcing a new logo for a publicly traded company. The in-city ad campaign showed the logo and tagline and nothing else. It;s a very tricky thing to ask residents to see themselves in what is really an external-facing brand (witness Newfoundland), and by focusing the campaign on the logo and tagline absent any context we shot ourselves in the foot.

There are endless stories of logos and taglines that were at first rejected then became iconic and well-loved. Hopefully, Toronto Unlimited will find its way over time.

My advice? Take the time to launch the BRAND first, and do the tough slogging to spread the message. Once you've gained some momentum, then launch the logo and tagline. If you;ve done the work well (which with this team I'm sure you will), the logo and tagline will be a happy if a bit anti-climactic event.

Best of luck. Windsor's a great city and deserves a great brand.

Cheers,
Steve.

[Edward Burghard]

I would encourage a skim of Simon Anholt's paper on the definition of place branding. I have found it helpful when explaining the concept to stakeholders. I share it simply as a useful resource. Sorry for the length of the link.

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:F7xNx63-1lwJ:www.earthspeak.com/Download%2520articles%2520Dec%252006/Editor%27s%2520Foreword%2520to%2520Volume%25201%2520Issue%25202%2520of%2520Place%2520Branding%2520-%2520Simon%2520Anholt.pdf+anholt+place+brand+defined+editorial&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a

[Ben Virgo]

Many thanks to Ed for opening this Brand Rally: Place Branding. It’s very interesting to read the dialogue between place brand professionals from around the world.

I’m a marketing Consultant whose main interest is city and place branding and I’m originally from Windsor, England, UK. I hope its ok to join the discussion at this point.

In this post my two contributing points are about: (1) Cities sharing a name and (2) Stakeholder buy-in.

1. The branding of Windsor, Canada raises an interesting point about how to brand a city which shares a name with, from my -probably biased- perspective, a more famous town. Can this (as suggested above by Alan Williamson) be used as a positive or does it cause brand confusion? I’d be interested to read your thoughts.

2. An important point about place branding is the number of stakeholders and particularly stakeholders who steer the brand. When branding a city it is imperative to get as much buy-in from as many diverse steerers as possible. Professor Leslie de Chernatony and I co-authored a paper in the Journal of brand management in which we discuss the importance of a shared vision to increase stakeholder buy-in to a city brand:

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/pal/bm/2006/00000013/00000006/art00002;jsessionid=1x9q5sio4j46d.alice

Without the various steerers and stakeholders playing their part in shaping the brand then there will be little buy-in and it will be difficult to sustain momentum. I also believe that a person, body or company is needed to co-ordinate the various steerers on a long term basis.

Thanks for reading this post. I look forward to continuing this dialogue as we tackle the: Windsor, Ontario, Canada brand.

Ben Virgo
Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China.

[Steve Woodruff]

Keeping in mind the "3 V's" mentioned earlier, and making a tagline that recognizes a working culture but aspirations to move up the professional food chain, a concept such as "Shifting Up" might be workable. It has the automotive and blue-collar angle (implied), but also is ambiguous enough to encompass other themes.

[ED ROACH]

I came across a social science professor from the University of Windsor who came across our discussion here and he raised some interesting concerns in regard to place branding.

Essentially he raises the issue of social conscience. He suggests that most of the time place branding appears to be driven by an economic engine as opposed to a social engine. For example he mentions,"...this approach to urban competition and planning for change does not guarantee a more socially just environment, and again I think Baltimore is a good reflection of that. It still experiences grinding poverty, racial and class segregation, and fiscal instability, even if Inner Harbor and Camden Yards are lovely places to visit."

It is an interesting perspective. I've invited him to join in the discussion when he has the opportunity.

What is everyone's opinion on a social conscience in place branding. It has got to play a role in some regard does it not? Although, I have to admit every time I read anything on the topic, (as the professor says) it is always predominently driven by economic concerns. I think the social conscience should be reflected in the brand values. The professor makes some good points.

[brand]

Ed Roach's social science professor is right on the money.

"Without a cultural vision of the future, a place and its people perish into social and economic mediocrity.' - 'Brand' the Marketect

Focusing on 'hard' infrastructure projects without 'soft' cultural projects is like investing in a powerful computer hardware system complete with a bug-infested software system.

The definition of culture goes beyond its narrow definition of the fine arts and the performing arts, and includes the aspirations, ambitions, attitudes, skills, talents, habits and taboos of a place and its people.

If Windsor does choose to build an 'Automotive' culture - skills, talents and entrepreneural spirit - then it must also manage and exploit the culture clash between its 'pro-automotive' and 'anti-automotive' factions. Nobody said that destination branding was easy.

That's why the proposed 'Summer Festival of Speed' is such an important and potent brand idea. It will enhance the self-identity of Windsor's citizens and at the same time provide an outlet for self-expression.

'Powered by Windsor' will not only have a massive effect on the 'Three Vees' (see March 28th posting above) but also build a solid cultural foundation resulting in social and economic bottom-line performance.

Alan

[Steve Wright]

It will be a challenge to balance the pro-automotive-heritage forces and the folks who want to look forward to something new.

All this chat about Speed Festivals and "Powered by Windsor" got me thinking about the obvious comparison: Flint, Michigan.

Flint Sparks! plays off their once-proud automotive roots, but their attempts to capitalize on their heritage with an automotive museum, etc. have struggled over the years.

It might be interesting to take a look at experienceeverythingautomotive.org -- a promotional site managed by the US Parks Service linking various automotive hotspots across the US.

[ED ROACH]

As much as i love the "Powered by Windsor" concept, personally I'd like for Windsor to strike out and re-define itself in a massive way. Taking President Kennedy's lead with his moon walk challenge, I think a bold vision for the city's future would be a catalist for change. Windsor should strive for something that will make competing cities think as incredulous.

I can't think think of any leader in recent history who has taken a stand and shown real vision on where their community should stand in the world. Lots of platitudes and spin but nothing that captures the imagination. Today sadly, leaders run on issues. If only we had leaders with the vision of Walt Disney who in the sixties struck out to develop the evironmental prototype city of tomorrow. (EPCOT).

Sometimes I think we need less of a politcian and more of a visionary. Without a powerful vision all stake holders have to focus on is the negative (crumbling infra-structure, pollution, etc.). The vision is the soul of the brand. I'm suggesting a brand vision that embraces all segments of our society. Windsor has to aim for the moon ala Kennedy. Windsor's moonwalk is out there waiting to be embraced and it will take our own visionary to make it happen and inspire all stake holders to get the seed in the ground and make it grow.

As Allan says, "Nobody said that destination branding was easy."

[brand]

Ed

For some Windsorian inspiration, you might want to take a look at my posting on Scranton, Penn, USA - the 'mythical' location for the NBC TV series The Office.

Here's the URL: http://brandopia.typepad.com/brandopia_destination_for/2005/05/the_office_slou.html

Alan

[ED ROACH]

Thanks Alan,

One case for turning negatives to positives is the cost savings in time and money to completely change perceptions as opposed to addressing the negatives head on and turning the tables.

What is the perception of Slough these days? Are they really considered to be Britain's silicon valley?

[brand]

Ed

Slough still has a negative perception among the UK population, but it's Slough's physical location within Thames 'Silicon' Valley which is the key.

Thames Valley today is well known within the global IT community as home to the European HQ's of Microsoft, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Amazon, Computer Associates etc as well as the up and coming Indian software giants. (Birds of a feather really do flock together).

But Slough lives in the shadow of its bigger rival Reading (pronounced 'Redding') the 'unofficial' Capital of Thames Valley and just 30-minutes drive from Slough (England really is a small country).

The key strategy for Slough, despite its negative image, is to build the Thames 'Silicon' Valley branded category and try and move it up the European regional GDP per Inhabitant league table which currently looks like this:

1. Central London
2. Luxembourg
3. Brussels
4. Hamburg
5. Stockholm
6. Ile de France
7. Thames Valley
8. Wien
9. Southern & Eastern Ireland
10. Oberbayern
Source: Eurostat

The current wave of Eastern and Central European immigration led by the Poles is already having an impact on Slough which over the years has witnessed an Asian influx primarily Punjabis from north-western India and before them the southern Irish.

I purchased a 2-bed residential rental property on the outskirts of Slough some 10 years ago for £25K (I got it quite cheap as it was an ex-local council house). Today it is valued at about £200K. If I were to extend it to (say) a 3-bed home using a cheaper Polish building contractor, the return on investment would be pretty spectacular - even for the UK market.

I think the branding lesson for Windsor, Ontario is to build a 'branded category' with a future-focus (eg. Thames 'Silicon' Valley) and position itself as its 'visionary champion' or 'Capital' (eg. Reading is the 'Capital' of Thames 'Silicon' Valley while Slough is its 'Business Capital').

Alan

[ED ROACH]

I agree Alan, the future-focus for Windsor is key.

Thanks for the information on Slough. I visited your country about a year and a half ago. Absolutely loved it - especially St. Ives. I paint for relaxation and that place was incredibly inspiring. The only thing I hated were the hedge rows - couldn't see the scenery beyond. Someone should come along with a big hedge clipper and bring'em down to 2 feet.

[brand]

Ed

With your artistic flair I'm not surprised you loved St Ives. One of my future postings will touch on developing its branded category - the county of Cornwall - as 'The Studio of England'. As for its overgrown hedgerows, get ready for the 'West Country Hedge-Trimmer Massacre'.

Meanwhile watch out for my next posting in a few days time on the resort of Blackpool's re-positioning from 'England's First Electric City' to 'Europe's First EcotriCity'.

Alan